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were superseded by other types of castle.
Totternhoe Castle is the largest motte and bailey castle in Bedfordshire. Its
importance is emphasised by the commanding position it holds on the chalk
downland overlooking the Ouzel valley, which illustrates its strategic role in
the establishment of control over the area in the years following the Norman
Conquest. The castle is of an unusual form, having three baileys surrounding
the motte; this, in addition to its size, provides an indication of its
significance within the line of Norman fortifications to which it belongs. The
castle is also exceptionally well-preserved. The baileys are likely to
contain evidence which will enable the identification of areas devoted to
accommodation, service quarters, stores, granaries, stock enclosures and
perhaps gardens. Dressed stone recovered during excavation of the well and
observed in the mid-19th century indicates the presence of masonry
buildings on the site, evidence for which may well survive below the
present ground surface.
Stone quarries have been operated in England since the Roman period. Stone
suitable for fine carving was particularly prized in the medieval period
when extensive industries developed to meet the demands of churches and
other high status buildings. The quarries on the Totternhoe Knolls
represent a particularly important aspect of this industry, recorded as
early as 1131 when control of the workings passed from the Crown to
Dunstable Priory. Totternhoe Stone, highly valued for decorative work, is
widely found in the region's churches and in buildings further afield such
as Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle. The development of the industry
is documented in numerous sources and is also evident in the range of
quarrying techniques employed on the site. Further information will
remain preserved within the buried workings, including artifacts deposited
at the time and the impressions left in the working faces by implements
used in the quarrying process.
Lynchets are terraces set into hill slopes or coombes in order to provide
areas of cultivation. Their construction may reflect population density and a
need to exploit to the margins of available land or, perhaps, the development
of specialised crops, such as vines or hops, which require a specific aspect
in relation to the sun, particular soils or highly effective drainage.
Lynchets are frequently regarded as distinctive traces of medieval
argricultural practice, although some examples may have still earlier origins.
They are comparatively common in the chalk downlands of south western England
(notably across Salisbury Plain) but considerably less common to the east.
Well-preserved examples, particularly those which are associated with
settlement remains or similar related archaeological monuments, will normally
be considered worthy of protection.
The Totternhoe lynchets are amongst few such sites in the Chilterns
(others can be found near Barton Le Clay, on Sharpenhoe Clappers and near
Stopsey Common, Luton) and are considered to be the best surviving example
in this group. While the terraces are best preserved within the east and
south east parts of the coombe, the terraces masked by soil erosion to the
west are also significant since the later deposits will seal valuable
archaeological evidence for the date of construction, as well as
environmental evidence for the nature of their use and the appearance of
the surrounding landscape at the time. The likelihood of an association
between the lynchets and the occupation of the adjacent castle further
adds to their archaeological interest, and their proximity in the
landscape still contributes to the visual impact of the castle's setting.
Details
The monument includes a motte and bailey castle occupying the western end
of the Totternhoe Ridge (a northern projection from the chalk hills of the
Chiltern escarpment), together with a series of medieval quarries cut into
slopes to the north and north west and a flight of cultivation terraces,
or lynchets, arranged within a steep-sided coombe to the east.
The earliest written reference to the castle appears in a grant of land to
Dunstable Priory dated between 1170 and 1176, wherein it was termed
`castellaria de Eglemont'. The builder of the castle is thought to have
been one of the Domesday lords - perhaps William Chamberlain, or the
Bishop of Bayeaux, but more probably Walter de Wahull, who also built
castles in the Bedfordshire parishes of Odell, Podington and Thurleigh.
The central defensive position within the castle, the motte, is a conical
earthen mound about 5m tall, set on the highest point on the spur
overlooking the Ouzel Valley and crowned by a concrete Ordnance Survey
triangulation point (BN S4552). The mound has a diameter of 40m at the
base and 14m at the summit, surrounded by a broad ditch of variable width
on all but the south western side where the ground falls away steeply at
the edge of the spur. A slight hollow in the top of the motte marks the
location of an unrecorded antiquarian investigation, although the raised
rim may also conceal the base of a stone tower noted by Chamborn in 1859.
The motte is enclosed between two baileys situated immediately east and
west. The smaller western bailey is an oval enclosure measuring about 63m
by 80m, defined by a broad bank, except on the south west side where
defence was provided by an artificial scarp accentuating the slope of the
spur. The second bailey surrounds the north and east sides of the motte
and is separated from the first bailey (and the motte) by an 8m wide ditch
and a broad counterscarp bank. This bailey is roughly triangular in plan,
measuring approximately 100m north to south by 30m east to west, enclosed
to the east by a 12m wide bank, a broad external ditch and a counterscarp
bank. A well shaft, known as the `Money Pit', lies toward the western
side of the bailey. Dressed building stone was recovered from the shaft
when it was excavated to a depth of 34 feet in the early 20th century.
