A large piece of masonry was encountered during the unmonitored excavation of a service trench within the walls of the fortified manor house in 1997. The stone work consisted of roughly hewn Kentish ragstone blocks bonded together with a pinkish shelly lime mortar. The wall probably forms part of the foundation of an adulterine keep/castle destroyed in 1174. An examination of the sections of the trench showed no other archaeological features. No artefacts were recovered from the spoil. After recording the masonry was removed under archaeological supervision.