Motte Castle 57m south-west of Church of St Mary Magdalene

Summary

The earthwork and buried remains of a medieval motte castle, known as Hewelsfield Castle Tump.

Reasons for Designation

The motte castle at Hewelsfield is designated for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: the earthwork remains, which include the motte, survive well and have been little altered.
* Potential: the expectation that evidence of the construction and use of the castle mound will survive below the earth's surface is partially borne out by the evidence of stonework on the surface of the mound.
* Group value: with the nearby C12 Church of St Mary Magdalene (Grade II*).

History

Motte castles are medieval fortifications introduced to Britain by the Normans. They comprised a squat, flat-topped mound of earth or rubble, the motte, surmounted by a wall or palisade, and/or 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. They generally occupied strategic positions, dominating their immediate locality and, as a result, are some of the most impressive monuments of the early post-Conquest period. Although many were occupied for only a short period of time, motte castles continued to be built and occupied from the C11 to the C13, after which they were superseded by other types of castles.

Documentary sources indicate that the settlement at Hewelsfield was forcibly depopulated to expand the hunting forest (Royal Forest of Dean) after 1066, but was reconstituted into a manor in the C12. The Norman Church can be dated stylistically to the period 1175-1200. There is no evidence to indicate when the motte castle at the centre of the village was constructed, but it is likely to date from around this time, either as part of the consolidation of the countryside or as a matter of local defence.

Details

The castle stands on a north-facing slope, below the summit of the ridge. The flat-topped mound is oval in plan, measuring approximately 27m N-S x 24m W-E at its base, and some 14m across the top. In order to create a level building platform, in relation to the sloping ground on which its stands, the height of the motte increases from south-north where the natural slope appears to have been artificially enhanced. Some scattered stones, which appear to have been worked are on the platform, although it is not clear if these are later than the original phase of construction. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the motte, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but will survive as a buried feature, approximately 5m wide.

Traces of a possible ditched enclosure which may have been either an incomplete or denuded bailey can be seen on aerial photographs as cropmarks on the northern side of the motte. The entrance to the platform appears to have been from the south side. Some scattered stones which appear to have been worked, are present on the surface, although it is not clear if these are later than the original phase of construction.

Extent of Scheduling: the monument boundary includes the mound and its infilled ditch, which is some 5m wide, plus a 2m margin around the motte for its support and protection.

Sources

Other
Fiona Small and Cathy Stoertz, The Forest of Dean Mapping Project, Gloucestershire: A report for the National Mapping Programme, English Heritage, (2006)

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