A third bailey, or outer ward, lies immediately to the east of the motte
and inner baileys. This is rectangular in plan, measuring 90m in width and
extending some 150m eastwards along the spur. The level interior is
contained by a well-defined scarp increasing the severity of the natural
slope to the south west. To the south east the boundary is formed by a
substantial ditch 10m wide by 3m deep and internal bank, 12m wide and 2m
high, providing a formidable rampart broken only by a single gap at the
southern end. The ditch and bank remain visible at the eastern corner of
the bailey, although the north eastern arm is now only marked by a slight
scarp and traces of the internal bank. Material from the bank may have
been used to infill the flanking ditch, now thought to lie buried beneath
the adjacent bridleway.
The medieval quarries lie on the hillside below and to the north and north
west of the motte. They appear as a series of infilled pits, spoil heaps
and extraction scars lying both in open ground and in woodland. Several
periods of extraction are represented by these workings. Totternhoe was an
important source of stone in the medieval period since the product, the
soft limestone known as `Totternhoe Clunch', was much in demand for
carving and dressing. It can be found in churches and other medieval
structures throughout Bedfordshire and beyond, including many of the
highest status, such as Windsor Castle and Westminster Abbey. Documentary
references to the quarries are numerous and include Henry I's grant of the
land to Dunstable Priory around 1131, and the reporting of a fatality in
1269 when a deep pit in the `schalkpuutes' collapsed.
To the east of the castle a series of cultivation terraces, or lynchets,
are arranged within a steep sided, bowl-like coombe set into the southern
slope of the Totternhoe Ridge. The lynchets descend 30m from the 152m
contour, forming steps which average 3m in height and terraces
approximately 5m broad. This arrangement is most easily appreciated across
the eastern arc of the coombe, where five successive steps remain fully
visible. Further to the south, along the south eastern arm of the coombe,
the lynchets have been modified to a certain extent by later landscaping,
although the continuation of three terraces remain evident. To the west,
around the northern and western sides of the coombe, the terraces have
become buried by subsequent soil movement - although it is apparent from
minor changes in the gradient, and from more pronounced scarps on the
north western slopes, that the system once extended throughout the coombe.
Totternhoe was the last parish in Bedfordshire to see its fields
rationalised and enclosed by Act of Parliament (in 1886) and several maps
made prior to this event clearly depict an extensive pattern of strip
fields characteristic of the medieval `open field' system. The lynchets
formed part of this pattern. The 1829 tithe map and book of references for
Middle End, Totternhoe, show the five terraces (termed `lands') in the
north eastern part of the coombe divided in ownership between Dunstable
Chantry, the Countess of Bridgewater and Messrs Fossey, Pinnaces and
Cartwright, with tenancies (indicating active use) in the hands of Messrs
Pratt, Fossey, Purton and Battams. The intervening steps (or `linces') are
noted as being held in common. To the east, alongside `Dogs Bank', three
parallel strips are marked as `old inclosures' and these match the
positions of the three remaining terraces on this side of the coombe.
These three strips are shown subdivided by a boundary mid-way along their
lengths, and the resulting six plots are listed according to ownership and
use. The three holdings towards the head of the coombe are listed as
meadows and orchards belonging to the Countess and Messrs Pinnaces and
Pratt. The three nearest to the main street (now Castle Hill Road) formed
the gardens and tenement plots of `Wren Park' (owned by Mr Pinnaces and
occupied by Mr Battams), a cottage belonging to the Countess (occupied by
John Holt) and Mr Pratt's house (now Tudor Cottage). To the west of the
coombe the now vestigial terraces of `Castle Hill Furlong' (two lands and
a strip known as `Shoulder of Mutton piece') belonged to Mr Cartwright and
Mr Pratt and were rented to Mr Pratt.
The precise date of the lynchets' construction is not known, although it
is thought that they may have developed during occupation of the medieval
castle. Topographical constraints suggest that the principal approach to
the castle would have followed the ridge to the east, skirting the rim of
the coombe prior to making an entrance through the western arm of the
outer bailey. A geophysical survey undertaken in 2001 revealed evidence of
a buried trackway, flanked by ditches, extending from this gap in an
easterly direction toward the track which still follows the upper terrace
around the head of the coombe. The lynchets would have proved suitable for
the cultivation of crops requiring both good drainage and a southerly aspect
(perhaps vines or hops), but such an elaborate feature may also have been
designed to enhance the setting of the castle, and to impress visitors
ascending to the gate.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries there was speculation concerning a
pre-medieval origin for the castle. Several small scale excavations
between 1900 and 1922 failed to reveal any evidence to substantiate these
theories, although the castle does occupy a topographic position
reminiscent of several hillforts found further south along the Chiltern
Hills. The possibility of some earlier earthworks incorporated within the
medieval fortification cannot be excluded. The geophysical survey in 2001
revealed a series of buried ditches (invisible on the ground surface)
forming an irregular grid pattern within the outer bailey. These small
enclosures, none greater than about 35m in width, share an axial alignment
which does not match the north east - south west alignment of the bailey
itself. It is thought, therefore, that the enclosures represent earlier
land use preserved in truncated form within the outline of the medieval
earthwork. It is not presently possible to assign a precise date to these
earlier fields although, by analogy, a prehistoric (probably Iron Age)
origin seems likely.
All modern buildings and features including a stable block and shooting
facilities as well as all fences, fence posts and garden structures are
excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features
is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
