| Summary : Motte and twin baileys. The works apparently consisted of a motte with surrounding ditch and a bailey to the south of the motte; of a second bailey on the east, only a part of the ditch remains. Renn found a fragment of Saxo-Norman pottery here and gave it to Aylesbury Museum. There are two references to a castle here in the 12th century, one to its slighting in 1173-4. The motte is 60 metres in diameter and 5 metres high, with a ditch 2.4 metres deep around the east arc. The southern bailey is 80 metres by 70 metres and is enclosed by a ditch 1.8 metres deep. The eastern bailey is 80 metres by 50 and is defended by a ditch, 2 metres in maximum depth, with an inner bank, now 0.5 metres high. Scheduled. |
More information : (SP 859104) Motte & Bailey (NR). The Mount (NAT). (1)
The works apparently consisted of a motte with surrounding ditch and a bailey to the south of the motte; of a second bailey on the east, only a part of the ditch remains. (2)
Renn found a fragment of Saxo-Norman pottery here and gave it to Aylesbury Museum. There are two references to a castle here in the 12th century. (3)
A motte (The Mount) and twin baileys, bounded on the NW side by the flood plain of a stream, and now lying within the garden of the Manor House and the adjacent permanent pasture fields.(3)
The motte is c 60.0m in diameter and 5.0m high, with a ditch 2.4m deep around the E arc. The area to the NW was probably protected by the flooded plain and no ditch would have been necessary.
The S bailey, c 80.0m E-W x 70.0m N-S, is enclosed by a ditch, up to 1.8m deep and mutilated by landscape gardening, which fades into the flood plain at a point 50.0m SW of the motte.
The E bailey, c 80.0m NE-SW x 50.0m transversely, is defended by a ditch, 2.0m maximum depth, with an inner bank, now 0.5m high, discernible along the SE side. The ditch is heavily mutilated by a hedge line to the NE.
To the SE of the bailey are two banks 80.0m and 40.0m long respectively, and up to 1.5m high, and a ditch, 1.8m maximum depth. These probably represent the remains of additional defences.
Published survey (25") revised.(4)
No change from report of 29.2.72. Surveyed on MSD at 1:2500.(5)
An excavation in advance of construction of a swimming pool, was carried out on the motte ditch by Mr P Yeoman for HBMC and BCM. Two gullies predated construction of the motte. The ditch itself was cut to a depth of almost 2.0m and was waterlogged at the bottom. From the basal fill came two blocks of dressed masonry, presumably from an adjacent building. After a period of natural silting, dump infill occurred, possibly to be associated with the slighting of the castle recorded in 1173/4.(6)
Listed by Cathcart King. The motte was dismantled on the orders of Henry II in 1173. There is reference to a castle at Weston Turville being licenced in 1334, but this may refer to the site at Manor Farm. (7)
According to historian Mr. P.C. Davis, as Manor Farm was the manor house for the sub manor of Hide it is impossible that it was the site of the licence to crenellate and deduces that the motte and bailey is the more likely site referred to by that licence. (8) |