Bradwell castle mound: a motte and bailey castle 80m north east of St. Lawrence's Church.

Reasons for Designation

Motte castles are medieval fortifications introduced into Britain by the Normans. They comprised a large conical mound of earth or rubble, the motte, surmounted by a palisade and a stone or timber tower. In a majority of examples an embanked enclosure containing additional buildings, the bailey, adjoined the motte. Motte castles and motte-and-bai1ey castles acted as garrison forts during offensive military operations, as strongholds, and, in many cases, as aristocratic residences and as centres of local or royal administration. Built in towns, villages and open countryside, motte castles generally occupied strategic positions dominating their immediate locality and, as a result, are the most visually impressive monuments of the early post-Conquest period surviving in the modern landscape. Over 600 motte castles and motte-and-bailey castles are recorded nationally, with examples known from most regions. Some 100-150 examples do not have baileys and are classified as motte castles. As one of a restricted range of recognised early post-Conquest monuments, they are particularly important for the study of Norman Britain and the development of the feudal system. Although many were occupied for only a short period of time, motte castles continued to be built and occupied from the 11th to the 13th centuries, after which they were superseded by other types of castle.

Bradwell Castle mound survives comparatively well as an earthwork and is significant in understanding the historical development of the area. It is one of a group of monuments, including a moated manor house, Bradwell Abbey and the parish church, which, when considered together, give valuable indications of the social, economic and religious organisation within the medieval period.

Details

The monument includes a small motte and bailey castle some 0.5 hectares in area situated in close proximity to St Lawrence's Church, Old Bradwell. Central to the monument is the motte or castle mound, which survives as a turf covered earthwork 22m in diameter and up to 2.3m high. Depressions in the surface of the motte are believed to have been made during attempts to construct an air raid shelter during World War II. The remains of a once encircling ditch survive around the west and south of the mound as a spread hollow 5m wide and 0.3m deep, the remaining portion surviving as a buried feature. A small bailey survives to the west of the motte, defined by a scarp up to 0.7m high, running for a distance of 36m some 20m from the mound edge. All buildings, boundary features and metalled surfaces are excluded from the scheduling though the ground beneath is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

19002

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
SMR NO: 3621, Bucks SMR, Castle/Motte,
SAM record FMW report, HBMC, Bradwell castle mound,

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