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were superseded by other types of castle.
Details
Believed to be a 12th century castle of the de Furnivals, the monument
comprises a motte c.18m high whose summit has been disturbed by amateur
excavation, leaving it crescent shaped in plan. During excavations in 1720,
squared tool-marked stones were found which have been interpreted as the
foundations of a tower. A deep, steep-sided ditch c.9m wide circles the motte
to the north and extends southward along the east flank of the monument,
following the south-westward curve of a substantial 8m wide rampart. At its
northern end, the rampart stops just short of the motte. At its southern end,
it curves round to meet the edge of the sharp drop down into the valley of
Rocher End Brook. This scarp forms a natural western defence to a small semi-
circular bailey measuring c.15m x 30m, though it is likely this edge was also
palisaded. A low bank running between the scarp and the motte ditch at the
northern end of the bailey is all that survives of another section of rampart.
A causeway across the motte ditch just south of this was a point of access to
the motte from the bailey. Access to the bailey seems to have been from the
south-west or, alternatively, from the east across the outer ditch, where a
route up from the village and church would have passed through the gap between
motte and rampart. A ditch also divides the bailey from the east rampart.
Modern walling and fencing is excluded from the scheduling though the ground
beneath is included.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
13212
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals
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
