Keep of Tote Copse castle, 400m north of Decoy Farmhouse

Reasons for Designation

Motte 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-bai1ey 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 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 and motte-and-bailey castles are recorded nationally, with examples known from most regions. Some 100-150 examples do not have baileys and are classified as motte castles. 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of time, motte castles continued to be built and occupied from the 11th to the 13th centuries, after which they were superseded by other types of castle.

At Tote Copse castle, although only the foundations and lower walls of the keep of the castle and some of the motte survive, these features still retain significant archaeological potential, for example for the study of building techniques of the Norman period. The keep was at the centre of a well- documented castle site which had associations with the bishops of Chichester for several centuries.

Details

The monument includes part of the buried remains of Tote Copse castle, the
rest of which was seriously damaged (having been partially excavated) in
1962. The surviving mound measures 20m by 10m and stands some 2.4m high. It
represents part of a large mound, or motte, of clay which had been raised
around the base of a central building of the castle, the keep.
The foundations and walls of the western side of the keep within the mound
comprise shaped blocks of Mixon limestone, with more carefully carved Caen
stone for the slim buttresses which strengthened the wall. The eastern
corner of the keep had been robbed of its stone during the Middle Ages and
does not survive. In the cellar of the keep was a well 8.5m deep, and at the
south-western corner was a little-used cess pit, both integral parts of the
keep.
Historical evidence and artefacts from the excavation showed that the castle
had been built in the first half of the 12th century by Seffrid de Escures,
the Bishop of Chichester, at this site near his palace and at the hub of his
Aldingbourne estate.

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:

12886

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Brewster, T C M, A, , Tote Copse Castle, Aldingbourne, Sussex, (1969)

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