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Summary - not yet available

Monument Type(s):

• MOTTE AND BAILEY (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• CASTLE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• NON ANTIQUITY (Undated)
• GEOLOGICAL MARKS (Undated)
• NATURAL FEATURE (Unknown date)

Associated Events:

• Assessment at Hare Park, 1989 (Ref: CANMHP 89)
• Aerial Investigation Mapping Project, East Cambridgeshire (Ref: P7767)

Protected Status:

• SHINE: Cropmarks of a circular and pear shaped enclosures measuring about 100m by 70m, resembling the outline of a ring motte and bailey 500m east of Four Mile Stable Farm, Swaffham Bulbeck

Full description

1. Cropmarks of a circular and pear shaped enclosures measuring about 100m by 70m overall, (resembling the outline of a ring motte and bailey) visible on CUCAP. No further information.

Two APs of cropmark.

2. OS AP shows outline of motte and bailey very clearly as cropmarks. The motte has an indication of a D-shaped cropmark in centre, approximately 25m across with the straight side facing the bailey. (BRC --/04/1994).See RN 09245 - continuation of soilmarks into TL56 SE

3. Three trenches were strategically placed to investigate the motte and bailey castle. No archaeological deposits were found, and the feature may be best explained as a geomorphological curiosity. Consultations on site agreed that the feature was clearly not man-made.

4. TL 58995990. Situated on a slight ridge in undulating arable about 46.0m OD are the much reduced remains of a motte and bailey.
The bailey, which is the most substantial feature, is sub-triangular and measures 60.0m N to S by 70.0m. transversely within a spread ditch up to 30.0m. wide by 1.7m. deep.

Around the inner edge is the suggestion of an inner rampart but nothing surveyable. The motte, which stands 1.0m high measures about 30.0m. in diameter but little trace of a ditch survives except on the N adjacent to the bailey.

The interiors are featureless and the whole which has been considerably reduced by ploughing gives the impression of having been adapted from natural folds and gulleys.
Surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D.

5-11. This area was assessed as part of the East Cambridgeshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (ECB6189). Located in fields about 450 metres NW of Lower Hare Park and centred at TL 58981 59897, features seen as soilmarks have been interpreted as a medieval motte and bailey. However, an assessment of numerous aerial photographs taken over many decades since the 1940s strongly suggest that the features are, in fact, not archaeological in origin but are part of a wider pattern of geomorphological soilmarks widely visible across the local area. Recent work (West 2017) suggests that the swirling soil patterns in the field of the supposed motte and bailey are related to the superficial deposits immediately to the west by analysis of boreholes and local geological records and describes the formation processes of these features.

<1> Untitled Source (Aerial Photograph). SCB3608.

<2> Untitled Source (Aerial Photograph). SCB9108.

<3> Tempus Reparatum, 26/07/1990, Archaeological Assessment at Hare Park Proposed New Settlement Cambridgeshire (Unpublished report). SCB1212.

<4> Dickson, R., Field Investigator Comments, 21/10/1981 (Verbal communication). SCB60613.

<5> East Cambridgeshire AIM, 2019, US/7PH/GP/LOC187 STBD 12020 29-FEB-1944 (Geospatial data). SCB68737.

<6> East Cambridgeshire AIM, 2019, RAF/82/1428 F21 0221 23-MAY-1956 (Geospatial data). SCB68739.

<7> East Cambridgeshire AIM, 2019, OS/68133 V 232 31-MAY-1968 (Geospatial data). SCB68740.

<8> East Cambridgeshire AIM, 2019, OS/76059 V 220 24-MAY-1976 (Geospatial data). SCB68741.

<9> East Cambridgeshire AIM, 2019, OS/96170 V 315 16-JUN-1996 (Geospatial data). SCB68696.

<10> Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 2017, R. G. West. 2017. Patterned ground and superficial deposits at Hare Park, Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambridgeshire, England, Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 61, 197-216, 17 February 2017, ACCESSED 13-NOV-2019 (Website). SCB68742.

<11> East Cambridgeshire AIM, 2020, OS/96169 V 019 16-JUN-1996 (Geospatial data). SCB70568.

Sources and further reading

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