Medieval Cockayne Hatley

Aerial photography reveals what appears to be a medieval moated site to the north-east of the village, although it could be of an earlier date. A moated sub-rectangular enclosure can be seen, with a block of larger rectilinear enclosures attached to the north and east. An 1826 map shows a T-shaped pond in this area within a field named as “Home Close” - as there are no other farms in the vicinity to explain this name, it presumably refers to the vanished moated property which once stood there. Further aerial photography carried out in 2012 shows the rectilinear enclosures as cropmarks. The outer enclosure is formed of a broad ditch, and the inner enclosure has a narrow ditch. (Heritage Environment Record number 16852). Land features also indicate a possible moat around Home Farm, also known as Cockayne Hatley Hall (Heritage Environment Record number 3891). It seems possible that when the Hall was built by the Cockayne family in the 15th century it replaced an earlier manor house at the site to the north-east.  

Archaeological work on the historic settlement core at Cockayne Hatley was carried out in 2010. This revealed a re-cut boundary ditch dating from the early medieval period, contemporary with the earliest parts of the church of St John the Baptist which date from the 12th century. Residual early medieval pottery derived from later deposits suggests other features and activity may have been located in this area, which is adjacent to the main road through the village, to the west of Village Farm. Late medieval pits are clustered in a way which suggests that the earlier land division remained intact (Heritage Environment Record number 17166). 

A windmill mound, presumed to be the site of a medieval mill, was recorded on aerial photographs in 1953, in a field in the south-east of the parish close to the county boundary with Cambridgeshire. The field is known as Mill Field, and was formerly Mill Furlong. Old trackways, possibly millways, lead to this site from Cockayne Hatley, East Hatley and Tadlow (Heritage Environment Record number 1616).