4.13 The Central Archaeology Service (3 of 7)
Camlet Moated Site, Borough of Enfield, conservation and management of a medieval moated site
Camlet Moated Site in the London Borough of Enfield lies midway along the ridgeway between Enfield and Hadley. Two little-recorded excavations are known to have been undertaken on the site, the second of which, in the early years of this century involved the draining of the moat. This uncovered a timber frame, comprised of two parallel oak beams, each made of two pieces of timber, linked by five cross beams, and thought to be the base of bridge. After it had been recorded, this frame was left to decay, and by 1949 only a few fragments remained. In 1997 English Heritage came to a management agreement with the owners, the London Borough of Enfield to bring the site back to a condition where the form of the monument could be seen. During clearance of the site, a previously unrecorded timber was raked out of the moat. This timber was examined and a sample sent for dendrochronological dating.
The timber appeared to be the end of a beam/thick plank with one 'fair face'. Although one end of the timber was badly eroded, as was its reverse face, the other end contained the damaged remains of what was probably a pegged tenon joint, from a diagonally set beam. Observations suggest conversion to be either a wide tangential plank or a boxed halved. The timber was dated by the Dendrochronology Laboratory at Sheffield University. It had a 95-year ring sequence dating to AD 1253 1347, with no surviving sapwood, which gives a probable felling date of sometime after AD 1357. The appearance of the timber suggests that it was integral to the bridge structure, and the felling date confirms the likely medieval date for the bridge and house.
Building recording at Bradenstoke Priory, Wiltshire
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