Castle Hill, a motte and bailey castle 900m NNE of All Saint's Church

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of time, motte castles continued to be built and occupied from the 11th to the 13th centuries, after which they were superseded by other types of castle.

Castle Hill motte survives comparatively well as an earthwork and is significant in the historical development of the area.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a motte and bailey castle situated in a defensive position on the edge of a low hill overlooking ground falling to the north. The motte itself survives well as a roughly circular mound 30m in diameter, slightly truncated around the south-east quarter where a modern road encroaches on the base of the mound. It stands up to 6m high on the north- west side and 4m high on the south-east side. The top of the mound has been disturbed by the line of an old trench 0.5m deep which runs roughly east to west, splitting the mound summit to give a double lobed appearance. There is no trace of the surrounding ditch from which the material for the construction of the mound was quarried, though this probably survives as a buried feature c.5m wide. To the north-east of the mound is a low curving scarp 0.4m high which runs for some 30m before being truncated by the line of the modern High Street. A second curving scarp up to 1m high runs roughly north from the base of the mound for some 40m. These scarps are considered to be associated with an original bailey.

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:

19057

Legacy System:

RSM

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