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MONUMENT NO. 71320

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A possible motte much mutilated by agricultural activities. The mound was 30 metres in diameter at the base, 1.2 metres high with a flat top 14 metres across.

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SJ 50556904 Ring motte: site inspected by W F Grimes. (1)

A mound, with traces of a possible surrounding ditch, has been surveyed at 1:2500 at SJ 50576904. (2)

The earthwork at Ashton is possible a ring-motte, but it is much obscured on the W and N by buildings etc. the site was trenched by the farmer in 1950 when the base of a rough stone wall to the east was found. Fragments of coal were found behind it, and Mr Webster (the curator, Grosvenor Museum) suggested it was probably a boundary wall of late date. (3)

Field report and survey of 1962 checked and correct. (4)

A probable small motte, situated upon a low ridge south of Ashton. The earthwork, 30,0m in diameter at the base, 1.2m high, with a flat top, 14.0m across, has been reduced and spread by ploughing and has been cut into on the N by farmyard walls.

There are no traces of a periphery bank and Webster's and Thompson's ring-motte classification cannot be substantiated.
A scarp, 0.6 to 0.8m high, 20.0m S of the mound, may possibly represent the outer lip of a ditch but is more likely to be natural.
Published 1:2500 survey, 1970, correct. (5)

On a low ridge on the S edge of Ashton village, are the very mutilated remains of an alleged motte. The site has been flattened by farm access from the NE, and by activity around farm buildings on the west. The whole has been puddled by cattle Tread. Because of this activity, and due to the proximity of the road, the form and overall dimensions are difficult to establish, but viewed from the southwest it appears as a pronounced swelling in the corner of the field. To the E a spread scarp falling to the N has been interpreted as a ditch, but the feature sits uncomfortably with the "motte", and seems too angular to be a convincing ditch.

In the absence of historical reference, the interpretation of the
feature as a motte is unwise, and its function, and antiquity
must be left open to question. (6)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Annotated Record Map

Corr 6" (G Webster inf M Leach 1949)

( 2) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JHW 30-MAR-62

( 3) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F2 JHW 26-JUN-64

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F3 ASP 06-SEP-76

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F4 WRWN 12-FEB-87

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