Motte and bailey castle in Cockroad Wood

Reasons for Designation

Motte and bailey 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-bailey 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 and bailey 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 or motte-and-bailey castles are recorded nationally, with examples known from most regions. 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of time, motte castles continued to be built and occupied from the 11th to the 13th centuries, after which they were superseded by other types of castle.

The site in Cockroad Wood survives as a particularly intact and undisturbed example of the class, and is one of a number of motte and bailey castles in the area.

Details

The monument includes a motte and bailey castle on the western edge of a summit outlying the hills of the Somerset/Wiltshire border. The site would have commanded extensive views although it is at present surrounded by conifer plantation. The castle includes a motte lying on the east edge of the site between two external baileys, the larger rectangular bailey on the level ground to the south and a small sub-triangular bailey sloping down to the north-west. The motte is a conical mound 6m-7.5m high and c.13m broad on the top, with an uneven surface, and is ditched except on the steep west side. The rectangular bailey has an internal area of 0.3 ha., defended by a bank 1.5m high internally and a ditch 1.5m-2m deep externally, with a counterscarp bank up to 1m high on the south-west. The defences become a scarp and terrace on the steeper west side. On the far side of the ramparts from the motte there is a projecting terrace between the bank and ditch, and it is possible that this formed an abutment for a bridge. The bailey is subdivided by internal banks, or perhaps raised walkways, into three smaller areas, at the junction of which is a slight platform. The smaller bailey encloses 0.07 ha within a bank up to 1.5m high, a ditch up to 1.5m deep, and a counterscarp bank up to 1m high. The banks of the baileys separate them from the ditched motte. The bailey defences adjoin on the west and run up to the motte either side of a neck of ground. There are no obvious entrances to the castle, suggesting the use of bridges, walkways and steps. There is another motte and bailey castle 2.5km to the east in Wiltshire, and a possible site at Ballands Castle 1.5km to the south-east. The castle was in the medieval parish of Wincanton, the manor of which, together with Castle Cary and Bridgwater (both with a castle), was held at the time of the Domesday survey by Walter of Douai. By the reign of Henry II the hills in which Cockroad Wood castle was situated had become a royal forest and the castle would have been redundant.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

24018

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Aston, M, Burrow, I (eds), The Archaeology of Somerset, (1982), 125

Other
Dunning, Dr R, (1993)

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