Reasons for Designation
A tower keep castle is a strongly fortified residence in which the keep is the
principal defensive feature. The keep may be free-standing or surrounded by a
defensive enclosure; they are normally square in shape, although other shapes
are known. Internally they have several floors providing accommodation of
various types. If the keep has an attached enclosure this will normally be
defined by a defensive wall, frequently with an external ditch. Access into
the enclosure was provided by a bridge across the ditch, allowing entry via a
gatehouse. Additional buildings, including stabling for animals and workshops,
may be found within the enclosure. Tower keep castles were built throughout
the medieval period, from immediately after the Norman Conquest to the mid-
15th century, with a peak in the middle of the 12th century. A few were
constructed on the sites of earlier earthwork castle types but most were new
creations. They provided strongly fortified residences for the king or leading
families and occur in both urban or rural situations. Tower keep castles are
widely dispersed throughout England with a major concentration on the Welsh
border. They are rare nationally with only 104 recorded examples. Considerable
diversity of form is exhibited with no two examples being exactly alike. With
other castle types, they are major medieval monument types which, belonging to
the highest levels of society, frequently acted as major administrative
centres and formed the foci for developing settlement patterns. Castles
generally provide an emotive and evocative link to the past and can provide a
valuable educational resource, both with respect to medieval warfare and
defence, and to wider aspects of medieval society. All examples retaining
significant remains of medieval date are considered to be nationally
important.
Details
The monument includes the upstanding and buried remains of Greenhalgh Castle,
an area of cultivation terraces immediately to the south east of the castle,
and the site and buried remains of Greenhalgh manor house which preceded
the castle. It is located on the top of a low knoll originally surrounded by a
marshy swamp sometimes erroneously described as a moat. The summit of the
knoll has been scarped to give a virtually square, flat top with steep slopes
all round. The upstanding remains include the south west tower of what was
originally a square keep with towers at each corner. The surviving tower is
constructed of coursed sandstone facing stones with a rubble core and angle
quoins. It measures approximately 7.5m square, stands up to a maximum height
of 10m, and has walls an average of 1.6m thick. There are traces of the
original entrance at the east corner. Arrow slits with splayed openings can be
seen in the west and north corners and midway along the north west side.
Traces of others are visible in the south west and south east sides and in the
south corner. In the north east side there is a fireplace and at first floor
level there are remains of windows. There are no upstanding remains of the
three other corner towers, however, on all sides of the knoll's summit apart
from the south west there are traces of a rubble bank up to 4m wide and 0.8m
high which is interpreted as the foundation wall of the main block. On the
south east slope of the knoll there are a number of well preserved
agricultural terraces associated with the castle.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
27678
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
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
