More information : (SP 85176384) Berry Mount (TI) (1)
The church at Earls Barton (SP 86 SE1) stands on a small spur which projects southward towards the valley of the Nene. On the north a flat-topped motte, and a bank and ditch, now much obliterated, protect the spur. The motte is later than the bank and ditch; it has been cut back and the south side of the ditch filled, in order to enlarge the churchyard.
The original church (SP 86 SE1) of which only the tower remains was late Saxon and belongs to a group of private churches built by the larger Saxon landowners alongside their dwellings. They recall the provision of an 11th c document according to which a villein who so flourished that he possessed five hides of land, his own church and bell-tower, kitchen and 'gate' became worthy of thegn right. That the 'gate' was a fortification is implied by an earlier text. Earls Barton was held in 1066 along with other adjacent Manors, by Bondi, and the small church (and presumably the bank and ditch defences) was built by one of his immediate predecessors. (The later Motte is by inference Norman) (2)
Conjecturally the defences could be connected with the church as part of a private 'burh' of pre-conquest date. To text this hypothesis the RAI hopes to carry out trial excavations in 1969. (Note this article refers only to bank and ditch defences entirely ignoring the 'motte')
The name 'Barry Mount' is apparently of no great authenticity. It is noted in EPNS (10, 138) only as the name used by the OS 6", although 'Berry Close' occurs in 1772, the VCH (11, 405) refers only to 'Earls Barton Castle'. (3)
Small motte as described above. See annotated 25" survey. (4)
Mound and ditch (SP 85176384) lie immediately N of Earls Barton church, on the N side of the village square on the neck of a small S-facing spur at 84 m. - 90 m. above OD. It is known as Berry Mount. The mound is ovoid, flat-topped and 2 m. high. It appears to have been cut back a little on its S side as a result of alteration to the churchyard. It is bounded on the N side by a wide curving ditch up to 4 m. deep which has been truncated at both ends by later infill. The relationship between the mound and the ditch is unusual, especially on the E side where the ditch appears to be turning SE on an alignmment different from the curve of the mound. This may indicate that the two features are not contemporary. Interpretation of the date and function of the earthworks must take into account the existence of the well-known Saxon tower of the adjacent church. This tower is usually assigned to the second half of the C10th. It has been suggested that the ditch in its original form either extended a little further SE so cutting across the whole neck of the spur and is therefore part of a ring work. Either interpretation could mean that it is contemporary with the church tower and is the defence work around a Saxon thegn's dwelling. However it is also possible that the ditch is prehistoric in origin, and part of an Iron Age fort or cross-dyke. The mound has been described as a motte and thus, by inference, is Norman, and later than the tower and presumably the ditch. If the mound is a motte, however, it is sited in a curious position, totally overlooked by the church. It could have functioned only as a defence additional to the ditch protecting the approach to the spur from the N. (5)
Listed by Cathcart King. (6) |