NHER 13294 (Monument record) - Medieval manorial site and settlement area, Stone Oaks or Stonework Close

Blomefield (S1) states that Wiron Hall (original Hall of village) stood in Stoneoaks or Stokes Close, 'east of the village, west of the lane to Wretton, by a spring.'

1840 Tithe Map (S2) (held by Norfolk Record Office) marks this field as Stone Oaks, but shows a moat in the field to the south, which is the more probable site. Possibly the road is later than the hall.

27 June 1976. Ordnance Survey aerial photography (S4-S5)
Square enclosure.
D. Voisey (NLA) 31 January 1995.

North field with spring under crop. South field ploughed; pond remnant of moat shown on Ordnance Survey gone, but undulations in ground here.
Visited by E. Rose (NAU) 25 May 1978.

Site of moat.
Cropmark, seen as single mark representing a ditch, on Ordnance Survey aerial photography.
Cropmark is not exactly on the alignment shown on tithe map, but such maps were not always absolutely accurate.

December 1995 - January 1996. Excavation.
Wereham Sewerage Scheme.
Revealed early medieval settlement remains including ditches, pits and a post-built structure adjacent to the moated site. An assemblage of 10th to 12th-century pottery was recovered.
See report (S3) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S8) and (S9).
D. Gurney (NLA) 12 February 2001 amended by M. Langham-Lopez (HES), 11 July 2013.

1996. On line of pipeline in backfill.
Sixty-five medieval sherds (including unglazed and glazed Grimston and early medieval ware). Three St Neots including a rim fragment. One bone implement, one end pointed, the other with 'inverted thumbnail concavity', very abraded, length 119mm. See for comparison EAA 22.
A. Rogerson (NLA) 18 November 1997.

Aerial photograph plot in file.

Spring 1999. Very sparse pottery scatter; two areas of flint pebbles at TF 6884 0078 and TF6890 0077.
Two sherds (?same pot) Roman greyware.
One body sherd Roman amphora.
Thirty-four medieval unglazed
Three medieval roof tiles.
Named Stoneworth Close on extent of around 1450 in Norfolk Record Office.
A. Rogerson (NLA) 2 February 2000.

Spring 2000. Surface finds.
Five medieval roofing tiles and one late medieval/early post medieval roofing tile.
Twenty-three medieval unglazed.
A. Rogerson (NLA) 5 July 2000.

May 2013
Cropmarks of a moated medieval hall or solar are visible on digital aerial imagery (S6). The structure is almost certainly the hall or solar of Wiron Hall manor described by Blomefield (S1) as being at this location. In addition to the name 'Stone Oaks' recorded on the 1840 tithe map (S2), (S3) notes that the 1818 enclosure award records this field as 'Stone Werk Field' (S7).
The cropmarks show the building comprises a north to south aligned main range (measuring 15.5m by 7.5m) with west to east aligned wings at the north end of the east wall (7.5m by 4.5m) and the south end of the west wall (8m by 4.5m). Cropmark traces of further walls visible at the southern end of the east wall of the main hall may indicate another possible wing or extension. Buttresses are clearly visible on the walls of the main hall and the northeast wing. The presence of angle buttresses indicates that the building is of 13th century or later date (S. Heywood pers. comm). The cropmarks also show an area of masonry at the northeast corner of the main hall. Although this may simply relate to a spread of fallen masonry it is possible that it could represent the foundations of an external staircase.
The hall or solar lies within a moated enclosure defined by a ditch measuring up to 4m wide. The north, west and south sides of the moat are clearly defined as cropmarks. The southeast side of the moat is cut by a cropmark of a narrow southwest to northeast aligned ditch that continues the line of a field boundary to the southwest. It is likely that this ditch is of later date than the moat. The southeast side of the moat and its overall shape are not clear. Faint traces of a possible continuation of the moat are visible to the southeast of the later ditch suggesting that it may have an oval plan with external dimensions of 65m by 48m. However it is also possible that the southeast side of the moat lay roughly along the line of the later ditch which would result in a D-shaped plan with external dimensions of approximately 50m by 48m.
Cropmarks of the previously recorded square moat in the field to the south are visible on this imagery along with other ditches that may also relate to the manorial complex. The easement of the sewage pipeline recorded in (S3) is also visible as a negative linear cropmark to the south of the small square moat.
J.Albone (HES), 15 May 2013