More information : [NZ 58980848] Castle Mound [GT] (1)
Castle Hill, Easby visited 4th Jan 1959. "It is not a normal motte and bailey, but an enclosure - horse shoe shaped, just over 100ft on the three sides. The ditch is 12 to 15ft wide. The site of Rev. Howell's dig in 1903 is still visible - a trial pit it seems, and it produced only a flint scraper at 4ft ... the bank is 10ft high at thispoint ...' (2)
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
This earthwork represents the remains of a small motte devoid of a bailey. It is defended on the south east by natural slopes, and elsewhere by a ditch the remains of which are visible only at the two points at which the ditch merges into the natural decline. The general slope of the mound, and a hollowing of the centre towards the edge of the declivity, suggests that the landslip has resulted in a collapse of the motte. This erosion has left the motte in such a form as to be incorrectly described by Hayes as an enclosure. The measurements given are, however, reasonably correct. (3)
Probably adulterine motte at Castle Hill possibly erected by Bernard de Balliol, lord of the manor of Easby. The motte, now much mutilated, was dug into at the centre "some years ago", but nothing was found. (4)
NZ 5897 0847. Easby Castle motte. Scheduled RSM No 20534 (formerly NY/1042). The motte is a horseshoe shaped mound, 45m across, being 2.5m high on the N side but less than 2m high at the edge of the bluff. The top of motte is slightly hollowed, sloping gently to the S, and three small disturbed areas mark the location of excavation trenches opened by Howell in 1903. The S edge of the motte is formed by the precipitous natural scarp but elsewhere a 5m wide ditch surrounds it. This has silted to the N but is 1m deep where it runs to the edge of the bluff. The castle had timber defences and may have served as a remote watch-tower or temporary refuge during the civil wars of the twelfth century. (5)
Listed by Cathcart King. (6) |