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were superseded by other types of castle.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 motte and bailey at Edvin Loach is a good example of this class of
monument, and is of particular interest because of its association with the
Old Church which remained in use throughout the medieval and post-medieval
occupation of the site. The motte mound will retain details of its method of
construction, including post holes for palisades and foundations for its
medieval tower. The fills of the motte and bailey ditches will preserve
evidence for the activities which took place at the castle throughout its
occupation. The ground surface sealed beneath the motte mound will preserve
environmental evidence for land use immediately prior to its construction.
Within the southern part of the bailey enclosure, evidence for the structures
which occupied it will survive in the form of post holes and foundations, as
will evidence for their function and the activities which took place there.
Post or stake holes for any defensive barrier will also be preserved around
the edge of the bailey.
The Old Church is a rare example locally of a standing church within a
contemporary bailey. The standing remains are well preserved, and retain
information relating to its method of construction and subsequent
modifications. The early construction, continued use, and subsequent
modifications to the Old Church are indicators of the wealth and status of its
patrons throughout the occupation of the site. The rapid build-up of ground
around the chapel indicates a great intensity of burials in the medieval and
early post-medieval period. The spatial and chronological association of the
different elements of the monument enhance interest in the site as a whole,
and documentary references contribute to our understanding of the development
of this high status holding from the 11th century into the post-medieval
period. The motte and bailey forms part of the wider picture of the county's
medieval defences, and the monument increases our appreciation of the
political and social organisation of medieval and later Herefordshire.
Details
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a motte and bailey
castle, and the standing and buried remains of St Mary's Old Church at Edvin
Loach, and the buried remains of part of the burial ground associated with
Old Church. The monument is situated at the highest point in the parish,
overlooking rolling hills in all directions, and some 300m north west of the
settlement of Edvin Loach. The low motte, with its broad ditch and roughly
square bailey enclosure to the east, was probably the site of the manor which
was held by Ulfac under Edward the Confessor and which had passed to Osbern
FitzRichard by the time of Domesday.
The Old Church, originally dedicated to St Giles and later to St Mary, is
located within the bailey enclosure, and its features indicate a late Saxon or
early Norman origin. Documentary sources refer to a moated stone house known
as Camp House, which would have replaced the original structure on the motte.
Its occupants were probably responsible for the addition of the Old Church's
west tower in the 16th century. The Old Church was replaced by a new church
50m to the west in the 1860s, but remained roofed until c.1890, and the last
service was in the 1950s. The ground level around the ruin has been raised by
centuries of burials, and although the graveyard is still in use the ruins
themselves are in the care of the Secretary of State.
The remains of the motte and bailey castle include an earthen motte mound west
of the new church, which is circular in plan with a maximum diameter of 30m.
Its sides rise up to 2m to a flat top around 22m in diameter. The summit of
the mound has a broad shallow scoop suggestive of early investigation of the
site, and within it is a long low mound which extends for roughly 7m from the
east side of the motte. The motte is surrounded by a broad ditch from which
material for its construction will have been quarried. The ditch is most
clearly visible around the south west quarter, where it survives to a depth of
0.4m and is up to 10m wide. It has become infilled to the south east, north
west and north east, but will survive here as a buried feature. To the east,
the extension of the graveyard and construction of the modern church in the
1860s has truncated the motte mound and modified the remains of its ditch. The
remains of a low external bank, up to 8m wide, can be clearly seen around the
south west and western edges of the motte ditch.
The bailey extends eastwards from the motte, forming a roughly square
enclosure with a maximum width of 70m. It was surrounded by a ditch, which
is visible as a shallow depression, around 4m wide, along the enclosure's
southern side and south eastern corner. The northern part of the eastern
boundary is buried beneath the graveyard, and survives here below ground. The
northern boundary was probably along the line now followed partly by the
track, which is roughly 2m below the level of the graveyard and motte, however
the track will have modified the original ditch in this area, and has obscured
the relationship between the motte and the bailey ditch. The central part of
the bailey is occupied by the churchyard belonging to the Old Church and its
westwards extension, including the new church. Only the area around the Old
Church is included within the scheduling. The burial ground as a whole
represents many generations of a small rural community. The lower levels are
contemporary with the earliest use of the church, and the rapid build up of
ground, which is particularly evident around its west end, indicates a great
intensity of early burials here in the medieval and early post-medieval
periods.
The standing remains of the Old Church are of coursed sandstone rubble
construction, with dressed tufa quoins and jambs, and are Listed Grade II. It
is of single cell plan, with continuous nave and chancel, and a west tower.
The nave and chancel walls survive to a height of 3m in places, and the tower
stands to roughly 5m. Several phases of construction are evident in the
building, which is unusual in that later remodelling has attempted to retain
the architectural character of the original structure. The nave is of 11th
century date, and the whole of the remaining height of the north wall and
parts of the south wall are built with masonry laid in `herringbone' fashion.
The lower part of an 11th century window survives to the east of the south
doorway, indicating that the original lights were set high in the wall and
were narrow, with widely splayed internal jambs. The doorway has a large tufa
lintel, an internal rebate for the door, and a semicircular relieving arch of
tufa voussoirs. The east wall and parts of the north and south walls were
rebuilt in the late 12th century, and the lower parts of the windows at the
east end of the north and south walls survive. In the east wall, the remains
of a small 13th century window, with deeply splayed reveals, retains external
rebates for shutters. Below it is one of two infilled aumbreys, the second
being midway along the south wall. Two buttresses, one at the east end of the
north wall and a second midway along it, at the junction of the nave and
chancel, are probably 13th century additions. The tower has two stages and is
open to the nave, with no indication of ever having had an east wall. Its
junction with the west wall of the chapel retains tufa quoins to first floor
level. There are two wall mountings for tablets inside the ground floor, which
has an inserted square window with an internal timber lintel and a timber
frame. Above it is an original narrow rectangular light, also with an internal
timber lintel. The tower's south wall retains another small, square headed
window.
The 20th century tombs in the north eastern part of the churchyard are totally
excluded from the scheduling. All English Heritage fixtures and fittings are
excluded from the scheduling, but the ground beneath them is included.
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.
