More information : (SU 16661617) Castle Hill (NAT) Motte & Bailey (AT) (1)
An adulterine castle. (2)
The keep at the south-west end of the entrenchment, is surrounded on all sides, except the Avon, by a low bank. On the south-west side it is surrounded by a moat and outer bank
behind the modern farmhouse. A depression, most likely the well, is at the west corner of the keep. The bailey, north-east of the keep, is cut off by a bank & ditch; beyond this there are indications of another bailey. There is a tradition of stones having been taken from this site to build a chapel. (3)
An unusual earthwork comprising an oval ring motte with smaller outer bailey to the north-east and a possible further bailey, now much destroyed by quarrying, to the north-east again. The work is situated on the south-western end of a prominent spur
above the River Avon.
It is generally as described by Williams-Freeman; the supposed moat to the south-west of the farm-house may be an outer ditch but is more likely a hollow-way: it was never water-filled as it lies well above the river. Some 300 metres to the north-east of the motte, along the summit of the spur, is a fairly substantial cross-ridge bank some 26.0m in length and 12.0m wide and up to 1.4m in height, with traces of a ditch on its outer side. It is almost certainly an outer defence of the work.
Published 1/2500 revised. (4)
It is suggested that this work waa the siege castle built against Downton in 1148. (5) |