More information : (SP 917543) Lavendon Castle on site of (NAT) Castle (NR). (1)
A mount and 3 baileys (see plan); the mount, now occupied by a farmhouse and outbuildings was apparently never of any great height; its ditch is indicated by 2 ponds on the SE & NW sides. The NE bailey has stronger defences than the other two and has distinct entrances. (2)
The motte was destroyed in 1944 when much 12thc pottery was found. (3)
The castle of Lavendon is mentioned in a pipe Roll in 1192-3. (4)
The amorphous remains of a motte or ringwork and bailey in an even terrain position.
Castle Farm, a 17thc farmhouse (not outstanding) outbuildings and garden terracing have effectively destroyed the former mound, but vague slopes and a section of water-filled ditch survive on the NW side of the house. The dimensions shown on the OS 25" and the RCHM plan (the slopes were presumably destroyed in 1944) suggest a ring-work, probably the original feature rather than a motte.
There is only one formal bailey enclosure, that to the NE (1). The bank, ditch and interior are under pasture, and there is one recognisable entrance on the SE side. The enclosures (2) (3) to the NW and W of the castle are not strictly defensive (see RCHM Sections), but are almost certainly contemporary.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. (5)
Listed by Cathcart King. (6)
The castle was in possession of Bidon, who held it at some time between 1154 x 1184. (7)
The castle earthworks described above, were visible as earthworks on lidar imagery and were mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project. The visible earthworks largely correspond to the plan in Source 2. (8) |