HER 32 DESCRIPTION:-

Scheduled Monument Description:- Not Avaliable

Fortified manor house, license to crenellate of 1403. Slight remains of stone built tower (probable 13th century keep) and crenellated mansion with various earthworks. {Source Work 4249.}

A Norman-type earthen castle lies in the field north-west of the church, with a stone-built keep of circa 13th century, and a manor house extended in the 14th century. Slight remains of a stone-built tower, and strengthened and crenellated mansion occupied successively by the Albamaras, Hatheways and Bickenores. {Source Work 133.}

A license was granted in 1403 to Alexander de Bykemore, clerk, to crenellate his mansion at Ruardean. A few fragments are still standing. {Source Work 237.}

In the later Middle Ages the manor [of Ruardean] included a castle built under the licence granted in 1311 to Alexander of Bicknor to crenellate his house at Ruardean. The castle on a spur north-west of the church, was defended by a perimeter wall and included a substantial earthwork. It may have been still standing in 1611 but most of its masonry had been removed by 1831. In the 1930s, when the site was investigated by local treasure hunters, remains of a small chamber were uncovered and in 1990 the surviving fabric included part of a doorway. {Source Work 3710.}

Ruardean, first recorded in the Domesday Book is derived from words meaning "hill enclosure". {Source Work 862.}

Structural remains and earthworks of a fortified manor house are situated upon the end of a short north-west pasture covered spur between the heads of two valleys. Ground evidence in the form of turf-covered tumbled masonry and buried foundations indicates a courtyard, 20 metres square. Flanked on the north-east and south-west by short ranges of buildings with a strongly built tower on the west corner, circular externally, octagonal internally, of which the rear wall 2.5 metres thick remains standing to a height of 2.5 metres. Carved stonework dates it to the 13th century. On the south-east side of the courtyard are the tumbled remains of a gatehouse, with twin buildings flanking the entrance from which a faint hollow-way leads south-east along the spur towards the parish church. The buildings were probably enclosed with a stone curtain wall, the foundations of which are exposed for 6 metres adjoining the south-east side of the tower and the course of which can be traced elsewhere in the turf. Outside the gatehouse is a 60 metre square enclosure bounded by outward facing scarps 1 to 1.5 metres high, with traces of bank above, and on the south-west side remains of a ditch below, 5 metres wide and 0.3 metres deep. There is a break in the south-east side through which passes the hollow way from the gatehouse. No evidence was found to indicate that this site was ever a motte and bailey castle (though a ringwork masked by later works may have existed). The situation is rather weak for one but quite adequate for a fortified manor house. {Source Work 862.}

Earthworks visible (under pasture) on Fairey, RAF and Severn Trent aerial photographs. {Source Works 615, 863 & 609.}

Earthwork definition is good only on Severn Trent Water aerial photograph. {Source Work 609 & pers. comm. S. Brown.}

1608 - Field name 'Castle Meade' recorded at the site of Ruardean Castle on a map of the western part of the Forest of Dean, dating from 1608. {Source Work 2919.}

1840 - Field name 'Upper Castle Meadow' recorded at the site of Ruardean Castle on the rectified copy of the Ruardean tithe map and apportionment of 1840. {Source Work 6634.}

c.1925 - Earthwork shown on the OS 3rd edition 25" map. {Source Work 5138.}

1955 - The site was visited on 8th November 1955, when the following observations were made : Castle with an inner and outer ward now defined by grass banks rising 10 feet above outside and 4 feet above the interior. A small section of a corner tower remains 10 feet high including the springers of a vault and quite a lot of ashlar. Masonry needs treating. A grass field, too steep to plough. Will be put forward for scheduling. {Source Work 2873.}

2002 - Earthworks labeled 'Manor House (remains of)' on the modern OS Land-Line data held on COGIS. {Source Work 6596.}

2002 - The following information was posted on the website of Dean Archaeological Group in 2002 : "It is very strange that over the years we have had a number of possible Civil War finds recovered from east of Ruardean Manor, yet so far, no mention has been found of any Civil War activity there. Is there some reference available that we have not yet located? The one and only reference we have located is in the Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucester Archaeological Society, Vol VIII, 1883/4, reporting on a special meeting held at Ruardean Mon 24th Sept 1883, which reported on a helmet in Walford Church, traditionally belonging to Colonel Kyrle." Further research is needed into Civil War activity at Ruardean, and into the 'possible Civil War finds' mentioned on the DAG website. {Pers. comm. L. Butler.}

2002 - A documentary research and rapid photographic and condition survey was undertaken by GCCAS in 2002 as part of the 2001/2 Gloucestershire Monuments Management Scheme. It became apparent from the study of available sources, that little accurate information exists concerning the site's history and morphology. The earliest indicators of human activity in the vicinity date to the prehistoric period, with no evidence of Roman or post-Roman activity on the site. The motte and bailey seems to have been the first major structure on the site . A license to crenellate a building in Ruardean was granted in the 14th century, however there is no definite evidence to indicate the commonly held view that this event related to the castle site. It is clear from the surviving remains that a major fortified structure existed on the site, with at least two phases of earthworks visible during the site visit. The nature and date of these features remains unclear. {Source Works1724, 7168.}

The cartographic evidence indicates that the monument had gone out of use by the 17th century and has been consistently robbed of stone until the present day. The monument now comprises a series of earthen mounds and the fragmentary remains of what is believed to be a tower and piece of adjoining wall. No adequate plan of the earthworks exists, which are certainly more extensive than the existing Ordnance Survey maps indicate. The earthworks also continue outside the area designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The management issues are detailed in the area management field. {Source Works 7124, 7168.}

2003 - This area was mapped at 1:10,000 scale as part of the English Heritage: Gloucestershire NMP project.

