Little Loughton Manor, Buckinghamshire, Evaluation (OASIS ID: cotswold2-184902)

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in May 2014 at Little Loughton Manor, Loughton, Milton Keynes. Six trenches were excavated within the proposed development footprint. Little Loughton Manor was in existence by the time of the Domesday Survey. The manor farmhouse itself is a grade II* listed building. It was rebuilt around AD 1500, replacing the earlier manor house on the site. Nothing is known of the medieval building, other than that it was probably moated. The evaluation recorded a series of ditches and postholes. These were mainly undated, but one of them contained medieval pottery. It is likely that these features relate to activity within the curtilage of the 15th-century manor house and its medieval antecedent, although their exact functions are uncertain. One trench contained a series of "made ground" deposits to a depth of 1m below the present ground level. It is possible that these layers represent backfilling of moat earthworks associated with the medieval manor house.