More information : (ST 96388310) Castle (G.T.) (site of) (1)
A large mound behind the old manor house at Great Somerford is identified as a motte. It is 12 feet high and 75 by 85 feet in plan;
there is no trace of a ditch except possibly on the east side, and no trace of the bailey though it may have been on the south. The remains of a 12th century building - ruined walling and semi-circular arched windows - were excavated in 1811 and re-excavated in 1910. A summer-house is known to have stood on the mound in the 18th century and an ice-house seems to have been formed from the ruins found in excavation. There were no signs of the 12th century building in 1956 (4). Charcoal and ashes found in excavation suggest that the building was destroyed by fire and medieval potsherds from the site are in Devizes Museum. There is a traditional account of a moat in the vicinity, but no trace is known (and it may be an oblique reference to the motte.) (2)(3)
The motte, a flat topped mound 3.4 metres high, is centred at ST 86388409. There are no traces of a bailey. Surveyed at 1:2500; no trace of a moat. (4)
Low motte with quadrangular bailey. The remains excavated could be those of an earlier church, although the earthworks appear to be too definite for this to be the entire explanation. It might be one of three castles built near Malmesbury in 1144. (6)
Additional references. (7,8)
Listed by Cathcart King. (8) Creighton examines the alternative explanations of the 12th century building found in the 19th century and concludes that the most likely explanation is that it was a church. The site overlooks a ford over the Avon, and the motte may have been a siegework erected against Malmesbury by the Earl of Gloucester in 1144. A late 12th century church is documented at Great Somerford, and the present church appears to be a refoundation. (9) |