Monument Type(s):

• MOTTE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• WATCH TOWER (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

The remains of a mound on which a medieval watch tower would have stood. Once much bigger, this mound may have been deliberately reduced when the parkland of Pentre-uchaf was established in the 18th century.

Related records: None recorded

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA2109 - 1972 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA5785 - 1999 site visit by English Heritage MPP Fieldworker

Description

Marked as DOMEN on OS 6in map of 1902. A roughly circular motte, 26m in diameter and now 1m high is situated in marshy ground near a stream crossing. Traces of a shallow ditch are visible on the NE side of the mound, but there is no evidence of a bailey. A roughly dressed triangular stone near the centre of the motte is probably a modern memorial stone. OS FI 1972 <1>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Medium score as one of 43 Motte castles <3>

Recorded by the Ordnance Survey as a motte, this mound is situated close to a long-established crossing point across the River Morda, which it would appear to have once controlled. It is about 5km south west of the motte and bailey castle at Knockin, with which it may have been associated, and lies within the grounds of Pentre-uchaf Hall, a country house built in 1740. The mound measures apx 26m by 30m and stands up to 0.8m high. It would have originally stood much taller and would appear to have served as a base for a watch tower. It was probably reduced in height during the 18th century at the time when the parkland surrounding Pentre-uchaf Hall was established. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch from which the material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but will survive as a buried feature, apx 5m wide <4>

Sources

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