| Summary : The remains of a motte, situated adjacent to Oaklands Hall, and occupying a commanding position at the top of the southern side of the Ceiriog valley. Opposite, on the northern side of the valley, stands another motte. It would seem that these were deliberately sited in view of one another, in order to control the movement of people moving along and across the valley, the ancient border between England and Wales. The southern motte comprises a flat-topped, steep-sided oval mound of earth and stone. It measures approximately 26 metres by 40 metres at the base, 10 metres by 26 metres at the top and varies in height from 1.3 metres at the west to 3 metres at the east. A terraced path has been cut into the northern side of the mound. A ditch, now infilled but around 5 metres wide, surrounds the mound. Scheduled. |
More information : (SJ 29023702) Tumulus (NR). (1)
Mound (NAT). (2)
Oaklands Mount, 6 miles north-east from Oswestry, is a small oval mound 130ft long by 75 broad. Half the ditch remains around the northern and eastern sides, but the other portion has succumbed to the domestic requirements of an adjacent house. Also listed as a `tumulus' by VCH. (3)
Listed as an "early castle". (4)
A small motte, situated in a dominating position above the N-facing slopes of the valley of the River Ceiriog, with level ground to the S, and gently falling ground to the W and E; it lies
directly opposite another small motte on the other side of the valley, in Chirk (SJ 23 NE 5).
The motte measures at ground level, 46.0m E-W, by 26.0m transversely. The base has been foreshortened at the western end by the construction of a drive to "Oaklands". The summit of the motte which has been levelled and turfed over, measures 26.0m by 10.0m. The height averages 3.0m. On the weaker, S side is a ditch, 3.0m wide, 0.3m deep with an outer bank, 3.0m wide, 0.3m high, both reduced garden by landscape work.
Resurveyed at 1:2500 on AM and MSD. (5)
The remains of a motte, situated adjacent to Oaklands Hall, and occupying a commanding position at the top of the southern side of the Ceiriog valley. Opposite, on the northern side of the valley, stands another motte. It would seem that these were deliberately sited in view of one another, in order to control the movement of people moving along and across the valley, the ancient border between England and Wales. The southern motte comprises a flat-topped, steep-sided oval mound of earth and stone. It measures approximately 26 metres by 40 metres at the base, 10 metres by 26 metres at the top and varies in height from 1.3 metres at the west to 3 metres at the east. A terraced path has been cut into the northern side of the mound. A ditch, now infilled but around 5 metres wide, surrounds the mound. Scheduled. (6)
The motte falls within the area mapped from aerial photographs by RCHME's Marches Uplands Mapping Project but, because the site was covered by trees, the earthworks were not recorded by that survey. (7) |