Castle Hill fortified manor

Reasons for Designation

Fortified manors are the residences of the lesser nobility and the richer burgesses and date from the late twelfth century and throughout the rest of the Middle Ages. Generally they comprise a hall and residential wing, domestic ranges, and fortifications such as a moat or,crenellated wall or both. Although the fortified manor at Castle Hill has been robbed of its stone and partially disturbed by ploughing, the remains are nevertheless reasonably well preserved. In addition to the tower and perimeter wall, the buried remains of fourteenth and fifteenth century domestic and ancillary buildings will be retained on the platform.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a fourteenth century fortified manor house which records suggest was built either by Robert de Stuteville or John Darcy. It includes a levelled rectangular platform situated south of the parish church of St Wilfred and measures 60m from north to south by 50m east to west. The platform is steeply scarped on the east side where it drops from c.7m high at the north end to c.4m high at the south end. Here the scarp turns in a right-angle westward and extends along the south side of the platform for c.10m before levelling out. At the south-west corner there is a sub-circular mound with a diameter of 16m from north to south by 13m from east to west. It is flat-topped and stands 2.5m high and represents the remains of a tower built into the perimeter wall of the manor. The base of this wall can be seen extending northwards from the mound as a low bank along the west side of the platform. It would also have extended along the north side, where it has been replaced by the existing wall of the churchyard, and along the east side where it surmounted the edge of the scarp. It is not yet clear whether it extended beyond the end of the scarp on the south side since this area has been disturbed by ploughing. Another possibility is that the gate into the fortified manor stood next to the tower on this side. The entire wall would have been crenellated which is the reason why the monument is inaccurately termed a castle. It is not yet known when the site was abandoned but it was still in use in 1466 when it passed by marriage from the Darcy family to the Conyers.

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:

13397

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
The Victoria History of the County of Nottinghamshire: Volume I, (1906), 303
Transactions of the Thoroton Society in Transactions of the Thoroton Society: Volume 1, 1897, Vol. 1, (1897), 72-3

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