b'churchyard (which is shown on the picture above).with respect to the regular income it provided.Before proceeding it would help to have an ideaA concern expressed about the area that the moat of when a moat in that position would have beenwould have enclosed is that it would be too small for constructed and there are two possibilities to considerany kind of Manor House. But a visual check of the first:photograph suggests that it would have been possible 1.It predates the Palace site which we assumeto encompass a building the size of the current church was constructed during the 13th century with room to spare. Surely that would have justified 2.It postdates the Palace site which we assumethe existence of the moat? fell into disuse during the 14th century My own working assumption on the moat was That line of reasoning suggests construction duringthat it predated the Palace site until I looked at the the 12th century (or earlier) or during the 15th centuryfavoured period for moat construction. It seems (or later). Both dates are at the extremes of moatmuch more likely that the two sites, each with construction according to one noted expert 3 , with themoats, were in some way concurrent. The joint latter being slightly less likely than the former. roles of Archbishops and Treasurers with respect With those dates open to question, anotherto Wilton make it a distinct possibility. But whereas possibility is that the moat by the church wasthe Archbishops probably ceased to visit in the 14th constructed either at the same time as the moatcentury the Treasurers continued in order to oversee round the Palace site or while it was being used bytheir interests as lords of the manor, at least up until the Archbishops of York. Given that the ArchbishopsHenry VIII intervened.visited Wilton at the time when the Treasurers ofAll of which does not preclude an earlier unmoated York Minster held the prebend that is not as unlikelysite having existed.as it seems. We do know that the Treasurer of YorkAt this point it is worth noting that the Minster, Martyn Collins, left a will in 1508 that had anarchaeological record for the site at the SMR identifies inventory attached that listed rooms and belongingsthe feature as a moat as does the current 1:25000 OS in the Manor House by the church and it would havemap! been the Treasurers who acted as lords of the manor 3The Moated Sites of Yorkshire by H. E. Jean Le Patourel. Published by The Society For MedievalArchaeology. London 1973.The Dating of the Palace SiteUpdateMike PrattS ince the publication of the article on the dating of889-8942 ). The pond at Fossa, Fosse or the Palace site in Bulletin 9 a significant fragmentFoss seems to have been largely used for of historical information has come to light. Whilststocking other peoples ponds or simply as researching an article on the fish ponds I was readinga source for royal presents. The sheriff of what seems to be the most comprehensive collectionYork was to allow the archbishop of York 30 of papers on the topic, Medieval Fish, Fisheries andbream in the fishpond of Fossa to install in Fishponds in England edited by Michael Aston 1 . Inhis fishpond of Wiltan (Cal Cl. R. 1227-31, a paper entitled The Royal Fishponds of Medievalp.193). [my underlining]England by J. M. Stearne there is a Gazeteer thatThe Wiltan mentioned here has to be our Wilton gives information on the pond at Fosse, as follows: and the date of the reference underlined, 1227-The castle at York occupied a site just to31, falls within the period that Walter De Grey was the north of the point where the river FossArchbishop of York. The fishpond of Wiltan (the joins the Ouse. To provide it with wateroutline of which is still visible) must have been an defences the Foss was dammed up andintegral part of the Palace site of the time i.e. it would created a large pool. Water from the Fossenot have existed without the other structures on the pool filled the moat surrounding the castlesite. All of which supports the outcome of Andrew and drove the kings mill as it flowed intoSeftons research which attributes the establishment the river Ouse (Brown, et. al 1963, pp.of the Palace site to Archbishop De Grey. 1Part 1 (of 2), published in 1988 by B.A.R.British Series 182(i).2Brown, R. Allen, Colvin, H. M. and Taylor, A.J. 1963, The History of the Kings Works Volumes 1 and 2The Middle AgesHMSO, London3From the Calendar of Close Rolls at the National Archives (PRO), Kew. Andrew Sefton has found apublished transcription of the entry in Latin that is dated March 13, 1228.BULLETIN 10 153'