The Cressys inherited the estate from Torald de Lisoriis who held it about the time of the Domesday Survey (and they must have had a mansion here) for it is known that 2 kings stayed there (John in 1215 and 1216 and Edward I in 1280 and 1291). The moat belongs to the time of the Cressys. (1)
The moat is very large but badly mutilated by landscape gardening. It is dry except for ornamental streams fed from the large fishpond which now takes the place of the S angle. The best preserved portion is at the N. (2)
Hodsock Prior Gatehouse is the earliest surviving building on a moated manorial site of medieval origins. The manor of Hodsock, mentioned in Domesday. The manor house was described in 1324 as ‘surrounded on all sides by a moat, within which there are one hall, three chambers, a panty, a buttery, a kitchen, a bakehouse, a granary, two barns, a chapel, two stables [and] a chamber over the bridge with a portcullis and a drawbridge. The larger complex of which the gatehouse formed part was noted c1538 by John Leland who described ‘a park caullid Hodsak wher Master Clifton hath a fair house’. (3)
See M8747 for P Med house, M8748 for gatehouse, M8749 for chapel, M 17234 for bridge.

<1> Thoroton Society, 1938, TTS, pp 25-7 (Published document). SNT355.

<2> Wardale CF, 1959, Pers Comm (Personal comment). SNT1394.

<3> RCHME, 1996, Hodsock Priory Gatehouse and Bridge (Published document). SNT1855.