Moated Site North West of Bertholey House

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The monument comprises the earthworks of a rectangular moated enclosure of probable medieval date. It is located on low lying ground on the first gravel terrace of the eastern bank of the Usk, just below its highest navigable point at Newbridge. It measures approximately 39m NE-SW by 35m and consists of a platform defined by a upstanding bank with raised and unusual rounded corners, rising up to 1.5m above the exterior and the silted up remains of a broad ditch. The causewayed gap in the middle of the southern side may not be an original entrance and the interior is level and featureless. Interpretations range from a Roman military work to a Civil War fortification but it is more likely to be the site of the medieval manor house of 'Brethelly' or Bertholey which was held from the Clares in 1295 for half a knight's fee under the lordship of Usk along with a nearby ferry across the river.

The monument is of national importance a well preserved and relatively rare example of a Welsh medieval moated site. It has high potential to retain significant structural remains and associated deposits containing artefactual and environmental evidence for its construction, development, function and contemporary material culture and landscape. The site is periodically flooded and there us some potential for waterlogged deposits. It formed an important element of the wider medieval landscape, including the ruins of the late medieval chapel of St Bartholomew which occupies the higher ground on the valley slopes 250m to the ESE.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described above and the area around them within which related remains might be expected to survive. It is rectangular in plan and measures approximately 89m NE-SW by 100m.