A HISTORY OF KENT BouGHTON Aluph : Wilmington AIanor. — About a mile and a half south of the parish church is this typical example of a simple homestead moat, of which a plan is given. Wilmington Manor Moat, Boughton Aluph. In works of this class the earth dug to form the moat, or fosse, was thrown inwards and spread, thus raising the enclosed space above the level of the surrounding land and securing a dry, weU-drained site. Access was origin- ally afforded by a drawbridge or removable platform. Brenchley : Moatlands. — Nearly the whole of the moat of a castellated early six- teenth century mansion remains. Bromley : Palace. — The site of the old palace of the Bishops of Rochester retains part of the moat, the line of which may be traced throughout. Bromley: Simpson's Moat. — Very little remains to sug- gest that a formidable moat was here, surrounding a castel- lated hall of the fourteenth century. The Archceological Journal (vol.xxv.), 1868, shows that far more existed at the date of that issue. Capel : Badsell. — Three sides of the moat remain in good condition. Capel : Moat Farm. — About a mile north-east of Capel Church are traces of moating. Chevemng, Chipstead : Moat Farm. — This small, nearly complete homestead moat lies about a mile north-east of Sundridge. Chislehurst : Scadbury. — Writing so long ago as 1778, Hasted says that the ' antient mansion of Scadbury has been many years in ruins,' and that its material had been used in a farmhouse building. From the plan of the existing moating it is evident that the work was originally of the double -i-land form, and that much care had been exer- cised to defend the enclosure. Cowden : The Moat. — About a mile north-east of the village is a moated enclosure, one side of which was formed by a stream, a feeder of the Medway. Though less than 200 ft. square, this was a place of considerable strength Cranbrook : Glassenbury. — It is pro- bable that the moat, which remains in part around the restored mansion of Glassenbury, was made when Walter Roberts, who possessed the estate in the reigns of Edward IV. and Henry VII., pulled down the older seat on the adjoin- ing hill and built another on the present site, which Hasted says he moated round.' Cranbrook : Sissinghurst Castle. — The buildings and ruins which remain, being part of the stately mansion built in the i6th century, will be referred to in a later section of this History ; here it is only necessary to note that a considerable length of moating remains. It is probable that this may appertain to an earlier time than the date of the mansion, though there is hardly sufficient visible evi- dence to show that moating was carried round the whole enclosure at any period. The Ordnance Survey map shows that the north-east angle of the moat is perfect, and that thence the northern arm extends for 250 ft. and the eastern for 320 ft. SCALE OF FEET lOo ^OO Broxham Moat, Edenbridge. Crayford : Howbury. — Within a short distance of the river Darenth and close on the Thames marshes much moating still encloses Hist. Kent (1790), iii. 45. 426
