More information : (SD 80201080) Castle Croft (NR). (1)
Licence to crenellate the manor house at Bury was granted in 1469 when it became known as Bury Castle. It was later razed to the ground by order of Henry Tudor. In 1865, while excavating for a sewer on 'Castle Croft', foundation walls of the Castle were discovered three feet below the surface. They consisted of a quadrangular wall about 120ft by 113ft enclosing a massive keep. Also within the enclosure stood the fortified manor house measuring about 83ft by 63ft in the form of a parallelogram. There had further been a large outer courtyard about 600ft by 450ft. Coins from the reign of Edward have been dug up from time to time in the neighbouring gardens. (2)
No visible remains, the site is now covered by modern development.(3)
SD 804112. Excavation on the site of Castle Croft in 1973 by N Tyson for Bury Museum and Bury Archaeological Society located the south section of a buttressed enclosing wall and the remains of an earlier turf wall in front. Medieval pottery, wood and leather were recovered. (4)
Excavations between 1973 and 1977 defined 6 phases of the development and decline of Bury Castle:
1) (1359-1400) Construction of house platform (c47 x 41m) and first phase of moat.
2) (c1470) Moat widening and construction of enclosing wall.
3) (c1490-1600) Dismantling of standing structures and silting of moat.
4) (c1600-1700) Attempts at moat consolidation and extension of property boundaries.
5) (c1700-1800) Completion of consolidation and site development.
6) (1800-1865) Further development leading to Hardwick's discoveries of 1865. (5)
Scheduled, SAM No. GM 1. (6)
Scheduled. (7)
Remains of Bury Castle at the junction of Castle Street and Cooper Street have been cleaned and consolidated, and are on public view. (8) |