Motte and bailey castle, deserted village and monastic grange at Old Wolverton

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of time, motte castles continued to be built and occupied from the 11th to the 13th centuries, after which they were superseded by other types of castle.

The village, comprising a small group of houses, gardens, yards, streets, paddocks, often with a green, a manor and a church, and with a community devoted primarily to agriculture, was a significant component of the rural landscape in most areas of medieval England, much as it is today. Villages provided some services to the local community and acted as the main focal point of ecclesiastical, and often of manorial, administration within each parish. Although the sites of many of these villages have been occupied continuously down to the present day, many others declined in size or were abandoned throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries. As a result over 2000 deserted medieval villages are recorded nationally. The reasons for desertion were varied but often reflected declining economic viability, changes in land use such as enclosure or emparkment, or population fluctuations as a result of widespread epidemics such as the Black Death. As a consequence of their abandonment these villages are frequently undisturbed by later occupation and contain well- preserved archaeological deposits. Because they are a common and long-lived monument type in most parts of England, they provide important information on the diversity of medieval settlement patterns and farming economy between the regions and through time. A monastic grange was a farm owned and run by a monastic community and independent of the secular manorial system of communal agriculture and servile consumption within the parent monastic house itself, and also to provide surpluses for sale for profit. The first monastic granges appeared in the 12th century but they continued to be constructed and used until the Dissolution. This system of agriculture was pioneered by the Cistercian order but was soon imitated by other orders. Some granges were worked by resident lay-brothers (secular workers) of the order but others were staffed by non-resident labourers. The majority of granges practised a mixed economy but some were specialist in their function. Five types of grange are known: agrarian farms, bercaries (sheep farms), vaccaries (cattle ranches), horse studs and industrial complexes. A monastery might have more than one grange and the wealthiest houses had many. Frequently a grange was established on lands immediately adjacent to the monastery, this being known as the home grange. Other granges, however, could be found wherever the monastic site held lands. On occasion these could be located at some considerable distance from the parent monastery. Granges are broadly comparable with contemporary secular farms although the wealth of the parent house was frequently reflected in the size of the grange and the layout and architectural embellishment of the buildings. Additionally, because of their monastic connection, granges tend to be much better documented than their secular counterparts. No region was without monastic granges. The exact number of sites which originally existed is not precisely known but can be estimated, on the basis of numbers of monastic sites, at several thousand. Of these, however, only a small percentage can be accurately located on the ground today. Of this group of identifiable sites, continued extensive use of many has destroyed much of the evidence of archaeological remains. In view of the importance of granges to medieval rural and monastic life, all sites exhibiting good archaeological survival are identified as nationally important. Old Wolverton presents a particularly well preserved medieval landscape with an unusual variety of surviving components including a motte-and- bailey castle, a deserted village, a monastic grange and earlier buried remains of the Roman and Saxon periods. In the medieval period both this village and the parish were large and important and the castle was the seat of the Norman lords of Wolverton. The significance of the monument is further enhanced by the presence of earlier Roman remains and, particularly, by the evidence for early medieval occupation.

Details

The monument consists of two areas of earthworks and buried remains at Old Wolverton divided by a canal. The northern area lies around the Manor Farm and the southern area around Holy Trinity church. In the southern area the Norman motte and bailey castle lies just to the north of the deserted village and to the east of Holy Trinity church. Adjacent to the mound of the castle motte is the bailey area in which stood a variety of buildings serving the castle. The deserted village next to the castle survives as extensive and well preserved earthworks within which roadways, house platforms, boundaries and field systems can be clearly identified. The second area to the north east and separated by the canal consists of earthworks surrounding the Manor Farm. Hollow trackways, a pond, building platforms and field systems can be identified and documentary records indicate that this area contains the remains of an agrarian monastic grange of the Gilbertine order. The site of the grange buildings is considered to be overlain by modern farm buildings. Buried remains of a Roman building have been found east of Manor Cottages. Roman and Saxon coins and metalwork have also been found in the area. All the farm buildings within the two areas are excluded from the scheduling but below ground remains are included. Holy Trinity Church, its surrounding churchyard, and the vicarage which lies to the south of the castle, are totally excluded from the scheduling.

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:

13609

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
The Victoria History of the County of Wolverton, (1927), 505-9
Sheahan, J J, History and Topography of Bucks, (1863)

Other
Cambridge University, Old Wolverton, CIM 65,
Deed No. 129, Bucks Rec Soc, Snelshall Cartulary (13th century),
Cambridge University, Old Wolverton DMV, CIM 73 & 68,

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