Reasons for Designation
The medieval earthwork known as Cumberland's Mount or Cromwell's Mount is
of an unusual kind and excavation has shown that it is of medieval date. It
has significance, also, for the study of the history and use of Staverton
Park, which is believed to have been created as a deer park at some time
between the later 11th and mid-13th centuries. The situation of the earthwork
within the park, together with the evidence of date, suggests that the
enclosure had a specialised use connected with deer management. The monument
survives well and will retain important archaeological evidence, further to
that recorded in the very limited excavation of 1910, concerning its
construction and its function when in use. Evidence of the local environment,
at the time of and prior to its use, will also be preserved in the soils
buried beneath the banks and in the fill of the ditches.
Details
The monument, which is also known locally as Cromwell's Mount, is located at
or close to the northern boundary of Staverton Park as shown in a map of 1601.
It includes an earthwork situated near the foot of a gentle north-facing
slope and backing onto a peat-filled valley, now drained. The earthwork is
most visible as a low, curving bank and external ditch, facing the slope and
defining the south, west and east sides of a D-shaped semi-enclosure whose
internal dimensions are approximately 60m north west - south east by 38m north
east - south west. A further, slighter, outer bank and ditch are also visible
to the south. The inner bank, constructed largely of sand quarried from the
ditch, has slumped over the inner edge of the ditch but survives to a maximum
height of 1m on the south side, diminishing to north west and north east. The
ditch, which has become partly infilled and is now between 0.5m and 1m deep
below ground surface level, has been shown by limited excavations carried out
in 1910 to have been originally shallow and flat-bottomed, measuring 7m-9m
wide and about 1.2m deep. The width of bank and ditch together is between 15m
and 25m. Approximately 15m to the south of the outer edge of the ditch and
parallel to it is another, slighter bank approximately 0.3m high and a second
ditch, originally about 5m wide and of similar depth to the first, now marked
by a hollow 0.4m deep in the ground surface. These have a combined width of
approximately 15m north - south and extend over approximately 80m east-west.
The overall dimensions of the earthworks are approximately 92m east-west by
85m north-south. On the south side of the earthwork is an entrance, marked
by a gap in the centre of the inner bank and a corresponding causeway across
the ditch. There is no evidence of earthworks on the north side of the
enclosure, which would have been bounded by the marshy ground of the valley
bottom. Evidence of medieval occupation includes pottery, chiefly of 12th
and 13th century date, which was found by exavation in deposits within the
enclosure and underlying the bank and, more recently, by fieldwalking of the
interior.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
21295
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
