More information : (TL 40433296) Anstey Castle (NR) (site of) (1)
Motte and bailey, with possible village enclosure. Excavations near the eastern edge of the motte summit in 1902 revealed flint foundations laid 18 ins deep, with plain roofing tiles and fragments of axed clunch. The pottery finds (now in Hertford Museum) are of probable 13th century date. Tradition attributes the castle to Eustace, Count of Cologne, the holder of the manor at Domesday. In 1218 Nicholas Anstey was ordered to pull down the additions to the castle. (2)
During the 1902 excavations on the castle Ro or RB sherds were found. (3)
Anstey Castle (name verified): A motte and the remains of a single bailey situated prominently at the S end of a broad spur, and adjacent to the Norman church of St George's.
The tree-planted motte measures overall c 75.0m N-S by c 65.0m E-W, and stands c 9.0m above the surrounding waterfilled ditch which averages 10.0m wide. There is no trace of a structure on the flat top, and no local tradition of a stone structure here.
The dry, contiguous bailey ditch on the N side of the motte averages 14.0m wide and 4.0m deep. There are only partial remains of an external counterscarp and no remains of an internal rampart, but it is evident from the low rise around the perimeter that it existed. From a kink at TL 40533302 the ditch fades eastwards forming a drainage cut. The kink probably denotes the original turn of the ditch S where it would connect an existing scarp on the NE side of the Hall.
At TL 40503296, and within the projected bailey enclosure, is a regular landscaped 'mount' c 3.5m high and surrounded by a dry lawned ditch. Its position and shape is incongruous with the motte and bailey, and it appears to be later ornamental work.
Re-surveyed at 1;2500. (4)
Last documented in 1377. (5) |