If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Monument Types

• SITE (Late Anglo Saxon to Early Medieval - 850 AD to 1135 AD?)
• MOTTE AND BAILEY (Early Medieval to Late Medieval - 1135 AD? to 1539 AD)

Summary

The site is a natural promontory with the motte at the point and a bailey ditch cutting it off from the east. To the south, west and north the natural slopes suffice. The bailey has long been ploughed and only suvives faintly. The motte is overgrown but well preserved.

Additional Information

Scheduled Monument description:
Castle Hill, Beaumont Chase, stands at the end of a steeply sided natural promontory. It consists of a large conical mound with a deep ditch separating it from the bailey to the east.
The mound or motte is 8-10m tall from the base of the ditch and has a flat top approximately 12m across. The motte ditch is semi-circular in shape and is 6-8m wide. There are signs of slight banks at the two ends before the ground slopes away to the west. The outer bank of the bailey survives as a very low earthwork some 50m to the east of the motte.
Beaumont Chase is identified as being a typical example of a post Conquest motte and bailey site. The hill on which the motte and bailey was built is mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 1046AD and referred to as Martin's Hoe.
The Scheduled Monument description says that Beaumont Chase is identified as being a typical example of a post Conquest motte and bailey site. The hill on which the motte and bailey was built is mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 1046 and referred to as Martin's Hoe.

The site is a natural promontory, with the motte at the point, and a bailey ditch cutting it off from the east. To the south, west and north the natural slopes suffice. The bailey has long been ploughed and only survives faintly. The motte is overgrown but well preserved. (RFH 15/09/87)

Medieval pottery was picked up by TV & RS 1976/7. (Rutland Card Index)

VCH says that the castle was probably built during Stephen's reign (1135-1154).

A Graf suggested the castle may be related to 80SE M (Sewells Barn Field) a double ditch system.

<1> Sites and Monuments Record, Parish File, Beaumont Chase 80SW N (Unpublished document). SLE320.

104 sherds of pottery were retrieved from the site in 1976/7. The sherds were re-identified in 2006. Not all of the sherds appeared to be medieval (some may be Roman?). The report is in the parish file.

<2> Clough, Tim (ed), 2010, Rutland Record, No. 30, No. 30 (2010), p412 (Journal). SLE5791.

A medieval silver penny of King Stephen (1135-54) was found near Uppingham in 2009. The coin is a rare type minted in Leicester during the period known as the 'Anarchy', the war of succession following Henry I's death in 1135.

<3> Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, 2010, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, Volume 84, Vol 84 (2010), p365 (Journal). SLE4643.

A silver penny was found here via metal detecting in 2009. "A rare silver penny of King Stephen, minted in Leicester probably by Simon (if confirmed, it is a new type). Dated 1135-54 (North 898). Found in Uppingham parish."

<4> Jones, Elaine, 2010, Castle Hill Field, Uppingham, Rutland - an archaeological field walking survey (Unpublished document). SLE3111.

Fieldwalking in 2010 recorded 65 sherds of late Saxon/early medieval pottery, concentrated in the area near the castle. The material closest to the castle tended to be earlier Stamford ware rather than Stanion/Lyveden.

<5> Clough, Tim (ed), 2011, Rutland Record, No. 31, No. 31 (2011), p41 (Journal). SLE5790.

The fieldwalking was also reported in the Rutland Record.

<6> Clough, Tim (ed), 2010, Rutland Record, No. 30, No. 30 (2010), p413 (Journal). SLE5791.

Also in vol. 30.

<7> Elkin, Kathleen (ed), 2015, Medieval Leicestershire: Recent Research on the Medieval Archaeology of Leicestershire, p131, "Medieval fortified sites of Leics & Rutland", Richard Knox (Bibliographic reference). SLE5149.

"A motte and double bailey castle stands on 'Castle Hill', a natural promontory overlooking the western extent of the Royal Forest of Leicestershire and Rutland. The baileys protect the eastern approach, while the natural slopes suffice on the other sides (Hartley 1983, 7). The siting of the castle overlooking Leighfield Forest and its tenancy by a royally appointed forester is a clear indication of its status as a hunting lodge and, presumably, an administrative centre for forest law. Evidence of iron working around the castle suggests an element of commercial diversification on the site, although this has not been firmly dated."

<8> Hartley R F, 1983, The Medieval Earthworks of Rutland, p7 (Bibliographic reference). SLE601.

"On a promontory of the westward-facing escarpment at SK894004 is a substantial motte. On the eastern side of this, where it is not protected by steep slopes, the remains of a large bailey bank and ditch are still evident in the ploughed field. In 1269 one of the two balliwicks of the Forest of Rutland was called Beaumont, and it is quite possible that the foresters were based at Castle Hill. To the east of the bailey ditch, cropmarks have revealed the position of another concentric ditch cut across the promontory, but whether this is related to the motte and bailey is uncertain."

<9> McK Clough, TH (ed), 2000, Rutland Record, No. 20, No. 20 (2000), p415-424 (Journal). SLE6852.

"The early castle earthworks are formed through skilful adaptation of a naturally defensible triangular promontory. A conical motte with a flat summit c.12m in diameter occupies the western limit of the steep- sided eminence, isolated from the level terrain to the east by a semi-circular ditch with signs of a counterscarp. This feature was clearly rendered superfluous on the motte's west flank, where precipitous slopes afforded adequate natural defence, although here the contours were presumably supplemented with a stockade. To the east, two concentric outer courts were formerly defined by curving embankments and ditches constructed transversely across the promontory, although the outer defensive line has since been obliterated by ploughing." Beaumont Chase was one of two bailiwicks of the Forest of Rutland. The motte and bailey was presumably sited for hunting retinues and as a centre for the operation and dispensation of Forest Law.

Sources

Associated Finds

• SHERD (Late Anglo Saxon to Early Medieval - 850 AD to 1349 AD)
• SHERD (Medieval - 1067 AD? to 1539 AD?)
• COIN (Early Medieval - 1135 AD to 1154 AD)

Designations

• Scheduled Monument 1010925: CASTLE HILL MOTTE & BAILEY, BEAUMONT CHASE
• SHINE: Medieval motte and bailey castle and ridge and furrow earthworks north-west of Uppingham

Associated Images

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.