Monument Type(s):

• MOTTE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: A good example of a Norman motte castle overlooking the River Clun.

Related records

Associated Finds

• FSA216 - VESSEL (Undated)
• FSA23 - MORTAR (VESSEL) (11th century to 15th century - 1066 AD to 1499 AD)

Associated Events

• ESA1559 - 19th Century Excavation at Clungunford Castle
• ESA1560 - 1973 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA6670 - 2012 WB at Clungunford Motte by Castlering Archaeology

Description

Mutilated remains of a small motte within a meadow, has a base diameter of about 28m and a present max height of 3.2m, but the mound has been quarried into extensively on the E and S sides. On the E side are traces of what may have been a ditch, 10m wide, 0.3m deep, which connects with stream on the S side. OS FI 1973 <1>

Small mount 13ft high, the summit is hollowed to a depth of 4ft; no trace of a ditch <2a>
Low mound; excavations revealed layers of ash, with pottery, (some pronounced Norman, with glaze) and fragments of a stone mortar <2b>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Medium score as one of 43 Motte castles <5>

Scheduling revised in 1995. Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes the remains of a small motte castle situated on the east bank of the River Clun in close proximity to St Cuthbert's Parish Church. It includes a castle mound, or motte, originally circular in plan with a diameter of approximately 28m rising to an irregular surfaced summit 3.2m high. There are old quarrying scars on the east and south sides of the motte which distort the shape of the mound. Around the east side of the mound are traces of a surrounding ditch up to 10m wide and 0.3m deep, from which material for the construction of the mound would have been quarried. This will continue as a buried feature around the north and west sides of the motte. Immediately south of the motte a small stream runs westwards close to the south side of the mound. The straightness of the stream course suggests that it follows a man-made channel which is of later date than the motte.->

-> The southern portion of the buried ditch, south of the present course of the stream and disturbed both by the stream and by a later sewage drain, is excluded from the scheduling <6>

Excavations in 2012 to renew the drainage on land adjacent to Clungunford Motte identified no archaeological features either within or outside the scheduled area. No finds were recovered other than a section of beam of unknown provenance which was deposited in the original trench cut for the drainage pipe some 20 years previous. <9>

Photographed during aerial survey in 2009-2010. <10><11>

Sources

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