Bodiam CastleBodiam Castle survives well and contains archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. The survival of the water-filled moat, despite being drained and partially excavated twice in the 20th century, provides conditions for the survival of organic remains. Gardens have been a feature of important houses since at least Roman times, if not earlier, but in the 16th century gardens became larger and more formal. Recurring features were terraces, ponds and canals, and in the design of these there was a continuous interplay between social aspirations, artistic aims and changing fashions. The earthwork remains of such gardens are important archaeological features illustrating their recreational and ornamental function and of course, the scale of investment in time and money. Although somewhat altered by modern dredging, restoration and dumping, the elaborate arrangement of water features and earthworks in which the castle at Bodiam is set, and with which it may be contemporary, survives relatively well and is an unusual and early example of a planned picturesque landscape. This setting was further elaborated by a substantial earthwork platform situated c.250m upslope to the north of the castle, which has been interpreted as a pleasaunce, or ornamental garden and viewing platform for the contrived landscape below. This is the subject of a separate scheduling. The mill pond at Bodiam is sited within the castle grounds and survives comparatively well despite some later alterationMick HallidayView details
Portchester CastleAfter the Norman Conquest the manor of Portchester was granted to William Mauduit and by the time of his death in about 1100 the inner bailey of the castle had been created. The raising of the keep to two storeys took place before 1120, at which date the castle reverted to the Crown. In about 1130 the castle was acquired by William Pont de l'Arche who may have built the curtain wall of the bailey. The doubling in height of the keep and the addition of a chapel and a chamber to its forebuilding must also have taken place at this time. Within the castle William founded a priory which was abandoned as unsuitable by 1150. By 1158 the castle had again reverted to the Crown and, in the late 12th century, domestic buildings began to appear around the inner bailey. The castle declined in importance during the 13th century; in a survey of 1275 the buildings were described as being old and ruinous. However, between 1320 and 1326 major building works were carried out with considerable expenditure on walls, gates and various halls and chambers. The buildings on the west of the inner bailey became a self contained palace, later rebuilt by Richard II in the years after 1396. The north east tower in the bailey, known as Ashton's Tower, was also built in the 14th centuryMick HallidayView details
Warblington Castle, HavantThe 'Castle' is said to have been built, or a license to crenellate the existing manor granted, c1340 and the foundations of some buildings surrounding the courtyard date possibly from the 14th century. They are surmounted by 1-4 courses of Tudor brick and the gatehouse ruins are of that date, built of brick faced with Isle of Wight stone, the mouldings and ornament of Caen stone (VCH).It would seem that the 'castle' was uninhabitable in 1695 and after the siege of 1644 it had probably been dismantled (Butchart).The 'castle' - a fortified homestead - has been totally destroyed, its site occupied by the modern farm. This house and the ruins of the gatehouse, which has a turret of early Tudor brick, are surrounded by a square moat, the traces of which, on the S and E sides, are to be seen as a very shallow depression. Along the N side the moat is still quite deep and apparently turned south at the modern pond. Along the N side, outside the moat, is a steep-sided, clay rampart, c8 feet high, and 11-12ft above the bottom of the moat, with a flat top 6-8 feet wide. At its NE end is a square 'expansion', 30 x 30 feet and at the NW end it stops abruptly in a line with the gateway. In the field to the westward, there are traces, possibly of former buildings flanking the main approach. At the end of the 18th century, the field to the north is described as 'surrounded with a mound and fosse as deep as that of the castle' (Williams-Freeman 1915)Mick HallidayView details
Tynewydd Mound, LeeswoodMound has appearance of a tumulus but tenants maintain it is natural. Erosion by river reveals gravel composition which may suggest it is natural (Davies 1949, 246-7). Pronounced circular mound 16m diam and 2m high. On high ground on lip of a deep stream cutting into S side of mound revealing packed gravel and glacial pebbles (OS 1959). Apparently artificial mound with flat top in strong defensive position. shape and position typical of a small motte (OS 1975). Not possible to determine whether this site is a motte or a barrow. Its position is defensive and it has a flat top. On balance, probably a motte, but no trace of a bailey. Eroded on its very steep SE sideJohn AtkinsonView details
Tynewydd Mound, LeeswoodMound has appearance of a tumulus but tenants maintain it is natural. Erosion by river reveals gravel composition which may suggest it is natural (Davies 1949, 246-7). Pronounced circular mound 16m diam and 2m high. On high ground on lip of a deep stream cutting into S side of mound revealing packed gravel and glacial pebbles (OS 1959). Apparently artificial mound with flat top in strong defensive position. shape and position typical of a small motte (OS 1975). Not possible to determine whether this site is a motte or a barrow. Its position is defensive and it has a flat top. On balance, probably a motte, but no trace of a bailey. Eroded on its very steep SE sideMold Civic Society Journal Ystrad Alun Issue #3 (2002)View details
