| Summary : A medieval ringwork and baileys known as Castle Hills, located in Castle Hills Wood. It is thought to date from the late 11th or mid 12th century, and the site may have been location of King Sweyn of Denmark's winter camp, known as "Danish Camp". The monument takes the form of a ringwork with banked and ditched baileys adjoining it to the north and south. The central area of the ringwork is roughly circular in plan, measuring 20 metres in diameter, and includes a hollow thought to represent the location of buried building remains such as a hall. The central area is enclosed by a bank and external ditch. The bank measures up to 10 metres in width and the steep-sided ditch measures 15 metres in width. The northern side of the ringwork is enclosed by a bailey and believed to be contemporary with the ringwork. The bailey is semi-circular in plan, the enclosed area measuring 80 metres east to west, and is surrounded by a ditch with an internal bank. The southern bailey adjoins the south and east sides of the ringwork and is thought to represent a subsequent phase of defensive work. The southern bailey is kidney-shaped in plan, and the enclosed area measures 140 metres north east to south west and is surrounded by a deep ditch with a high internal bank. |
More information : (SK 818915) Danish Camp (NR). (1)
(SK 81849151) Castle Hills (NR). (2)
A double ditch and bank contains an area of one-hundred and seventy yards circumference. A second enclosure to the south is now called Chapel Garth. The whole suggests a motte with double bailey, the original construction being ascribed to Swegn, circa 1013, probably strengthened in the Norman period (3). Cox (4) refers to a Danish camp, and the earthwork is scheduled as Castle Hills Wood Camp (6). (3-6)
The earthworks form a well preserved example of an early Medieval ring castle with two outer baileys. It is situated on the brow of an escarpment and commands the valley of the Trent to the west. 25" survey revised. (7)
(SK 818915) Castle Hills (NAT) Motte & Baileys (NR). (8)
Ring and baileys, known as Castle Hills or Danes' Camp. It seems likely that the `castle of Gainsborough', granted by Stephen before 1146 and probably in 1142, to the Earl of Lincoln, can be identified with this site (9,10,11). The origin of the castle in it's present form can possibly be dated to the immediate past 1066 period. However it is also possible that it was erected or at least enlarged or altered in the mid-12th century (12). The site is notable as an early military stronghold, a lordly residence and major estate centre. It remained in residential use until at least the end of the 14th century (9,10,11). By the mid-16th century it had been abandoned for sometime (13). The earthworks were re-planted with trees in 1815-16 and finds made then included a key, dagger, battle-axe and horse shoe. A reputed burial ground yielded large building stones. This may have been in the southern bailey, known in the 19th century as White Chapel Garth. (13,14,15,16). (9-16)
SK 819915: The earthworks consist of a substantial ring-work flanked on both the north and south by outer baileys of more than one period. The first phase was probably the ring-work and north bailey. The former consists of a steep-sided circular rampart or bank standing between 5.5 metres and 4.0 metres above the bottom of the perimeter ditch. On the north where the ditch separates the castle from the bailey its bottom is made up of a series of deep pits separated by low internal causeways. It is uncertain whether these ditches were caused by the method of digging the ditch, partial infill or later unfinished refurbishing. Uneven surfaces on both the broad summit of the rampart and the central area is perhaps partly due to the demolition of former masonry structures. A large hollow on the north west side of the central area may be the site of substantial building. The bailey, lying on sloping ground has no natural defence on it's eastern side and is reinforced by a broad inner bank. At the north east the bank is interupted by a narrow entrance, possibly original. Within the bailey and following it's outline, a scarp if not wholly natural, may mark an earlier defensive line or have been caused by scraping or quarrying material for the bailey bank. A crescentic outer ditch to the south of the ringwork, flanked on either side by a bank, may be contemporary and have been constructed to give added protection where the ground is level before the addition of the later bailey or as part of the second phase of development.
The second principal phase was the bailey to the south of the ring work. This was enclosed by a massive bank standing some 2.75m above the interior of the bailey and 5 metres above the wide outer ditch. Irregularities in the ditch bottom may be a result of later damage. Masonry structures could well have been removed from the bailey bank and mounds at its north-west and north east corners could represent the site of former towers or turrets. A later ditch was dug leading out of this bailey ditch south-west towards the present east-west road. Near the road it narrows to a single scarp, which changes direction to run eastwards and may represent an additional outer enclosure. Alternatively it may be a pale relating to the deer park (SK 89 SW/9).
Some damage may have been caused to the ring-work during the Civil War when Gainsborough was under seige. Northwest of the ringwork, at the scarp foot and `L' shaped embanked pool is probably of relatively recent date. The south-west edge of the spur is high irregular and characterised by a series of mounds and hollows, probably associated with gypsum quarrying.
See 1:2500 re-survey, ground-photograph and survey at 1:1000 in the Survey Index. (17)
Please refer to these sources for additional information. (18-21)
SK 819 915. Castle Hills Wood earthworks. Scheduled no. LI/34. (22)
Possible site of King Sweyn of Denmark's winter camp of 1013-14. (23-24) |