More information : (TM 02556245) Motte & Bailey (NR)
(TM 02426240) Moat (NR). (1)
A moated motte and bailey castle at Haughley. The motte, 210 ft in diameter at base and 80 ft high, has a flat summit which is not concentric with the base, giving a much steeper slope on the north side. Beneath the topsoil of the summit are the foundations of a shell keep. The quadrangular bailey to the south is 390 ft wide by 300 ft north to south, surrounded by a deep ditch and high bank which rises to a maximum height of 16 ft above the surface of the enclosure. An infilled ditch to the north of the motte was formerly used as an overflow and on the west side of the bailey is a moated area of apparently later date. (2)
The motte and bailey is generally as described by authority 2 but there are no visible remains of the shell keep other than a scatter of flint about the summit of the motte. The moated enclosure to the west of the bailey incorporates the original stream, diverted to feed the ditch of the motte, and appears to be an additional outer bailey with south entrance, rather than a homestead moat.
Published 1:2500 revised. (3)
West suggests that the whole of the area south of the castle (see plan) was within an outer bailey. Examination of the gardens (A to B on plan) shows a small scarp or rise about 2-3 ft high which is lost to the east by the development of the market, the green and the accretion of buildings on its line. However, in the gardens east of the churchyard there is a deep hollow (C on plan)which could be an infilled ditch, although there is now no sign of it joining the existing moat surrounding the bailey. The ditches to the north of the motte (including the "overflow" mentioned by VCH) and the land to the edge of the sunken way on the east (now the road to Bacton) may have delineated the demense of the castle; making the castle area a more complex but unified whole. The moated area to the west of the bailey was also considered by West to be the surviving part of the "outer bailey"; which agrees with authority 3's report. (4)
Haughley motte and bailey with traces of outer enclosure was seized by the Crown in 1163 and destroyed 1173. (5)
Traces of the outer bailey to the south seen by West (authority 4)can be followed as a low scarp 0.8m high in gardens to the north of the road called The Folly. According to local residents, black infill of the bailey ditch 7ft deep was seen in 1975 construction of houses at TL 02546222.
1:2500 survey revised. (6)
The castle was escheated to the Crown following the disgrace of Henry of Essex in 1163 and destroyed by rebels in 1173. (7) |