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Going back a little further, there is another consideration. At the time of the Norman Conquest it was considered very important for the invading French to establish their authority and to this end they built well defended manorial sites all over the place. If you go up the hill from Silverley towards Ashley, you will see 2 wooded areas to your right, one about 500m across the field and the other nearer 900m. The sites are called “Sylhall” and “Geysnes” respectively.
They are what are known as ‘Medieval Moated Sites’. Now then, don’t run away with the idea that the only things to have moats in Norman times were huge manor houses. Often, a moat was used as either a defensive mechanism or as a demonstration of authority and around such places as livestock yards or cultivated areas. Sylhall, closest to the road, is the largest and the name seems to be a corruption of Silverley Hall, suggesting this might indeed have been a Manor House. The moat is 11m wide by 3m deep.
There are 3 areas considered to be the sites of buildings and the site, although not accurately dated, would probably have been constructed around 1200. Geysnes, the smaller site, has an even bigger moat, some 16m wide by 3m deep. This site is laid out to strongly suggest a garden or herbary separated from buildings. Again, very likely to be a moated hall and probably dating from around 1200. The name comes from the De Guisnes family who held the manor of Ashley between 1166 and 1303 and this presents another anomaly. Firstly, it is generally accepted the 2 sites had no connection and stood in different parishes. Secondly, Norman families would often attempt to anglicise themselves by adopted a new name taken from the area in which they lived, so we have a family probably living in an area called Geysns.
I’ve never heard of it, but Geysns is the name of an old established farming manor in Wickhambrook. By the way, please excuse the various spellings of “Geysns”. It has changed over the years. So; what have we got? The small village of Silverley, overlooked by the imposing Silverley Hall, and Geysnes not 500m away, overlooking. . . . . what? Given it’s proximity to the old St Mary’s Church, I would suggest there was a substantial population centre there, otherwise why would the Normans want to make this statement of authority with the moated Geysnes site? The whole issue of these 2 sites casts a completely new light on the whole area.
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