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Summary

Earthworks of a small enclosure castle probably built in 1341.

Monument Type(s):

• CASTLE (14th century to 16th century - 1341 AD to 1539 AD)

Protected Status:

• Scheduled Monument 1015199: Cheveley Castle, 350m north west of Old Hall Farm

Full description

1. Cheveley Castle is the county's one castle which belongs entirely to the late Middle Ages. It is a slight structure, chiefly notable for its wide and deep moat. Its construction may be dated to 1341.
This, the only Edwardian castle in the county, is a small fortress in Cheveley Park (see PRN 12335), two and a half miles SE from Newmarket, near the Suffolk border. The site is 300ft above sea level and commands a wide view eastwards. The building stood on a rectangular area 150ft long and 126ft wide, surrounded by a formidable dry ditch 75ft wide at the top and averaging 18ft by 20ft in depth. The greater part of the spoil got in digging this ditch must have been entirely removed from the site, for although the enclosed area has been slightly raised in height and there is a low bank around the outside of the ditch, the main mass was not emplyed about the site. Nothing remains of the building at the present day but a few fragments of walls and foundations. A causeway, probably modern, occupies the former site of the drawbridge. In 1341 Sir Jhn de Pulteney, financier and 4 times Mayor of London, was granted a licence to crenellate the dwelling places of his manors in Penhurst, Cheveley and London. There is no reason to doubt that this little castle was one of the results. The site shows no sign of any earlier type of castle having existed here before. At the best Cheveley Castle must have been a modest structure and the flint rubble remains of its building suggest that any strength it had was derived chiefly from its great ditch. Cheveley Park (PRN 12335), 12 acres, was inclosed for sport 1485-1517.
6. The earthwork is perfect. The whole is more or less covered in trees and undergrowth. The steep sided motte rises to approx 10m from ditch bottom, enclosing an area of approx 60m square. Entrance to NW with some masonry walling abutting in fragmentary state to a height of 2m. Depression noted in SW quadrant approx 2m wide. Motte covered in nettles, dogs mercury and supports mature sycamore etc. Moat is dry, filled with scrub, nettles, dead wood, and large lumps of fallen masonry. Ditch bottom silted up and presents a V-shaped profile. Some tipping of earth and manure on exterior bank to N, this falling into ditch.
7. The condition of motte and bailey is the same as above, but there is more manure and straw tipping noted again on the north side. This looked quite fresh.
8. The monument includes a small rectangular enclosure castle and an 18th or early 19th century ice house constructed in one corner of the castle, located in Cheveley Park some 350m north east of Old Hall Farm.
The castle is sited in a locally elevated position which, in the absence of the beech copse now surrounding the monument, would have provided broad views over the surrounding countryside. The castle building stood on a rectangular platform which measures some 45m north west to south east by 38m, and is surrounded by a formidable V-shaped moat. The moat which was probably always dry, ranges from 20m to 25m in width and between 5m and 6m in depth. The considerable quantity of upcast from its construction must have been removed from the site as the island platform is only raised by about 1m above the level of its surroundings.
The platform, or ward, was enclosed by a curtain wall of bonded flint rubble, perhaps with dressed stonework for architectural details. Fragments of the coarse stone foundations still remain visible, partly buried in a slight bank along the edges of the two longer sides, and slight rounded protrusions at the four corners clearly indicate the position of corner turrets. Three of the corner turrets are marked by rounded depressions within these projections, and the lower coarse around the outer wall of the eastern turret can still be seen. The surface of the platform is generally level showing no signs of collapsed building materials or wall foundations. It is thought that it originally contained a variety of timber structures, including the lord's main hall and other buildings such as a chapel, kitchens, store rooms and accommodation for guests and retainers, some of which were probably set against the inner face of the curtain wall. The ward has not been excavated or significantly disturbed, and the buried remains of these buildings are considered to survive well. Access to the interior was provided by a drawbridge across the centre of the north western arm of the moat. This has since been replaced by a causeway, although the rubble foundations for the bridge supports remain standing to heights of about 1.5m to either side of the causeway where it abuts the platform.
The castle is thought to have been built by Sir John de Pulteney, financier and four times Mayor of London, who was granted a licence to crenellate the dwelling place of his manor in Cheveley in 1341. The resulting structure, which is the only Edwardian castle in Cambridgeshire, is more likely to have served as a mark of Pulteney's status than as a military stronghold, and to have provided a prestigious hunting lodge as the centre piece of a deer park established shortly thereafter.
The duration of the castle's use is unknown, although the general absence of collapsed rubble in the ditch or on the island clearly shows that it was eventually dismantled and robbed for stone. The site of the northern corner turret was later used for an ice house, built in the late 18th or 19th century. The brick lined chamber is cylindrical, measuring 2.5m in width and 4.5m from the domed ceiling to the floor. Two thirds of the chamber lie below ground level, and the remaining third is covered by an earthen mound, 8m in diameter, and raised approximately 1m above the dome to provide insulation. The chamber is entered through the north side of the mound via a barrel vaulted brick-lined passageway which has been sealed with an iron grille. A brick lined well shaft located near the centre of the south western edge of the island is believed to be contemporary with the ice house, and may have been used to draw water for a small adjacent pond from which some of the ice stored here could have been collected.
The iron grilles, which seal the icehouse, are excluded from the scheduling.

Cathcart King, D.J., Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery (Bibliographic reference). SCB61251.

Taylor, A., Castles of Cambridgeshire (Bibliographic reference). SCB19242.

<1> Roach, J.P.C (ed), 1967, The Victoria County History of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. Volume 3, pp 24-25, 73 (Bibliographic reference). SCB14786.

<2> Untitled Source (Aerial Photograph). SCB16684.

<3> Clark, G.T., 1881, Arch J 38, p. 268 (Article in serial). SCB1046.

<4> Leadam, I S, The Inquisition of 1517, Inclosures & Evictions (Bibliographic reference). SCB16686.

<5> 1894, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, pp 298-305 (Serial). SCB16687.

<6> Paterson, H, 1982, Fieldwork notes 1982 (Unpublished document). SCB16688.

<7> Way, T, 1991, Fieldwork notes (Unpublished document). SCB16689.

<8> English Heritage, 1996, Cheveley Castle, 350 north west of Old Hall Farm, SAM 27187 (Scheduling record). SCB16780.

Sources and further reading

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