More information : [SE 987007] [Moat shown but not named.] (1)
"A great castle of Castlethorpe in King John's day",... "the ruins of which are now [ 1696 ] scarce to be seen, only the place where it stood is called Castle Hill to this day". (2)
The owner of this property stated that the moat was bulldozed in
1960. Many "very large squared stones" were met with, and also extensive foundation walls. Local opinion is that this was the
site of De la Pryme's castle, but no authority was consulted or
told of the finds and an expert examination of the site was never
made. No pottery or implements were noted, but great haste seems to have been made in covering the diggings.
In 1962 an attempt was made to deep plough and plant, but so much subterranean obstruction was encountered the attempt was abandoned. The whole field is now pasture, slight non-surveyable undulations only are visible on the surface.
Air cover was not available at the time of investigation, nor is
the name Castle Hill now in local use. (3)
Centred SE 987007. The moated site and earthworks at
Castlethorpe are now ploughed out and visible only as slight
undulations in pasture. (4)
A medieval/post medieval settlement and medieval ridge and furrow are visible as earthworks on historic air photographs, centred at SE 9870 0770. The settlement consists of a series of hollow ways, with crofts and tofts and rectilinear enclosures. The core of the site at SE 9870 0770 appears to be medieval, but additional elements to the west of Castelthorpe Hall at SE 9835 0773 appear to date to the medieval/post medieval period. The features have been levelled on the latest 2009 vertical photographs, though lidar flown in 2001 just show slight undulations remaining. (5)
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