2011

TG2604 : Moated site, Arminghall

taken 13 years ago, near to Arminghall, Norfolk, England

Moated site, Arminghall
Moated site, Arminghall
The moat surrounds the remains of Bixley Hall. Bixley Hall is situated in the grounds Bixley Estate which is owned by the Colman family. The Hall was built by the Ward family who settled there in the mid sixteenth century and lived here for 200 years. The Hall was rebuilt over the following centuries and then passed by marriage from the Wards to the Earls of Rosebery, principal landowners and lords of the manor in the parish. By the time it was acquired by Russell James Colman, the eldest son of Jeremiah James Colman (one of the partners in the family mustard business at Stoke Holy Cross), the house had become so ruinous that it had to be pulled down at some time in the 19th century. Today only a few walls remain on the moated site situated about one kilometre to the south-east of the church of St Wandregesilius > Link - Bixley's former parish church that was destroyed by fire in May 2004.
The deserted medieval village of Bixley

The parish of Bixley is located to the south-east of Norwich. Its name is derived from the Old English term for box wood grove. Three villages existed within the parish in medieval times: Bixley, Arminghall and Belhaw, each with its own church. Of the three, only Arminghall has survived.

Not much is known about the village of Bixley, which spread out between the church of St Wandregesilius, then a small chapel, in the north and Bixley Hall, further to the south. In what today is a large sheep pasture, a number of earthworks can still be discerned in the vicinity of the church and several house and building platforms, ponds and banked and ditched boundaries have been identified. One of the holloways runs parallel to the old course of the Norwich to Bungay Road and another extends south-westwards from the church. At least four of the ponds were expanded for clay and gravel extraction.

The Bixley Estate is currently owned by the Colman family. Bixley Hall was built by the Ward family who settled there in the mid sixteenth century and lived here for 200 years. By the 19th century the house had become so dilapidated that it had to be pulled down. Today only a few walls - see Link and Link - remain on the moated site situated about one kilometre to the south-east of the village church.

The medieval chapel which until the 16th century stood at the location of the current church, dedicated to St Wandregesilius, was situated on a pilgrim route and contained an important statue of the saint. The current church dates from the 1860s, with the only part originating from the old chapel being the body of the tower. The church stands at the end of a track turning off the busy B1332 (Norwich Road). The historian Arthur Mee describes a simple screen with tracery above bays open to the floor and memorials to the Wards, one of Bixley's old families, and he mentions an Elizabethan monument depicting a sculptured group in prayer. All this went up in smoke in May 2004, when the church was destroyed by a fire, believed to have been started deliberately. 15 years later, nothing seems to have come of the plans for rebuilding the church.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Evelyn Simak and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Category: Moat
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Surrounds the Remains of Bixley Hall [2] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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Grid Square
TG2604, 17 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Evelyn Simak   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Saturday, 9 April, 2011   (more nearby)
Submitted
Saturday, 9 April, 2011
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TG 261 043 [100m precision]
WGS84: 52:35.4034N 1:20.2262E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TG 261 044
View Direction
Southeast (about 135 degrees)
Clickable map
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W Go E
SW S SE
Image classification(about): Geograph
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