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Summary

Mound, perhaps a small motte

Monument Type(s):

• CASTLE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• MOUND (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• MOTTE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• DITCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Finds:

• SHERD (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Protected Status:

• Scheduled Monument Cambridgeshire 55: Overhall Grove moated site

Full description

During de Mandeville's rebellion the Abbot of Ramsey ordered the village to be defended and presumably this castle was then built.
R2, In the bottom of the valley NE of Knapwell Church and outside the W boundary of Overhall Grove there is a large round mound formed from the upcast of a ditch. Its diameter is 72ft, its height 5ft, and the flattened top is 25ft across. The wet ditch averages 12ft in width and surrounds the mound except on the SW, where there is an original causeway 25ft wide. The purpose of this work is obscure. Its position would be unfavourable as a windmill site and its defensive value is too small for it to have had any military character.
R5, Mound, perhaps a small Norman motte, on the flat Kimmeridge clay floor of the valley, 50 yards W of the stream. Finds made during an unpublished excavation in 1929 include St Neots ware from 2ft to 3ftbelow the surface of the mound. The mound is circular, 6ft high and 80ft in diameter with a flat top 30ft to 40ft across. The wet ditch is 30ft wide on the NE and 20ft wide on the SW and holds about two and a half feet of water. On the SW the ditch is crossed by a flat causeway 10ft wide which, in view of the cupped ends of the ditch on either side, is probably original. On the N and W a bank 15ft wide and 1ft to two and a half feet high may be the remains of an outer enclosure or merely a hedge bank separating the mound and ditch from an area of ridge and furrow to the N.
O1, Almost certainly a small motte. The description of RCHM is correct. Published survey 25in revised.
O2, Nearly to the W of the moated sites (SAM 55A) across the parish boundary is a circular moated site looking rather like a castle mound. It is 80ft across the top of the mound which is 6ft high. The mound lies in a pasture field approximately 150m NE of the parish church of All Saints. The wet moat, approximately 3m wide (maximum) encloses a grass covered mound supporting 2 mature trees and some low hawthorn. Interior is disturbed by badgers. Entrance is to SW. A line of pollarded wych elms runs from this entrance towards the church. In the small fields to the N and S of the lane by the church are earthworks.
O3, Linear soilmarks running E - W observed, also sub-circular area where crop is growing faster. See survey for full details.
Function: defensive, during Anarchy Finished? Yes Occupation:
Relationship to surrounding within deserted Medieval village settlements

Sources and further reading

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