More information : (TL 6672 7185) Castle Mound (NR) (1)
A small motte and bailey castle, the bailey now occupied by a garden. (2-3)
Freckenham Castle. A circular chalk mound some 40 ft high with a level summit c 40 ft in circumference with no evidence of stonework; bounded on the south and east by a sunken road and on the north by a considerable ditch; between the ditch and the sunken road is an outer court. Documentary evidence confirms the existence of the Castle during the early Norman period. (4)
A motte with double bailey situated in a commanding position adjacent to an old road junction covering the main east-west highway, and above a river junction (See Brook and Kennett). Originally the castle comprised a substantial motte standing in the north-east corner of an inner bailey with an outer bailey to the north, a strong ditch sub-dividing the two. Extant remains now constitute the motte (heavily tree covered) and ditch, with traces of an outer bailey perimeter ditch to the north - now mainly occupied by a road; elsewhere all earthworks have been destroyed by either modern road and building construction or, to the west, quarrying above the river plain.
An excavation has been made into the mound at TL 6671 7186 by the present owners, this has revealed the tooled corner stone of a substantial building (see photographs). The corner supports a cob, flint and chalk mortar wall. Further foundations are of the same cob and flint make-up; there appears to be no intention of the excavation continuing.
Surveyed on MSD (1:2500). (5) |