the great table, with similar arcading facing it at the opposite end of the hall. The hall was probably linked by doors to the service block to the north, which was internally in size and contained a pantry and a buttery. A separate kitchen building stood beyond the service block, positioned across a small, enclosed courtyard to reduce the fire risk to the main building. A wide moat was dug around the site in the mid-13th century, creating an island approximately across internally, accessed by a bridge to the west. The moat was not intended to actually defend the site, but would have aesthetically framed the view of the house within it for anyone approaching the property, highlighting the wealth of its owners. 14th–21st centuries The male line of the Plais family died out in the late 14th century, and Weeting Castle passed to Sir John Howard, the Earl of Norfolk, through his marriage to Margaret Plais. The manor house was left to fall into ruin, until in 1770 it became an ornamental feature in the grounds of the nearby Weeting Hall, a country house rebuilt by Charles Henry Coote, the Earl of Mountrath. In 1926, the Ministry of Labour purchased Weeting Hall for use as a residential work camp, and acquired Weeting Castle as part of the estate. As part of their instruction, the trainees were deployed to clear the castle of undergrowth. Weeting Hall was demolished in 1954, but its ice house still survives on the island, comprising a brick and earthen mound, around across, which was originally used to store ice harvested from the moat. Archaeological excavations were undertaken at the site between 1964 and 1966 by the Ministry of Public Works, and the remaining stonework was consolidated. Some of the rubble core of the chamber block and the hall survive today, along with fragments of the ashlar stone; parts of the service block's foundations have also survived, but nothing remains of the kitchen above ground. The moat still partially floods in winter, and the site is now accessed by an earth causeway in the north-west corner, possibly dating to the creation of the nearby hall in the 18th century. The castle is managed by English Heritage and is open to visitors. The historians Brian Cushion and Alan Davison consider the castle's design to form "a very fine example of an early medieval house", and the heritage