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the 11th to the 13th centuries, after which they were superseded by other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.
The motte castle at Crookbarrow is a good example of this class of monument,
which has taken advantage of the defensive and symbolic strength of a natural
feature. The mound will retain details of its method of construction, which
may include post holes and foundations for its wooden or stone tower and other
structures which surmounted it.
Around 6,000 moated sites are known in England, exhibiting a high level of
diversity in their forms and sizes. Their wide ditches, often or seasonally
water-filled, partly or completely enclosed one or more islands of dry ground
containing domestic or religious buildings. The provision of a moat was often
intended as a status symbol rather than for defence. Moats form a significant
class of medieval monument and are important for the understanding of the
distribution of wealth and status around the countryside.
The moated site at Crookbarrow Farm will retain evidence for the structures
which occupied the platform, including post holes which will survive below
ground. Evidence for features such as a bridge will be preserved in the ditch
deposits, which will also retain environmental evidence for the activities
which took place there. In its commanding position overlooking the Severn
Valley and southern approaches to Worcester, the motte forms part of the wider
picture of the medieval defences of the county. The proximity of the moated
site and the construction of Crookbarrow Farm in the 17th century illustrate
the continuation of lordly occupation in the vicinity through the post-
medieval period. The agricultural remains and trackway provide evidence of the
more humble aspects of economic life at a manorial settlement, and the
separate elements enhance interest in the monument as a whole. The site thus
contributes on several levels to our understanding of the political and social
organisation of medieval Worcestershire. Crookbarrow itself is a prominent
local landmark, clearly visible from the two major roads which pass nearby.
Details
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a motte castle
situated on the summit of Crookbarrow Hill, the earthwork and buried remains
of a moated site adjacent to the north east, and associated remains of
medieval ridge and furrow cultivation.
Crookbarrow Hill is a natural knoll c.3km south east of Worcester, which rises
roughly 20m above the Severn Valley. Such a prominent feature in the landscape
would have provided a focus for the area's earliest inhabitants, and a
Neolithic scraper found near the site in 1886 indicates it has seen activity
since prehistoric times. In the medieval period the motte was formed by
enhancement of the summit of the knoll through artifically steepening the
upper parts of its naturally steep sides, an effect which is now most clearly
visible on the north face of the mound. The resulting material was used to
create a roughly oval summit, measuring c.75m WNW-ESE by c.40m transversely. A
terrace along the north and west sides of the mound, just below the summit, is
probably the site of a palisade or walkway around the motte. Along the top of
the mound are a number of roughly square depressions, averaging 3m-4m in
diameter, which represent the remains of the structures which occupied the
motte.
The motte at Crookbarrow Hill is associated with large areas of ridge and
furrow, linear earthworks resulting from prolonged ploughing in the medieval
period. The best preserved of these lie to the north and west of the knoll,
aligned roughly north west-south east. Agricultural activity has also resulted
in the upcast of a substantial earthen bank, or lynchet, at the foot of the
knoll, which has been planted with trees and which acted as a field boundary
in the post-medieval period. This lynchet is most prominent around the west
and south west sides of the monument, where a now disused trackway runs inside
it at the base of the knoll. Parts of the track, lynchet, and the ridge and
furrow are included in the scheduling, in order to protect their stratigraphic
relationship to the motte, through which evidence for continuity and variety
of landuse at and around the site is preserved.
At the foot of Crookbarrow Hill, on the north east side, are the remains of a
sub-rectangular medieval moated site. The western arm of the moat is no longer
visible at the surface, although it will survive as a buried feature. The
south west corner of the enclosure is now occupied by Crookbarrow farmhouse.
The south east, and north arms of the moat ditch survive up to 10m wide, and
the south eastern corner is up to c.2.5m deep. The cracked clay bottom of the
moat suggests the ditch retains water in all but the driest periods. Modern
use of the north eastern parts of the ditch as a beast pond has produced a
very steep profile to the moat sides. Masonry is visible in places in the
bottom of the ditch, and probably indicates a revetment wall. In the south
west corner seven large sandstone blocks have been set into the inside edge of
the ditch. These wedge shaped stones, which have tool marks on their surface,
are probably voussoirs, or parts of an arch or doorway of an earlier house on
the moated platform. The collapse of a modern structure adjacent to these
blocks has revealed a stretch of walling which may represent the foundations
of an earlier structure, or part of the revetment along the ditch edge. The
area enclosed by the ditch measures roughly 45m south west-north east, and its
western end is now occupied by the farmhouse and garden, and buried features
relating to its original use will survive further to the west.
Immediately north east of the moat is another area of ridge and furrow, this
time aligned south west to north east, which has been truncated by
construction of the moat. A 10m wide strip of these remains is included in the
scheduling in order to preserve their relationship with the moated site.
The monument is associated with the site of a medieval settlement which was
archaeologically excavated in advance of the widening of the M5 motorway,
which passes within 150m of the site. Crookbarrow Manor is first mentioned in
1314, when it was held in demesne by Alexander and Elizabeth de Montfort.
Crookbarrow farmhouse and all its outbuildings, and all fences and gates
around and within the monument, are excluded from the scheduling, although the
ground beneath them is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 0 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
