More information : (SO 68207606) Ancient Earthwork. (1)
Castle Toot. A semi circular earthwork above the River Rea,defended on the north-west side by the natural fall to the river,and elsewhere by a bank 17 feet high, a deep ditch, a 7-foot counterscarp and an outer bank two feet high. The entrance is at the north end. Listed by VCH under: "Hillforts less dependent on natural slopes for protection". (2)
"Castle Toot, I take to have been the distinctly Norman Castle, built by the early Mortimers and which, having been demolished by Henry II, he allowed Hugh de Mortimer to rebuild". (3)
The 'armchair' work on the hillside above the river may be the castle destroyed in 1155. (4-5)
This feature is much as described by VCH. The central area appears as a flat-topped mound, and the whole looks more like a castle mound than a hillfort. A house, built in the mid-1950's, now stands in the middle of the site.
At SO 68267617 the ground is much disturbed as though by building foundations, and this could be the site of the gatehouse. Published survey (25") revised. (6)
SO 6819 7605. Castle Toot motte castle, 450m WSW of Mawleytown Farm. Scheduled (RSM). The original entrance appears to have been in the north-east quarter where a causeway crosses the ditch. Fragments of walling and the remains of a gatehouse were visible in this area at the end of the 18th century and in 1911 stones forming the base of a causeway or bridge were observed. None of the original stonework is now visible though slight surface irregularities suggest that buried foundations remain close to the surface. (7)
Listed by Cathcart king. (8)
Extant in 1154-5 and demolished in 1155. (9) |