Investigations on a Medieval Moated Site at Hall Orchard, Fulbourn: An Archaeological Training Dig

This report concerns the archaeological investigation of the moated site at Hall Orchard in Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire. The project forms part of wider research on the Fulbourn Manor Estate and environs by Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeological Field Unit and Fulbourn Village History Society.
The excavation of the Hall Orchard site had a number of aims including: contributing to research about the medieval origins of Fulbourn; confirming that the site is medieval in origin; gathering information to inform future management plans; and allowing the local and wider community to become closely involved in the project.
The investigations were carried out over two summer seasons and included limited hand excavation of seven small areas of between four and thirty square metres each.
Investigations in the moat ditch showed that it had been regularly scoured and that limited archaeological remains are preserved. However, details about the water management and construction method for the moat platform including evidence of a possible timber bridge, were revealed.
Excavations on the moat platform revealed evidence for stone and timber buildings including a stone built house that may have been two storeys high with an internal chapel, and a kitchen with oven, adjacent midden and drains.
A fine assemblage of painted 14th century glass coupled with roofing material including glazed tiles and decorative finials suggests that the house was owned by someone of high status. Other finds indicative of wealth and high status include a black mineral bead, small silver fittings, a silver finger ring, and a 17th century hooked clothing tag. Pottery includes a high percentage of ceramic glazed wares along with less usual items such as a bottle with a small spigot hole, bunghole cisterns and a curfew. Animal bones showing that species such as halibut, pheasant and pigeon squabs were eaten by the inhabitants of this site also attest to their high status. Other finds such as a fragment of a horseshoe, an iron harness buckle and a barbed hunting arrowhead show that the inhabitants and visitors to the house enjoyed leisure pursuits such as riding and hunting. The pottery recovered shows that the site was occupied continuously from the 13th to the 17th century.