Information for record number MWA13144:
Earth bank acting as possible dam, Wroxall Abbey

Summary Earth bank across a small valley for damming the small stream, possibly for a mill, within Wroxall Abbey Park.
What Is It?  
Type: Mill Dam?
Period: Early medieval - Modern (801 AD - 2050 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Wroxall
District: Warwick, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 21 70
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection Local
Description

 
Source Number  

1 Earth bank acting as possible dam, Wroxall Abbey. Earth bank across low area of valley which opens into bowl shape on the Abbey side of the dam. Possibly for providing water for a mill which would have existed at Wroxall Abbey. The area originally under water is now pasture and is where the land drops away from the ridge and furrow areas still visible around the Abbey. There is a cutting, possibly modern, through the deepest part of the earth bank and water no longer accumulates. The earth bank follows the parish boundary. The feature is c.3m wide and c.2m high.
2 This is visible as an earthwork on Bluesky Photgrammetric Digital Terrain Model and does indeed appear to be a dam. The approxmate area of a large, roughly v shaped pond can be seen to the northeast.
 
Sources

Source No: 1
Source Type: Site Visit
Title: Site visit to Wroxall Abbey and parish by Ben Morton and Anne Morton
Author/originator: Morton B
Date: 2012
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Verbal communication
Title: Pers. Comm.
Author/originator: B Gethin
Date: 2013 onwards
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
technique Earthwork Earthworks can take the form of banks, ditches and mounds. They are usually created for a specific purpose. A bank, for example, might be the remains of a boundary between two or more fields. Some earthworks may be all that remains of a collapsed building, for example, the grassed-over remains of building foundations.

In the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky than during the other seasons, earthworks have larger shadows. From the air, archaeologists are able to see the patterns of the earthworks more easily. Earthworks can sometimes be confusing when viewed at ground level, but from above, the general plan is much clearer.

Archaeologists often carry out an aerial survey or an earthwork survey to help them understand the lumps and bumps they can see on the ground.
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period Modern The Modern Period, about 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
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period Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
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period modern About 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
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monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument RIDGE AND FURROW * A series of long, raised ridges separated by ditches used to prepare the ground for arable cultivation. This was a technique, characteristic of the medieval period. back
monument PARK * An enclosed piece of land, generally large in area, used for hunting, the cultivation of trees, for grazing sheep and cattle or visual enjoyment. Use more specific type where known. back
monument MILL * A factory used for processing raw materials. Use more specific mill type where known. See also TEXTILE MILL, for more narrow terms. back
monument FEATURE * Areas of indeterminate function. back
monument POND * A body of still water often artificially formed for a specific purpose. Use specifc type where known. back
monument MODEL * Use for miniaturized monument type. Index with actual monument type where possible. back
monument ABBEY * A religious house governed by an abbot or abbess. Use with narrow terms of DOUBLE HOUSE, MONASTERY or NUNNERY. back
monument PARISH BOUNDARY * The limit line of a parish. back
monument PASTURE * A field covered with herbage for the grazing of livestock. back
monument MILL DAM * A dam constructed across a stream to raise its water-level and make it available to power a mill wheel. back
monument STREAM * A natural flow or current of water issuing from a source. back
monument EARTHWORK * A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification. back
monument DAM * A barrier of concrete or earth, etc, built across a river to create a reservoir of water for domestic and/or industrial usage. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record