More information : (TL 3549 1801) Castle (NR) (site of) (NAT) (1)
A rectangular enclosure with a ditch on the west side and a moated mound in the SW corner, lies to the south of Rennesley Garden Wood. The moat is square and the mound, in fairly good condition and probably sepulchral, does not appear to have been excavated. (2-3)
On a ridge within a wood, is a circular earthern mound, enclosed on the NS and E sides by a ditch, square in plan, and now dry.
The mound is 12.5m in diameter and 1.3m high. The ditch is c 9.0m wide and up to 1.8m deep, enclosing an area c 19.0m square. There is no evidence of it ever having continued on the W side. Outside the S and part of the E arm is a bank c 6.0m wide and 1.0m high, which is probably a linear spoil heap. This is an unlikely defensive structure.
According to the farmer at Rennesley, fragments of pottery have been found in the central area, but what type and by whom he did not know.
The mound is typical of a BA bowl barrow in shape size and the enclosure has the appearance of an incomplete homestead moat. But taken together no logical explanation is forthcoming.
Published survey (25") revised. (4)
TL 355180. Moated mound S of Rennesley Garden Wood - scheduled. (5)
In January 2001, English Heritage carried out a Level 1 field investigation of the site, which is essentially as described by previous investigators. The enclosure is formed in part by a series of rectangular fishponds, all of which have been subject to relatively recent cleaning and recutting.
Source 4 is correct in asserting that the so-called Bronze Age bowl barrow cannot be logically explained in the context of the surrounding medieval moat. This is because the mound is almost certainly a post-medieval windmill mound. It shows no signs of having been disturbed, which might be expected were it a barrow. It occupies a position on the brow of the hill, which would be ideal for a windmill. A mature oak tree at least ?150 years old standing on the side of the mound suggests that the windmill cannot have survived into the mid 19th century. (6) |