More information : [TQ 1588 4095] Earthwork [T.I.]. (1)
Possibly a small castle of the De Clares, built temp. Stephen
and dismantled by Henry II - identified by Aubrey in the 17th C.
as the moated mound of a castle.
It is a pear-shaped enclosure, nearly 300 ft long, with the broader end to the east where there is an irregular-shaped mound with an extension thrown back at a right angle to face north. Outside this north-eastern angle is a platform with traces of an external ditch.
The southern side is bounded by a stream in an artificially straightened ravine, and the eastern front may have been covered by an inundation. (2)
There are traces of a ditch on the northern side and in the angle where this joins the stream to the west [east] are traces of a small mound. West of this angle are traces of an artificial bank, perhaps to make another inundation.
It is not possible entirely to relate Malden's description to this earthwork which is a small pond-bay, now breached; but it is almost certainly the work in question and nothing comparable was found nearby.
A sub-triangular (? pear-shaped) work to the North is mainly natural, comprising the end of a spur between two valleys cut by (i) the over-flow channel from the pond and (ii) the quarry which provided the earth for the dam.
Published 25" survey revised. (3) |