More information : (SO 41758476) Castle (NR) Moat (NR). (1)
Cheney Longville Castle. Licence to embattle his house at Cheney Longville was granted to Roger Cheney in 1395. The buildings rise immediately out of a moat and surround a courtyard which is entered on the north side by a bridge and a modern arch, probably on the site of the original gateway. The farmhouse has destroyed the original character of the west side of the courtyard, but the farm buildings retain a number of distinctly medieval features. Below the garden is a meadow which was formerly a pond supplying water to a mill. (2)
The castle stands within a moat, half of which is now destroyed, and outside this are indications of banks and an outer moat, with a fish-pond on the SE. On the NE an embanked lake formed the chief defence, while the south was strengthened by a rampart and ditch. The eastern curve of the latter terminated in a pond, and
the western end probably extended to join the lake. (3)
Cheney Longville Castle, a fortified manor house set around a courtyard. Now a farmhouse and outbuildings, in fair condition and as described above. The fabric is largely Md, with a number of 14th century corridors and doorways (some blocked), but there have been wide-spread renovations and alterations at different times.
The moat, now marshy or dry, remains of the S & E sides. A rectangular Md fishpond lies parallel to the E arm of the moat and is also dry. N of the house, at a lower level, is the site of a pond, 150.0m by 100.0m in area contained by a large bay, 100.0m in
length, 10.0m in width and up to 2.5m in height. The purpose of this pond was not ascertained, but a rock-cut spillway, now
accommodating a small stream, leads away downhill, eastwards, from the NE corner which suggests it was a millpond. To the S and E of the house is an outwork, comprising a ditch, 6.0m wide and 0.5 to 1.5m deep, with remains of an inner bank, 4.0m wide and up to 0.5m in height, which extends from the modern road W of the house to the outskirts of the village to the NE, except
where ploughed out in recent times. Published 1:2500 survey revised. (4)
House and farm buildings round a courtyard; the houses having a 17th century look constructionally while the two storey farm
buildings have distinct Medieval features (? 14th century). Grade 2*. (5)
Scheduled listing. (6)
Listed by Cathcart King. (7)
Traces of the outer moat, fishponds and other defensive banks are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs, although the inner moat is obscured by trees. A hollow way or footpath, visible as an earthwork, approaches the site from the south. The features have been mapped by RCHME's Marches Uplands Mapping Project. (8-10) |