| Summary : Motte, probably a siege castle, surviving as an earthwork though severely damaged by modern installations. The natural topography of a hill was modified, cutting back the sides to create a steep-sided mound topped by a low bank, and surrounded by a ditch and outer bank. The top of the bank is roughly oval in plan, 30m North-South by 25m East-West. The South and South-Eastern section has been disturbed by the construction of Royal Observer Corps posts sited on the mound. The ROC occupied the mound from at least 1937-1991. The base of the mound is 70m in diameter, and is surrounded by a largely infilled ditch, around which are the fragmentary remains of a bank. Scheduled. |
More information : [SE 79288443] Beacon Hill [T.I.] Castle Mound [G.T.] (1)
Beacon Hill, a supposed Motte & Bailey Castle. Motte 14' high with traces of breastwork. Area on top 110' x 80'. Traces of a ditch, but
no sign of a building. Possibly a siege-work. (2)
A motte, as described, with no trace of a bailey. Published survey
(25") revised. (3)
Beacon Hill is a prominent summit on the west side of Pickering Beck at 59 m OD, commanding a wide outlook and an uninterrupted view of Pickering Castle, 550 m to the east.
The earthworks consist of a scarped mound, up to 3.8 m high, around the crest of which is the remains of a bank, 0.7 m high internally; on the west side this bank is missing but it is clear elsewhere. The area enclosed measures approximately 29 m from the north-east to south-west and about 24 m transversely. Around the foot of the mound are the remains of a ditch; on the north and north-east sides this is visible only as a strip of lush vegetation but on the south west and south sides it survives as a slight earthwork. To the south it is obscured by recently constructed agricultural buildings but air photographs of 1945 (4a) show it very clearly. To the east the ditch turns as a dog-legged hollow running down the hillside; while superficially similar to a hollow way, this feature is probably a drainage ditch and field boundary of later date than the other earth- works. Fragmentary remains of an outer bank survive on the east-north -east and west-south-west sides, up to 0.4 m high. There seems to have been an entrance into the earthwork on the south-east (4b-c); the evidence for this has been much disturbed but there is certainly a break in the bank on the summit of the mound here. To the north and east of the mound there are the remains of cultivation in the form of fragmentary ridge-and-furrow and slight lynchets.
The earthworks have suffered serious disturbance from a series of land drains which cross the whole site, from the construction of observation posts during the Second World War and later from cultivation and from the construction of agricultural buildings. The earthworks described above are the remains of a small ringwork
castle, almost certainly thrown up to observe Pickering Castle itself during a siege (4d-g) though no documentary evidence for such an event is known and it cannot be closely dated. Jeffry's Map of Yorkshire (1770) labels the hill simply as a "Beacon".
Surveyed at 1:500 and detailed archive account prepared. (4-4g)
SE 796 846. Earthwork on Beacon Hill. Scheduled no. NY/540. (5)
SE 79288 84439. See List entry for details (1019091) (6) |