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Castle Grove: a ringwork 370m north-west of Elmdon church

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1011780
Date first listed:: 22-Oct-1992

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1011780
Date first listed:: 22-Oct-1992

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Essex
District:: Uttlesford (District Authority)
Parish:: Elmdon
National Grid Reference:: TL 45994 39981

Reasons for Designation

Ringworks are medieval fortifications built and occupied from the late Anglo-Saxon period to the later 12th century. They comprised a small defended area containing buildings which was surrounded or partly surrounded by a substantial ditch and a bank surmounted by a timber palisade or, rarely, a stone wall. Occasionally a more lightly defended embanked enclosure, the bailey, adjoined the ringwork. Ringworks acted as strongholds for military operations and in some cases as defended aristocratic or manorial settlements. They are rare nationally with only 200 recorded examples and less than 60 with baileys. As such, and as one of a limited number and very restricted range of Anglo-Saxon and Norman fortifications, ringworks are of particular significance to our understanding of the period.

Castle Grove survives well as an essentially undisturbed example of a ringwork. It will retain archaeological information pertaining to the occupation of the site and environmental evidence relating to the economy of its inhabitants and the landscape in which they lived.

Details

The monument consists of a ringwork situated on the crest of a north-east facing slope overlooking the River Cam, 370m north-west of Elmdon church. The interior contains a low mound, 45.5m in diameter and up to 1m high, with a level surface, surrounded by a perimeter bank of between 1m and 2m in height; this bank has been levelled on the south-eastern side. Surrounding the interior is a dry ditch, 12m wide and now approximately 1.5m deep.

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:: 20679
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
SMR No. 3878, Information from SMR no 3878,

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.