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Summary

Scheduled mound, interpreted as a medieval motte, although alternatively suggested to be an ornamental feature.

Monument Type(s):

• MOTTE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• PROSPECT MOUND? (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• EDR744 - Ordnance Survey Field Report, 02-JAN-67

Full Description

The Mound [TI] is marked on the OS map of 1919. (1)

'On Morley Moor, about 450 yards to the west of the church, is a large mound, now bearing many well-grown trees, and still nearly surrounded by a well filled moat'. It is considered to be a 'very perfect specimen' of a Castle Mount, and has a nearly level platform on the top, about 15 ft in diameter. 'Owing to the hedge being broken down, the lower parts of the mound are rapidly crumbling away under the tread of cattle and children' [in 1905]. (2)

The Moated Mound near Morley beside the way from the Sacheverell Almshouses is locally called the Toot Hill. The editor of the Derbyshire Archaeological Journal in 1935 suggested that the mound might be 'the ancient moot of the Morleston Hundred'. (3)

'Moated Mound… probably a fortified dwelling or other stronghold'. (4)

A large conical mound, tree covered and partly surrounded by a ditch/pond. It does not look like a motte and the top is too small to have held any form of structure; similarly, it cannot be a gazebo or mill mound. The feature is not in a strongly defensive position and its purpose was probably ornamental. (5)

Circular mound 14m in diameter and approx 4m high surrounded by a moat. Listed in survey. (6-8)

Scheduled. The monument, known locally as The Mound, is a medieval motte and includes a flat-topped conical mound surrounded by a 6-9m wide water filled ditch which is crossed by a causeway on the south-east side. The motte is 15m wide at its base and c. 4m high and very steep-sided. A timber tower or keep would originally have stood on the motte whose top is c. 5m wide. Formerly there may also have been an attached bailey or outer enclosure which would have contained ancillary buildings and pens for cattle and horses. There is no visible trace of such a feature in the ploughed fields surrounding the monument and so this area has not been included in the scheduling. The surface of the adjacent farm track is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground underneath is included. (9)

<1> OS 6" 1919 (Map). SDR12060.

<2> Cox, J, 1905, 'Ancient Earthworks', in The Victoria County History of Derbyshire, Volume 1, p 375 (Bibliographic reference). SDR19691.

<3> Tudor, T, 1935, 'Minor monuments and lesser antiquities of Derbyshire (2nd list), 1935', Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, p 83 (Article in serial). SDR15818.

<4> Pevsner, N, 1953, The Buildings of England: Derbyshire, 1st edition, p 188 (Bibliographic reference). SDR190.

<5> F1 FDC 02-JAN-67 (Personal Observation). SDR6197.

<6> Trent Valley Arch Res Com Gaz c1980 3 (Bibliographic reference). SDR15733.

<7> TPAT, 2218 (Index). SDR15541.

<8> Craven, M & Drage, C, 1982, Moated sites list (Bibliographic reference). SDR4294.

<9> English Heritage, 1938, Schedule Notification: Motte south-west of Morley House Farm (Scheduling record). SDR20091.

Sources and Further Reading

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