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Summary

'A high mount within a moat, supposed the site of the manor'

Monument Types

• DITCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)
• MOTTE AND BAILEY? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)
• MOUND (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)
• WOOD BANK (Post Medieval - 1501 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status

• Area of Archaeological Significance
• A Sites
• A Sites: PERIWINKLE HILL, REED
• SHINE: Cropmarks of a possible Motte & Bailey castle, Periwinkle Hill, Reed

Full description

Cropmarks/earthworks of a possible motte and bailey. APs show cropmarks and slight earthworks comprising two parallel linear ditches (possibly trackways) leading to a D-shaped enclosure ditch (approx. 80m x 70m) and a vague oval mound (approx. 35m in diameter). Within the enclosure are rectangular subdivisions which could be building steadings. Ploughed annually, in 1984 the mound survived to a mere 1m high and the enclosure ditch to approx. 30cms deep <5>. This is supposed to be the castle belonging to the chief manor of Reed <5>. There is no actual dating evidence.
In 1806 Gough made a note that 'In Rockley Wood is a high mount within a moat, supposed the site of the manor' <6>; this evidently refers to Periwinkle Hill, as the 1822 map <7> shows the woodland still extending north in an L plan. Some of the cropmarks appear to represent woodland boundary banks extending from Rokey Wood until they were removed in the mid 19th century. By 1878 <8> Rokey Wood had been reduced to its current extent, and ploughing had no doubt begun to erode the earthworks.
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CUCAP, Cropmarks of motte and bailey on Periwinkle Hill, Barkway, PNO 3091 (Aerial Photograph). SHT14313.

OS Records (Index). SHT8223.

RAF, 1947, Cropmarks of enclosures and ditches, and Periwinkle Hill, Buckland/Reed, PNO 3571 (Aerial Photograph). SHT14859.

Air Photo Services, 1994, Periwinkle Hill motte and bailey, Barkway, PNO 8098 (Aerial Photograph). SHT15337.

Air Photo Services, 1994, Periwinkle Hill motte and bailey, Barkway, PNO 8099 (Aerial Photograph). SHT15338.

Air Photo Services, 1994, Periwinkle Hill, and cropmarks of linear features east of Rokey Wood, Barkway, PNO 8100 (Aerial Photograph). SHT15339.

Essex County Council, 1997, Periwinkle Hill motte and bailey, Barkway, PNO 8816 (Aerial Photograph). SHT16056.

<1> Renn, Derek, 1971, Medieval castles in Hertfordshire, - p13 (Bibliographic reference). SHT9405.

<2> Page, W (ed.), 1908, VCH Hertfordshire vol.2, - p118 (Bibliographic reference). SHT9314.

<3> RCHM (England), 1911, Inventory of the historical monuments in Hertfordshire, - p47 (Bibliographic reference). SHT9222.

<4> Mike Daniels (HCC), site report, 6.9.84 (Unpublished document). SHT7000.

<5> Munby, Lionel, 1977, The Hertfordshire landscape, - p72 (Bibliographic reference). SHT6462.

<6> Gough, Richard (ed), 1789-1806, Camden's Britannia, Vol.II (1806), p65 (Bibliographic reference). SHT2311.

<7> Bryant, A, 1822, Map of the county of Hertford from actual survey in the years 1820 and 1821 (Cartographic material). SHT2160.

<8> OS 25 inch map, 1st edition, 1878 (Cartographic material). SHT8116.

Sources and further reading

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