Scheduled MonumentsEnglandCastle Hill motte and bailey castle

Castle Hill motte and bailey castle

England
List entry 1015198
Nation
England
The designation
Reference
List entry 1015198
Authority
Historic England (NHLE)
Status
Scheduled Monument
Scheduled area
4 hectares
Grid reference
TL 21100 82791
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic England (NHLE)

Overview

History & significance

Castle Hill motte and bailey castle is a Norman fortification located in Huntingdonshire, England, and represents the characteristic military architecture of the post-Conquest period. The monument consists of a substantial earthwork comprising a motte, or artificial mound, accompanied by an attached bailey, or defended enclosure, which would have been surrounded by palisades and ditches in its original form. Dating to the eleventh or twelfth century, the castle reflects the Norman practice of constructing rapid defensive structures to consolidate control following the Norman conquest of 1066. The site survives today as a significant archaeological earthwork that demonstrates the scale and engineering involved in early medieval castle construction in the English Midlands.

Castle Hill motte and bailey castle is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1015198. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Castle Hill motte and bailey castle?

Castle Hill motte and bailey castle is a Norman fortification located in Huntingdonshire, England, and represents the characteristic military architecture of the post-Conquest period. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1015198.

Who is responsible for protecting Castle Hill motte and bailey castle?

Castle Hill motte and bailey castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1015198.

What other scheduled monuments are near Castle Hill motte and bailey castle?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Monk's Hole barrow, 630m NNE of Monk's Wood Farm (3.5 km), Duck Decoy site in Hermitage Wood (5.1 km), Moated site at Coppingford (5.3 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Castle Hill motte and bailey castle

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Castle Hill motte and bailey castle's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Castle Hill motte and bailey castle

Castle Hill motte and bailey castle stands on Kellaways Formation And Oxford Clay Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Oxfordian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.