HER 424 DESCRIPTION:- Scheduled Monument Description:- Not Available The mound in the garden of Castle Godwyn was examined at the request of Mrs Clifford by Sir Cyril Fox {Source Work 862.2} who pronounced it to be a Norman motte. It is known as the Great Home Knowle and was thought, formerly to be a long barrow. {Source Work 862.} Mound is about 5m high. A copious spring from the lower side and remains of a moat containing shallow water. Summit of the mound is several square meters, covered in bushes in 1955. {Source Work 902.} Site visited 19-12-1985 following application for SMC to clear, fell and replant. Sparsely wooded, dense regeneration of beech, undergrowth at present died back. Complicated system of burrowing. Otherwise in same condition as when scheduled. See details in Back-up File {Source Work 484.} No trace of moat or bailey. SO 8712 1158. Substantial tree covered mound, has a domed and slightly flattened summit. Could conceivably be a round barrow but a motte is more likely, though how much of the mound is artificial and how much a natural knoll is unsure. Tree covered. {Source Work 470.} Not mentioned in Victoria County History. {Source Work 1859.} AREA ASSESSMENT: - As when scheduled apart from tree growth and burrowing. Otherwise no damage. {Source Work 484.} No plough damage. {Source Work 470.} AREA MANAGEMENT: - Application to clear, fell and replant decision to clear, fell and allow natural regeneration in place of replanting {Source Work 484.} 2015 - Severn Vale NMP Project. The mound in the garden of Castle Godwyn was examined at the request of Mrs Clifford by Sir Cyril Fox, who pronounced it to be a Norman motte. It is known as the Great Home Knowle, and was formerly thought to be a long barrow. A possible medieval motte is visible as earthworks on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of the Severn Vale NMP project. Located in woods in the grounds of and immediately below Castle Godwyn and centred at SO 87136 11574, a large subcircular earthwork mound is sited on the south-east facing slopes of Painswick Hill some 191 metres below the course of the A46 Cheltenham Road and 532 metres east and out of sight of the medieval Gloucester-Cirencester road. Whilst this is described as a Norman motte, remote sensing data appears to show an irregular mound about 80 metres at its widest point and which spreads out downslope. This scheduled earthwork monument is from the Old County Series (OCN) of designated sites. The motte appears to be positioned in a strategically vulnerable and illogical position with roads and Iron Age hillfort above it. Given the fact that the late 17th/ early 18th century Castle Godwyn and gardens appears to have been constructed on large man-made terraces, I would offer a speculative alternative interpretation that this scheduled earthwork mound might, in fact, be the spoil heap from those works, tipped over the side of the terracing and spreading out in a fan shape downhill. It is suggested that the scheduling is reassessed. {Source Works 2426, 4249, 9136 & 13830.} |