The fallen masonry and earthwork remains of the probable 13th-15th century fortified manor house were seen on aerial photographs centered at SO 6198 1782, on a north facing spur to the north of Ruardean. The main site of the ruined house or castle is surrounded by the remains of further earthworks presumed to be associated with the site. These included further outlying banks and two ditches, one of which is probably a path or hollow way linking the site to the town of Ruardean. {Source Works 4249, 7549, 6880, 7352, 7163.}

2004 - Following site visits by N Russell and English Heritage personnel it was agreed that the site was in a relatively stable condition, however, a further visit was rewarded by the discovery of a new badger sett at NW. This sett was stopped as part of the 2003/4 Monuments Management Scheme.

2004 - August - A site visit by N Russell and M Barge (FMW) revealed that the badgers had managed to re-enter the sett. It was agreed that we would seek a more robust solution to this problem through the 2004/5 Monument Management Scheme. A member of the Ruardean Parish Council had also reported vandalism to the masonry, which was confirmed. Consolidation of the masonry shall also be undertaken as part of the 2004/5 Monument Management Scheme.

2006 - A programme of archaeological building recording was undertaken by Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service on 29/06/2006 to 03/07/2006 prior to the consolidation of the remains. This work was undertaken as part of the monuments Management Scheme. The standing masonry remains at Ruardean Castle can now be understood as the remains of the western tower of a small castle or fortified manor house dating to the 14th century. This tower was octagonal within, with at least one window facing northwestwards and a rib vaulted ground floor. From the outside it was circular, with a batter at the base. It was accessed from the ground floor by a doglegged passageway with a spiral staircase to the south, housed in a projecting turret leading to the upper stories. Adjoining the tower to the northeast was another building, the southwestern wall of which still stands as the northeastern wall of the tower, together with a tiny fragment of its inner (southeastern) wall. There is no evidence visible of its outer wall. Adjoining the tower to the southeast is the spring of the stair turret in very smart ashlar, and a short stretch of curtain wall. The entrance passageway to the ground floor of the tower survives as a short stretch of ashlar and a hollow-way. All these remains appear to be of one build.

The earthwork remains of two wards are visible, although it is unknown whether these are contemporary with each other. It is possible that the presence of an earlier motte-and-bailey type fortification on this site may be confusing the picture somewhat. The present remains may all be 14th century and may represent a two-ward plan consisting of a high status and masonry built inner ward and a lower status and predominately wooden built outer ward. Alternatively, the inner ward may be the total extent of the 14th century building, masking the possible motte, while the ‘outer ward’ may be the remains of the early bailey. If the 14th century construction was on a virgin site, one would perhaps expect a more regular plan. {Source Work 8746.}

2006 - A topographic survey was undertaken of part of the castle's earthwork mound, complementary to the standing building recording, carried out by Nigel Ruxton Land Surveys. The whole extent of the mound was not surveyed and the area concentrated upon was the western half with the location of the standing remains - as studied and described above - noted. No interpretations of the earthwork have been recorded as part of this work, also undertaken as part of the Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service's Monument Management Scheme. {Source Work 10228.}

2018 - Written Scheme of Investigation: Worcestershire Archaeology (WA) has prepared this Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) for the excavation of an archaeological site (the Investigation) and the undertaking of a programme of training of community volunteers in archaeological fieldwork techniques and research. The Investigation site is Ruardean Castle, a Scheduled Monument (ref: NHLE 1002098; GCC HER 32; NGR SO 61940 17822; Figure 1) located on the north side of the Forestof Dean. The castle lies on the north side of the village of Ruardean. This WSI describes the proposed programme of Investigation (Background, Aims,

Methods and Resourcing) and has been produced as part of the required documentation for the site works and in order to fulfil one of the conditions attaching to scheduled monument consent which has been received for the investigations (ref: S00201051; dated 01-10-18; Condition (b)). The WSI has been prepared following discussions with staff of Historic England (Melanie Barge, Inspector of Ancient Monuments), the Forestry Commission (Sue Middleton, HLF Programme Manager) and Gloucestershire County Council (Toby Catchpole and John Hoyle).

A geophysical survey has already been completed (Appendix 1) and has been used to inform the design of this Investigation. The Investigation will comprise a programme of work (fieldwork and reporting) including area excavation, test pit excavation and limited survey to be undertaken working with community volunteers. This will be accompanied by the completion of associated processing, documentary research, analysis, reporting and archiving tasks arising from this fieldwork. {Source Work 15403.}

The Historic England record provides the following additional information: "Site of a fortified manor house, granted a licence to crenellate in 1310 (previously also probably incorrectly rendered as 1403 in one section of an older source)." {Source Work 4249.}

2018 - A combined magnetometer and earth resistance survey was conducted over approximately 0.28 ha of grassland on the scheduled site of Ruardean Castle in the Forest of Dean by Sumo on 12th September 2018. A probable defensive ditch or courtyard with a possible internal structure has been identified, along with the remains of another potential building. Several other anomalies of possible archaeological and uncertain origin have been identified {Source Work 17477.}