More information : An earthen, flat-topped mound, average height 3 metres, diameter 22 metres at the base, 15 metres at the top. It is in fairly good condition and covered with conifers and elder bushes. There is no surrounding ditch. (Sited at SX 40087397). It is regarded locally as having been made from the surplus earth from the drive nearby (Lamerhooe Drive). The name of the field is Castle Park. (1)
At SX 40107394, the most constricted part of a ridge-backed spur about a mile long, which extends to the S.W. and is enclosed by a loop in the River Tamar. Steep sided, the spur
makes a gentle descent from about 90m. O.D. to the river and a spinal road leads to Latchley Ford, the lowest fordable point on the Tamar that is still in use. A flat topped mound of clay with shillet has been constructed on the N.W. extremity of the ridge so that part is on level
ground and part overspreads the slope to the Rivar Tamar.
Overall it measures 26.5m. by 30m., and the top is 15m. by 18m.
across; in both cases the elongation is N.W. to S.E. i.e.
extended along the slope. On the S.E. it is 1.7m. high and on
the N.W. 3.9 m. high. The sides have been mutilated and the
perimeter of the top trampled by cattle, distorting the
original circular plan. Traces of a ditch, 5m. wide and 0.2m.
deep, can be detected only round part of the N. side, and for a
few metres on the S.
In 1950 the local farmer considered the mound to be material
from Lamerhooe Drive, a carriageway alongside the Tamar, built
by a Duke of Bedford. The present farmer (a) was told that it
was mining waste.
Neither theory is tenable. Lamerhooe Drive was made after
1882: it does not appear on the 1st Edn. O.S. 6" of that date
but the mound is depicted as a circular patch of rough pasture.
In the second instance there is no mining within a half mile,
no evidence of rocks that would indicate mining waste, and the
neatness of construction does not accord with casual dumping.
The field in which the mound stands is now called Castle Park,
but reference to the Lamerton Tithe Map of 1840 shows the field
oddly sub-divided (see copy of map). A semi-circular field,
about 90m. across, encloses the mound and an area 70m. by 30 m.
which is banded off and described as 'waste'. The field is
called Great Castle. Immediately to the N.E. is a small plot
called Little Castle. Castle Park is to the S.W. of
Great Castle and separated from it by two curvilinear and
parallel hedges about 3m. apart through which an ungated track
or path runs to give access to a large and steep field over-
looking the Tamar.
The E. boundary of Great Castle exists today as a hedgebank of
earth and shillet 1.7m. high and up to 2.0m. thick, forming the
outer edge of a parallel curved platform, between 2m. and 3m.
wide and 0.5m. high. At the northern end a faint rise in the
pasture field suggests that the platform once curved sharply
westwards towards the mound. The hedgebank at this point angles
to the N.N.E. and is narrower than previously, where the
impression is that it was cut back from a larger pre-existing
structure and given some stone-facing or revetting.
There are no vestiges of a ditch in the arable field on the
outer face of the bank.
Corresponding very approximately to the former western boundary
of Great Castle, a ditch, about 13m. wide and 0.2m. deep, can
be traced for 45m., the inner face appearing to curve towards
the mound at the northern end.
The field names evidently perpetuate the tradition of some
form of fortification and it seems probable that the mound
represents a motte with the possibility of a small bailey. The
entrance would presumably have been on the S. side adjacent to
the ridgeway road. Strategically it is well placed, occupying
the entire width of the ridgetop at this point except for the
route it controlled.
The lack of any documentary supporting evidence save the field
names may indicate a minor fortification of brief duration as
might occur during the period of the Anarchy.
Mound; fir planted, but condition fair; possible bailey
earthworks so ploughed down or destroyed as to be only just
perceptible.
No finds were made.
Surveyed at 1/1250 & 1/2500.
'Lamerhooe' is a 19th century variation of 'Lamerow' which
name occurs on the 1st Edn. 1", 1809.(a). (2)
|