More information : (NZ 68830816) Castle (NR) (site of) Castle Hill (NR) (1)
Probable Motte and Bailey. Dismantled about 1216. (2)
Castleton was a motte castle devoid of a bailey. The motte is a horseshoe shape, and measures about 200ft from the north east to southwest by 160ft from north west to south east. The rampart, which carried the stockade, is still perfect on the western summit. On the south west it is enlarged to form a small hillock to bear a small flanking tower commanding the entrance, which was evidently on the site of the present one. This hillock and a similar arrangement which undoubtedly existed on the other side of the entrance is proof that no bailey existed. (3)
Resurveyed at 1:2500. The motte, which is correctly described by Authority 3, has an averaged height of 6.0m on the north side. Modern farm buildings occupy the summit, and there is no surviving evidence of either a keep, or a curtain wall. It projects from the hillside and is encompassed by an evidently dry ditch which embraces at the north east angle, natural scarp forming part of a general declivity on the north and west sides of the motte. The vulnerable south-east side of the site is protected by a strong bank on the counterscarp of the ditch. There is no evidence of a bailey. (4)
As described. (5)
Cathcart King states that Castleton is mentioned in 1242, and notes that VCH records it as as a 'ruined peel' in 1336. (6)
NZ688081. Excavations in 1988 by S Sherlock on the castle ringwork revealed a series of post-holes and post-pads and a cobbled yard, all of uncertain date. (7)
Elements of the medieval motte are visible as earthworks on air photographs, centred at NZ 6884 0816. Elements of the motte are visible surrounding the present house. The reverse slope of the surrounding moat is also partically visible, most clearly to the west of Station Road. A linear bank running along the top of the natural escarpment to the east may be part of the bailey boundary. Most of the features are extant on the latest 2009 vertical photography, with some possible levelling having taken place and other features being obscured by tree cover.
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