Page 7 - Moons Moat

Moons Moat Redditch Heritage

Moons Moat

Forward

The district of Moon's Moat is an industrial and business estate in the north east of
Redditch between Church Hill and Winyates. Many people work in, or visit, the Moon’s
Moat industrial area of Redditch without realising the origin of the name. Indeed the first
twenty years I lived in the town, I was busy working outside the area and just thought
its an unusual name.

I now know that the district takes its name from an ancient moated homestead located
in Church Hill South area of the New Town. Luckily, during the development of Redditch
New Town the site was sympathetically incorporated into the town expansion and now
sits as a green oasis in popular residential district.

But how much do we know about the site. Well the answer is not a lot and every
investigation throws up more questions than answers.

We know it was founded back to the 12th century, abandoned during the seventeenth
century and subsequently has been robbed of building materials and become overgrown
with trees. The house was built on the site in the fourteenth century but traces exist of
earlier settlements. Extensive rebuilding was carried out in the sixteenth century and the
moat was re-cut to its present form. Traces of a wooden bridge on stone piers have been
found crossing the moat on its north side.

Archaeological digs were carried out between 1969 and 1974 in an attempt to uncover
some of the mysteries of the site but there is still a lot we do not know. Who Built it?,
Why was it located deep in a wooded area away from the main tracks and roads? What
did the house look like and why was it abandoned?

The island was surrounded by a perimeter wall of sandstone and the same material
appears to have been used as foundations as the timber framing of the house, which
had a floor of plain earth and a tiled roof. Some pieces of patterned masonry found on
the site are thought to have come from Bordesley Abbey.

On the more romantic side, the site is believed to be haunted by the ghost of Lady Mohun
who is said to appear on or near to the site on the eve of St Agnes (21 January). There
is some folklore and history associated with the site concerning a suicide and a murder
which may explain the ghost story.

Moons Moat is now scheduled as an Ancient Monument and its future has been
championed by the Moon’s Moat Conservation Group supported by Heritage Lottery
funding. This book is a welcome addition to support of the site and it attempts to set
out both the facts and fiction of the site with words by Ralph Richardson, a well respected
local historian and illustration by Zora Payne, a talented local artist.

Please read, enjoy, understand and make up your own mind about what is fact and what
is fiction.

Derek Coombes

Redditch Local History Society

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