More information : [ST 75343105] Ballands Castle [T.I.]
Tumulus [G.T.]
[ST 75363097] Church [GT.] Site of. (1)
A small earthwork situated about 25 chains S.W. of St. Michael All Angels' Church. [ST 75613142] is supposed to be the site of a Saxon Church.
VCH. However, link this earthwork with the adjacent Ballands Castle describing both as a motte and bailey with two baileys in line, the inner one being somewhat lower than the outer.
The two baileys are separated by a shallow ditch. The ditched mount is oblong with no signs of masonry. It seems probable that the southern-most, or outer bailey represents a small rectangular inclosure, the inner bailey and the mount being later additions.
[See AO/65/90/2]. A sherd of medieval cooking pot was found here. Scheduled. (2-6)
The principal features of these earthworks are the motte and the rectangular enclosure. The motte has been constructed from the northern end of a slight north-south ridge and the enclosure occupies the full width of the ridge at the highest point. The summit of the motte is only slightly higher than the interior of the enclosure and its position appears to have been chosen for ease of construction and not for maximum strength. It is linked to the enclosure by a scarp along the top of the ridge on the west and by a hedge bank on the east.
It seems probable that the enclosure was a bailey but there appears to be no evidence to support the VCH suggestion - that the enclosure is earlier. The sloping interspace between the enclosure and the motte is small and may have been principally a link work rather than an inner bailey.
Resurveyed at 1:2,500. (7) |