More information : (TQ 726220) Glottenham Castle (GT) (site of). (1)
The site of Glottenham Castle is marked by a few overgrown stones, surrounded by a moat in a shaw known as Castle Shaw close to Glottenham Farm. Horsfield describes it as a moated mansion. (2-3)
Excavated by Robertsbridge and District Arch Soc. A flat rectangular area 110ft x 160ft surrounded by a moat, now dry on its W side. A postern gate was revealed consisting of two rooms
separated by an entrance passage. The external walls, battered on both sides, were constructed of large blocks of uncoursed rubble. In the SE corner of the S room, where a small portion of dressed wall remains, the lower course of a doorway and traces of paving were found. The moat which lapped against the walls at this point had a bottom of puddled clay. Finds include coarse
pottery and brick of the late 13th/14th c, and a 15th c key. A little early 17thc red-glazed pottery found amongst destruction-debris seems to be later than the occupation of the area. (4)
Excavations by D Martin completed on a gatehouse at the de Etchingham's fortified manor house lying under Room 1, were the remains of a rough enclosure of limestone slabs. It is not known if it is earlier or contemporary with the moat, it may be connected with building operations before the erection of the gatehouse. After falling into disuse the enclosure was used as a temporary camp or mess area for the builders borne out by the discovery of a food-bone, pottery and carbonised grain. Soon after, the gatehouse was built, the massive masonry foundations being all that have survived.
Footings of the curtain wall which also formed the W walls of the gatehouse were carried down below the moat bottom. The building seems to have been erected c 1300. It is not certain whether the curtain wall is contemporary with, or earlier than, the gatehouse; the foundations of the former are completely different from those of the latter, which skirt the moat. Pottery evidence
suggests that the gatehouse was abandoned in the late 16th or 17th c. (5)
The principal remains of Glottenham Castle comprise a rectangular moat, now dry except for the E arm. There is an outer retaining bank along the E side.
Excavations on the gatehouse site have been filled in, but a wall corner remains exposed. On the S side of the enclosure, a short stretch of curtain wall foundation has been exposed by excavation, and the Robertsbridge Arch Soc has been attempting, during 1970, to trace the foundations of the manor house itself. Work will continue in 1971.
A causeway across the NW corner of the moat is modern.
Published 1:2500 survey revised. (6)
Listed as a strong house by Cathcart King. (7) |