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Summary

Cropmarks indicating the remains of a medieval ringwork and bailey castle. Small-scale excavation in 1962 produced 12th century pottery and evidence of timber and daub buildings. The ringwork consists of a circular platform, 40m in diameter, surrounded by two concentric circuits of ditches 5m apart, each approx 6m in width. Two oval baileys adjoin the north western and south western sides, these and the ringwork together forming an oval enclosure 140m from north to south and 100m from east to west. A causeway crosses the two ditches on the northern side of the ringwork, giving access from the northern bailey. The castle has been suggested to be an Anarchy castle, dating from the reign of Stephen.
Additional cropmarks also indicate a ring ditch under the eastern bailey ditch, which itself overlies a ditch arcing to the east and north, flanked by a similar ditch. Both these ditches are thought to be part of a Neolithic or early Bronze Age enclosure. North of the northern bailey lies a square cropmark, possibly of Iron Age or Roman date. All these early features are overlain by a cropmark of a palaeochannel.
The site is a Scheduled Monument, number 1010115.

Full Description

<1> Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photographs (CUCAP), Cambridge AP: Index, Various references (Aerial Photograph). SBD10593.

AAN 47-52 (7/8/1959) - Cropmarks TL 184444
ACP 7-8 (13/4/1961) - Castle earthworks TL 184444
ADO 22-25 (5/7/1961) - Cropmarks TL 184444
AFC 3-5 (7/6/1962) - Cropmarks TL 184444
AGA 47-49 (9/7/1962) - Castle earthworks TL 184445
AHO 3-9 (11/7/1963) - Castle earthworks TL 184444
AIT 76-78 (9/5/1964) - Castle earthworks TL 184444
AOR 68 (30/6/1966) - Castle earthworks TL 184444
ARL 44 (7/6/1967) - Castle earthworks TL 184444
ARW 14-16 (15/6/1967) - Cropmarks, castle TL 184444
ATY 17-18 (13/3/1968) - Castle earthworks TL 184444
BBR 29-30 (5/6/1970) - Soilmarks TL 184444
CBS 33-34 (26/1/1977) - Soilamrsk ¼m west of Biggleswade TL 184444
CFR 74-75 (7/5/1978) - Castle, Biggleswade TL 184444
CMI 62-66 (2/7/1980) - Biggleswade Castle TL 184445
NQ 17 (22/4/1954) - Soilmarks TL 184444
VQ 74-78 (9/7/1957) - Cropmarks TL 184444
VR 59-63 (13/7/1957) - Cropmarks TL 183444
YX 19-22 (23/6/1959) - Castle earthworks TL 184444

<2> Hunting Surveys, 1968, Hunting Aerial Photos 1968, HSL UK BED 69 858: 16/7644-7645 (8/4/1969) (Aerial Photograph). SBD10637.

Visible on aerial photos

<3> Hunting Surveys, 1976, Hunting Aerial Photos 1976, HSL UK 76 25: 5/1862-1864 (25/6/1976) (Aerial Photograph). SBD10652.

Visible on aerial photos

<4> Antiquity, Vol 40, 1966, pp. 142-144 (Article in serial). SBD11098.

On gravel 'island' 650 ft E-W by 900 ft N-S. Cropmarks suggest long history of occupation. Entrance from right-hand 'bailey'/ Curious sub-division of ditches not easy to explain; gang-work is hardly the explanation. Considered as a castle site, the position is a good one from which to command this reach of the Ivel and a crossing of the river near Biggleswade.
Roughly rectangular enclosure represents yet another period. Straight parallel lines mark former field division.

<5> Bedfordshire Archaeological Council, 1966, Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal, Volume III, Vol. 3, 1966, pp. 15-18 (Article in serial). SBD14113.

