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Hertfordshire HER
.
| HHER Number: | 501 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | DISCREDITED SITE OF CASTLE, CASTLE FARM, WHEATHAMPSTEAD |
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Summary - not yet available
Monument Types
Associated Events
- Trial trenching at Aldwickbury Golf Course
- Evaluation at Aldwickbury Golf Course, Harpenden
Full description
The farm is Causewell Farm on maps from 1676 [9517]; 'Castle' is a modern corruption. On the south side of the Lea River, the field (561) on the 1840 Wheathampstead tithe map <2> is named 'Castle Meadow'. This was related by <4> to John de Leycester, 13C rector of Wheathampstead, 'Leycester' being interpreted as 'Lea Castle'. The supposed site was a small gravel knoll rising above the valley floor, forming a fordable river crossing. Trenches across the knoll in 1993 exposed 400 square metres of the knoll and showed it to consist of natural gravel throughout, with no trace of any earthworks or medieval occupation <3>. See [10491] for prehistoric remains and [10538] for Roman ovens.
Sources and further reading
| <1> | Bibliographic reference: Renn, Derek. 1971. Medieval castles in Hertfordshire. p25 |
| <2> | Cartographic material: Wheathampstead Tithe map, 1840. |
| <3> | Document: Simon West. 1993. Aldwickbury golf course: an evaluation of the archaeological implications. field evaluation. RNO 450 |
| <4> | Bibliographic reference: Canon Davys, TSAHAS 1888, 9; 1889, p16. |
| <5> | Document: Simon West. 1999. Aldwickbury golf course: a prehistoric and Roman landscape. field evaluation. RNO 998 |
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