The Moat House

I drove up a lane in Meriden this morning that I'd never been up before. I was going in search of the church as the lane was called Church Lane. I found the church, but was more intrigued by this beautiful house opposite. It is called The Moat House and is an old moated farmhouse. east of the church. This is what I found out about it when I Googled it on my return home:

'The west end of the south wing, of old framing covered with rough-cast cement, is dated 1609 in the gable-head, but the house is probably of 16th-century or earlier origin. The whole west and north sides were rough-casted, but it is now partly stripped in the main block and inner faces of the wings, revealing ancient close-set studding to both stories, on stone foundations. The middle entrance has an ancient door hung with ornamental strap-hinges. The north side and the upper story of the east front are of similar framing: the lower story of the last is partly of red sandstone and partly brick, the south side all of brick. The lower rooms have chamfered beams. Story-posts show in the walls inside, but there is no visible evidence to date the roof trusses. A central chimney-stack has wide fire-places back to back; the shaft above is square with a square pilaster on each face. Another stack in the south wing has three diagonal shafts. Around the house and farm-buildings is a moat, mostly dry.

From: 'Parishes: Meriden', A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4: Hemlingford Hundred (1947), pp. 147-155.