A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN ringwork and bailey on the west bank of the river Ivel about 1/4 mile west of Biggleswade (TL 184445) was observed from the air as a cropmark by Dr J. K. St Joseph in 1954, and photographed by him then and in subsequent summers. The photographs indicate that the ringwork and bailey, which has several unusual details, is only one of many archaeological features on the gravel 'island' between the Ivel and a tributary stream. St Joseph's description of the complex, a part of which is reprinted below, appeared with a photograph and interpretation diagram in Antiquity XL, June 1966, 142-4. The main site recently narrowly escaped destruction by road construction when the line of the Biggleswade A.1 by-pass impinged upon it. It is now further threatened in the long term by gravel quarrying and has been scheduled as an ancient monument by the Ministry of Public Building and Works. The purpose of the present note is to add to St Joseph's account the result of a brief trial excavation to establish the date of the monument undertaken under the auspices of the Archaeology Department of Queen's University, Belfast, as part of a programme of research on ringworks; and to provide a plan (fig 1) of the surface indications on the north part of the site where, after harvest in 1962, thicker stubble indicated the general position of the cropmarks, and slight hollows rarely more than 1 ft. below the general level of the field showed the position of the main ditches. Dr St Joseph has kindly allowed us to draw on his description of the site in Antiquity, and we are also grateful for permission to reproduce two air photos, Plates 1 and 2. Plate 1 shows the site before road construction obscured many of the features, and indicates clearly the gravel islands, 650 ft by 900 ft. 'picked out in the photograph by the differential colouring of the crop, which at the date of photography (13 July 1957) had begun, as it ripened, to turn colour only over the higher and better drained gravel. The present course of the river Ivel lies 350 ft. east of the island; a small stream visible on the photograph flows in a curving course a little to the west. Thus, under natural conditions this gravel island would have been surrounded by a flat alluvial plain liable to flood, with the Ivel to the east, and a streamlet to the west, giving added protection. This is the kind of site likely to attract settlers in any age, and in fact the crop marks suggest a long history of occupation. The most prominent features on the photograph, as on the ground, are the two broad, closely spaced, concentric, circular ditches 150 ft or more in diameter, to which two outer, less regularly shaped enclosures are attached. The ditch system can still be traced on the surface though the relief has been much smoothed by long-continued ploughing. These remains show strong resemblance to a motte and bailey defensive enclosure; on some photo- graphs the line of a rampart accompanying the ditch of the 'bailey' can be distinguished. The entrance to the ringwork seems to have been from the right-hand 'bailey' (pl 1), at a point where two circular ditches unite to form one broad feature. However, the curious subdivision of these ditches, particularly marked in the outer ditch, which appears partitioned into a series of compartments, and the fine parallel striations within the right- hand bailey, are not easy to explain. On some photographs the 'subdivisions', which must be narrow baulks of firm ground, appear so regularly spaced that there can be no doubt that they are a primary feature of the design. Gang-work, with the construction left unfinished, is hardly the explanation; here interpretation can proceed but so far full knowledge can only come from digging. No archaeological feature is marked at this point on the maps of the Ordnance Survey,' and all record of the site has evidently long been lost, for the eighteenth century large-scale county maps are equally uninformative. Considered as a castle site, the position is a good one from which to command this reach of the Ivel and a crossing of the river near Biggleswade. Before the Domesday Survey, Biggleswade Manor was held by Archbishop Stigand, but by the time of the Survey it belonged to o Ralph de Lisle who held it of the king in chief. There seems no record hitherto of a castle at Biggleswade. The northern part of the castle site was under corn in 1962 and the crop-marks were readily visible from the raised A.1 causeway for most of the summer. The remarkable features of the site led to a brief excavation and survey by a team then engaged on a rescue excavation for the Ministry of Public Building and Works at Eaton Socon, with the strictly limited aim of establishing the date of the site, and the state of preservation of structures, if any, within it. It did not attempt to solve any of the problems of interpretation posed in Dr St Joseph's note. The plan (fig 1) was restricted to the part of the site north of the farm road which cuts it; the field to the south was under plough, and only vague soil marks were visible. In the northern part the general position of the ditches was fixed. Dr St Joseph's suggestion of the position of the entrance from northern 'bailey' into the 'ringwork' is supported by the gap in the hollow representing the ringwork ditch at this point; and an entrance into the northern 'bailey' itself may be suggested by a similar gap, to the north, in the hollow representing the 'bailey' ditch. The area within the ringwork' is a low domed platform, and this, together with the cropmarks within it, suggest, as Dr St Joseph implicitly indicates, that the monument is a ringwork and bailey, rather than a motte and bailey. Ringworks and their derivatives seem increasingly to be a feature of the Norman military scene both in England and in Normandy, and the systematic excavation of this remarkable apparently skeletal example could well answer a number of the problems they pose.

