More information : [TA 0657 2252] Motte & Bailey [GT] (1)
'The Castles', the earthwork from which Barrow derives its name (Saxon 'beorh', a fortification), originally covered an area of 6 to 8 acres. Said to have been used as an entrenchment by Danish invaders (the area between The Castles and The Castle Dikes at Barton is one of the many hypothetical sites of the Battle of Brunnanburgh), the fortification suggests an elementary form of a Plantagenet castle,-consisting of a circular mound surrounded by ramparts. The mound was about 140ft across, with several smaller entrenchments round it, one to the south being triangular in shape. These earthworks were protected by a fosse, a vallum, and a still wider, outer fosse, the boundaries of which are still traceable. The outer embankments to the north have been destroyed by the Hann and Castle Road, and the house to the north stands directly in the centre of the inner embankment. Human bones and armour are said to have been found hereabouts, and a bronze spear head was found in the earthworks about 1900. (2-5)
The earthworks have the appearance of a motte and bailey; the Danish theory is not impossible. (6)
Scheduled, The Castles. (7)
A good example of a Motte with two outer baileys and auxiliary earthworks; the whole now under pasture.
Resurveyed at 1/2500. (8)
TA 0658 2256 "The Castles" motte and bailey. Scheduled RSM No 23802.
An earthen motte and a series of earthwork enclosures including baileys and stock-pens. These enclosures are sub-divided by a complex water-management system which was originally fed by The Beck which lies to the S of the monument. The motte stands up to 3m above ground level and is surrounded by a dry moat 2m deep and 15m wide. To the N of the motte, in the moat, is an earthen bank 20m long, 15m wide and 2m high which would originally have supported the wooden bridge linking the motte and northern bailey. This bailey is 100m wide E-W and 70m long N-S. It is enclosed by an earthen bank up to 2m high and 10m wide and a moat. The W arm of the moat has been largely infilled and the bank almost levelled, surviving as a slight rise up to 1m high and 35m wide. The construction of a farmhouse has disturbed part of the defences here.
A second bailey, triangular in shape, lies to the SE of the motte. It is enclosed by a moat 7m wide and 1.5m deep with a bank up to 2m high and 10m wide around its inner side. This bailey was later bisected from N to S by the digging of a further moat 10m wide and 1.75m deep. The greater part of this bailey is low-lying and waterlogged and the digging of this later moat is thought to be related to the abandonment of the wet SE corner of this bailey. This abandonment is thought to have motivated the construction of a large northern outer bailey. This is defined by an earthen bank and moat. It was later bisected by the construction of Hann Lane. To the S of the lane, the moat is 1.5m deep and 10m wide and is a continuation of the moat which bisects the SE bailey. The bank is 1.5m high and 10m wide. To the N of the lane the moat has been infilled and the bank levelled. Access to the castle was via an entrance cut through the E rampart of the outer bailey; as no causeway crosses the moat access must have been by a wooden bridge. On the E side of the site, outside the moat, there are 3 earthwork enclosures which are interpreted as stock-pens. They are 15m long, 10m wide and are defined by banks 0.5m high and 5m wide. The N enclosure is truncated by Hann Lane.
The moats were filled from the tidal Beck which flows into the Humber. Two channels to the W of the motte fed the moat; these are up to 0.7m higher at their E ends than the bottom of the moat. In medieval times the wider Beck provided a defence for the S side of the castle, where the earthworks are not so strong.
The castle's builder is thought to have been Drogo de la Beuvriere, who was granted large tracts of Holderness in 1071. The site possibly replaced a Saxon manor of Earl Morcar. In 1087 the lands passed to Odo of Champagne, whose son was the first of the Counts of Aumale, founders of Thornton and Meaux Abbeys. The castle controlled the S landing place of the Humber ferry. A charter of 1189 lists the castle as belonging to Thornton Abbey.
"The Castles" has suffered limited disturbance in the past, including excavation for an air-raid shelter in 1939 and treasure hunting in the 1940s. W Varley's excavations of 1964 found timber foundations and pottery dating from the 11th to 14th century. This late date is probably due to the site continuing to control the Humber ferry landfall. In 1982 the Humberside Archaeology Unit field walked the surrounding area and part of the northern outer bailey, producing a few 11th and 12th century artefacts which indicated that the bailey here was probably abandoned in the late 12th century and used as pasture before being ploughed in the post-medieval period. (9)
The northern outer bailey, where it extends north of Hann Lane, is visible as cropmarks on air photographs taken in 1997. The in-filled moat clearly shows as a ditch cropmark, and the levelled bank is just visible in places as a pale band. To the south of Hann Lane the site still exists as earthworks. (10-10a) |