| More information : [SJ 4186 5957] Site of CASTLE [G.T.] BLOBB HILL [G.T.]
[SJ 4187 5954] MOAT [G.T.] (1)
"Aldford Castle was probably built in the reign of Henry II, when the Aldford family lived here... Richard de Aldford was succeeded in his fee and castle of Aldford, between 10 John [1209] and 13 Henry III [1229] by Sir John Arderne". (2)
"The keep is called Blobb Hill, and the lower court the Hall Croft,
being the site of a mansion built by the successors of the Ardenes, but now destroyed". Aldford passed from the Ardenes to Thomas de Stanley by 12-13. Hen. VI. (1434-5) (p.756). (3)
Blobb Hill "is not shown on the estate maps until 1847 as a mound, but a terrier of 1637 couples it with the adjoining field as Little Wood and Blob Hill, Nine Acres. There is no trace in the Eaton deeds of 'Blobb' as a personal name....(a)". (4)
'Alford, motte and bailey castle' - scheduled. (5)
Motte and bailey situated partly in pasture land, with adjacent modern farm buildings on the west side.
The tree covered motte has an average height of 5.2m and is flat topped. It bears no visible trace of building foundations. It is surrounded by a ditch with an average width, at lower level, of 10.0m, and depth from the exterior of 2.4m. The ditch is dry
and mainly overgrown, except on the west side where it has been spread by gardening activities. An outer bank 1.2m high extends around part of the east side, and on the north side it appears to have been widened in comparatively modern times - perhaps by gardening.
The bailey is enclosed by a dry, and mainly grass covered dtich 2.0m deep, and average 18.0m wide, at upper level, joining the motte ditch in the S.E. It is obliterated in the south by a graveyard, and a church, which appears to be built on the lip of the southern bank of the ditch. This supposition is strengthened by the fact that the north chapel of the church shows a tendency to break away from the main structure. The S.E. corner of the bailey ditch is spanned by a modern causeway incorporating a brick built tunnel, and some mutilation has occurred to the banks in the vicinity. In the N.E. the banks have been lowered where they are crossed by a modern footpath. A fragmentary inner bank 0.4m. in height extends around the bailey. At the present time the ditch is being slowly infilled on the south east and west sides by deposited refuse from the churchyard and garden. No trace of an entrance to either bailey or motte was detected.
A 25" survey has been made. (6)
Limited excavation by local residents revealed the outer face of a mortared masonry wall encircling the top of the Norman motte (?shell keep). A stone piscina, of possible Norman date, was found and is in the Grosvenor Mus. (7-8)
Published survey (25" 1961) checked and found correct. There is a fragment of wall foundation at the lip of the scarp at SJ 4187 5955. (9)
No change to report of 18.11.64. Published survey 1:2500 correct. (10)
SJ 4189 5952. Aldford motte and bailey and shell keep castle.
Scheduled RSM No 22486. (11)
Listed by Cathcart King. (12)
A medieval motte and bailey is visible as earthworks on historic vertical photography and lidar imagery in the parish of Dodleston, centred at SJ 4187 5957. This is extant on the latest 2017 vertical photography and was mapped as part of the Cheshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping Project. (13)
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