Monument Type(s):

• MOTTE AND BAILEY (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: A good example of a Norman earthwork castle, with an unusual terraced form and set within a much later, World War II, military landscape.

Related records

Associated Finds

• FSA1477 - MASHER? (Unknown date)
• FSA1476 - UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT (Unknown date)

Associated Events

• ESA1412 - Undated field observation by English Heritage
• ESA1413 - 1971 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA1414 - 1986 field observation by English Heritage

Description

Possibly originally called Eggelawe. Most of mound removed <1a>
Oaken chopper, possibly used as a patten for making a mould for casting, or more probably some implement for mashing grain, found many years ago with stone, possibly lathe turn which had, clamped to its base, an iron ring for fixing a spindle, at or near Belan Bank <1b>
Appears to be the remains of an outer ditch along the S side of the bailey. OS FI 1971 <1><1c>

Double motte standing to the north of the bailey, rising from it, without protecting ditch. The lower, circular platform, from 4-6ft high, is surmounted by a smaller mound 14ft high with flat summit. Bailey stands 5ft above natural level. Possible that bailey and lower platform originally had their own ramparts <4a>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Medium score as one of 46 Motte and Bailey castles <10>

Scheduling revised in 1995. Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes the remains of Belan Bank motte and bailey castle situated at the western end of a low rise of ground south of the village of Kinnerley and approximately 4.5km east of the Welsh border. It is believed that it was originally called Eggelawe. The castle includes a castle mound, or motte, set within the northern half of a sub-rectangular bailey. The motte is of an unusual form with a small central mound set upon a larger earthwork platform. The lower platform of the motte is roughly circular in plan with an overall diameter of 50m and rises 1.5m above the level of the surrounding bailey. A surrounding ditch, which separates the motte from the bailey, remains visible as a slight, but distinct surface depression averaging 4m wide and 0.3m deep. Set upon the lower platform, slightly north of centre, is the motte proper. It has been quarried in its southern quarter so that, in its present form, it is a crescent-shaped mound. Howerver vestiges of the southern rim of the mound survive showing that in its original form it was a roughly circular earthen mound 25m in diameter at its base. The summit of the mound stands up to 3m above the level of the lower platform and would have originally been circular with a diameter of approximately 16m. The berm which has been created between the central scarp and the edge of the lower platform varies in width between 10m around the south side, and 5m around the north. A timber palisade probably once ran around the outer edge of the berm, forming an inner ward between it and the motte keep. ->

-> Surrounding the motte is a well-defined sub-rectangular bailey with internal dimensions of 85m N-S by 78m E-W. The bailey is bounded around all sides by a pronounced scarp barying between 1.8m high in the SW and 1.3m high in the NE. Around the whole east side of the bailey the defences are strengthened by the addition of an inner bank averaging 6m wide and 0.4m high. An outer ditch can be traced as a well defined depression up to 8m wide and 0.3m deep around the NE, E and S sides of the bailey. Around the W and N sides of the bailey the ditch is no longer visible, having been replaced by a substantial field drain. Midway along the east side of the bailey is the probable location of the original entrance. Here the inner bank is interrupted for 6m, the outer scarp is slightly lowered and there are slight indications of a causeway crossing the ditch. In the SE angle of the bailey is a shallow rectangular depression measuring approximately 12m E-W by 10m N-S which probably represents the site of a building. A small circular hollow 4m in diameter and 1m deep surrounded by a low bank 0.5m wide and 0.1m high is cut into the inner bank at the NE corner of the bailey. The lower levels of the hollow are lined with the remains of metal shuttering and it has the overall appearance of an abandoned military foxhole. ->

-> The site stands in an area formerly used by the military, amidst a series of World War II storage bunkers. Each bunker was originally linked by a tramway system, the tramlines of which remain recognisable as a series of interlinking, low, flat topped banks 4m wide and 0.1m high. One such bank crosses roughly NE to SW close to the SE corner of the motte and bailey. The monument boundary is extended in this area to contain this portion of the tramway to preserve the stratigraphic relationship between it and the castle earthworks. <11>

Photographed during aerial survey in 2008 and 2010. <12><13>

Sources

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