Barnard CastleBarnard Castle is a well-documented example of a ringwork which developed into a shell keep. It is one of the largest castles in the north of England and its importance lies not only in the good state of preservation of its standing remains but also in the wide range of ancillary features which survive as buried features within its four wards. Equally important are its associations with the Balliols and the Earls of Warwick, the former being one of the most important families in Scottish medieval history and the latter in later medieval English history.The monument is situated on a cliff above the River Tees and includes an early 12th century ringwork, a 12th to 14th century shell keep castle with four wards or enclosures, a chapel and a dovecote. Formerly, an outer ditch enclosed the east side of the castle between the curtain wall and the Horse Market. Although the remains of this ditch will survive beneath later urban development, it is not included in the scheduling as the extent of the remains is not sufficiently understood. A series of partial excavations carried out within the later castle walls between 1974 and 1982 has shown that the earliest fortification dates to between c.1109 and 1125. It was constructed overlooking the river where the cliff turned eastwards into the mouth of a gully. A ditch was quarried in an arc from the north cliff to the west cliff, enclosing a roughly circular area with a diameter of cAndrew HerrettView details
Ashby De La Zouch CastleThe standing remains of Ashby Castle, a fortified house cum castle on the eastern outskirts of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The manor of Ashby was granted by William I to Hugh de Grantmesnil and subsequently passed by marriage to the Zouch family towards the end of C12. The site is primarily a C12 house which was redesigned and rebuilt over a period of several centuries. Between 1464 and 1483 Lord Hastings undertook an extensive building programme at Ashby, whilst retaining many of the site's existing structures. During the Civil War it was besieged and surrendered to the Parliamentarians in 1646. Several principal buildings were slighted, rendering them untenable, and Ashby was abandoned as a dwelling. The buildings of the early Norman house are thought originally to have been timber structures which were replaced after 1150 by ones built of stone. The standing remains of C12 hall and solar are situated in the central part of the site. In circa 1350 the hall was redesigned as a single storey building and stone arcades were constructed to support the roof. At the same time a new solar was built and the existing solar was used as a pantry and butteryAndrew HerrettView details
Bedale Church of St GregoryChurch, comprising nave, chancel, north and south aisles, west tower and crypt. The nave dates from C12. In the late C12, the chancel was rebuilt and the north aisle added. The south aisle and south chapel date from around 1290, while the north aisle and north chapel were rebuilt circa 1340. The west tower was built as a fortified structure, also circa 1340, and at the same time the chancel was extended to the east and the crypt constructed below. The tower was heightened in C15. Fragments of late C9 carved stonework can be found in the crypt. (PastScape)Andrew HerrettView details
Middleham CastleMiddleham Castle is situated in the town of Middleham in Leyburn, North Yorkshire. The monument consists of a single area containing the impressive standing remains of the Norman keep, begun in the mid-twelfth century, the fourteenth century curtain wall and later domestic buildings, and the surrounding ditched enclosure. The keep is of the rarer type of tower keep, known as a hall keep. It is rectangular in plan, measuring 32m x 24m, with ashlar faced walls up to 3.7m thick. Originally entered at first floor level from a flight of stairs up the east side, it is divided longitudinally by a central wall. The floor at this level has gone, but the eastern half contained the great hall and the western half the lord's private chamber, or solar, and inner chamber. Below, the basement floor contained a vaulted cellar to the east and, to the west, the main kitchen and a smaller cellar. Garderobes (latrines) can be seen on the main floor to south and west, extending into turrets added in the fourteenth century when the walls of the keep were heightened by the addition of a clerestory, a row of windows set above the main storey to let in light. Of similar or later date is the great window looking out of the lord's solar over Wensleydale, created by knocking through the wall between two earlier, Norman windowsAndrew HerrettView details
Richmond CastleRichmond Castle occupies a naturally strong defensive position on the cliff above the River Swale in Richmond. The monument includes the exceptionally well-preserved standing remains of the castle, its three courts (the barbican or outer court, the great court and the second court or cockpit), Castle Bank, down to the edge of Riverside Road, where parts of the south range of the great court survive and the rampart to the north and east of the cockpit and great court respectively. Unlike most castles built during the years immediately following the Norman Conquest, the original building material at Richmond Castle was stone rather than earth and timber. The earliest form of the castle was that of a massive curtain wall around two sides of a triangular great court. By and large, the masonry of this wall dates to the last thirty years of the eleventh century, though the parapets and wall walk on the east side are early fourteenth century. The great court measures 91m north to south and 137m east to west. Unless it carried a timber palisade, the south side was originally undefended, being adequately protected by the steep drop down to the Swale. Three projecting towers defended the eleventh century curtain on the east side while another smaller tower stood at the south-west angle. The curtain on the west side stands to a considerable height and contains an eleventh century sallyport, a subsidiary gate through which the garrison could rush to defend the castle from attack. It also contains a semicircular arch indicating the site of the greater chapelAndrew HerrettView details