The 1962 excavation consisted of one superficial 48 ft by 3 ft trench cut obliquely across the line of the ringwork ditches (fig 1) and on to the edge of the ringwork platform. It revealed the top of two ditches, not apparently quite on the line of those on the air photos, with an interspace between them. The interspace was covered with a layer, from 6 ins to 12 ins deep, of gravelly yellow-grey soil with charcoal, pottery and considerable amounts of burnt daub and clay. It looked much like a destruction layer derived from timber and daub buildings. The excavation was suspended at this juncture, since the relation of the trench to the crop-mark features was not clear; the presence of timber structures and the cultural milieu of the monument had been established; and further excavation on such a limited scale was likely to destroy more than it could reveal and was therefore unjustified on a site which was not then threatened. The finds were few; some decaying wood in the outer ditch suggested that, though perhaps never recorded as an ancient monument, the ditches must long have been deeper, and have only relatively recently been levelled. The eight sherds of pottery from the interspace between the ditches were all in thin sandy fabric, though one (fig 2, 1) contained much rounded quartz-like grit which protruded from the surface to give a very harsh feel. All the sherds probably come from cooking pots, perhaps of medium size. Some of the fabrics are similar to the 'early medieval' wares recently defined by Hurst,' and the form of the rim (fig 2, 1) could be paralleled amongst these wares. Such wares are normally found in the Ouse valley in association with shell-filled fabrics of `St Neots' and 'developed St Neots' type. The Great Paxton assemblage indicates that sandy fabrics begin to appear in the area in the later eleventh century. If the Eaton Socon Castle assemblage is truly dateable to years immediately after 1144, then such fabrics form a considerable, though not overwhelming, proportion of those current in the area in the mid-twelfth century. A rather different series of wares and fabrics succeed in the late twelfth and thirteenth century. The preferred date of the Biggleswade sherds is probably somewhere in the early twelfth century, but the apparent anomaly remains that the little assemblage contains no developed St Neots ware, though from the heartland of that type. An explanation may lie in the proximity of Biggleswade to the east Bedfordshire sands; subsequent work may well show that in a restricted area the entirely suitable local sands were preferred as tempering material to the (probably fossil) shell otherwise used in the Ouse clay vale.

The trial excavation has shown that the ringwork and bailey at Biggleswade almost certainly dates from the century following the Norman Conquest and that it contained wattle-and-daub clad timber structures associated with ditched defences. It may well be a member of the considerable local group of anarchy castles. The site potentially contains the answers to many problems associated with ringworks and mottes, and if it is to be destroyed even in the distant future its prior excavation in a leisured and systematic manner seems entirely desirable.

<6> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Record Cards, OS: TL 14 SE 8 (Unpublished document). SBD10879.

A previously unknown ringwork and bailey on the west bank of the River Ivel was observed from the air at TL 184445 as a cropmark by St Joseph in 1954. (Antiquity, Vol 40, 1966, p. 143)
The remains suggest a ringwork and bailey rather than a motte, and the position is good for a castle site.
The site was endangered by the construction of the A1 Biggleswade by-pass, and a brief rescue excavation was undertaken by the M.O.W in 1962. This consisted of one trench cut obliquely across the line of the ringwork ditches and on the edge of the ringwork platform. A few sherds of cooking-pots were found of similar fabric to early medieval wares recently defined by Hurst (3) and probably early 12th century. The trial excavation has shown that the ringwork and bailey almost certainly dates from the century following the Norman Conquest, and that it contained wattle and daub-clad timber structures associated with ditch defences. Scheduled. (Medieval Archaeology : Journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 5, 1961, p 259; Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal, Vol 3, 1966) BRS 16.10.67
Only the central mound with faint traces of its encircling ditch survive - all the other features are ploughed out. Surveyed at 1:2500. (First OS Archaeology Field Investigator 28/02/1968) C.F. Wardale F.I. 28.2.68

<7> Correspondence, Letter from J K St. Joseph, 29/11/1971 (Unpublished document). SBD10802.

Biggleswade 'Castle' site, TL 184444, listed as one of most important archaeological sites in Beds.

<8> Northamptonshire County Council, Northamptonshire County Council Air Photos, 2505/3 (20/7/84) (Aerial Photograph). SBD10646.

Cropmarks TL 184446

<9> Ken Field, Ken Field Aerial Photographs, 3/7-9; 2714/12-13 (29/8/1984) (Aerial Photograph). SBD10748.

Cropmarks TL 184445

<10> National Monuments Record, NMR Aerial Photograph, TL 1844/9/12 (29/8/1984) (Aerial Photograph). SBD10595.

Cropmarks TL 183445

<11> English Heritage, Field Monument Warden's Scheduled Ancient Monuments Record Form, 26818 (Unpublished document). SBD11859.

Aerial photographs revealed circular earthworks on the east side of the Biggleswade by-pass. The fields they appear in are being cultivated, and the ditches are visible as darker soil, and the banks as lighter gravel; but there is only a difference of about 0.60-0.70m in levels. The ring marks exceed 36m into the field to the east. Whilst the plan is of motte and bailey, it is difficult to imagine how mound and banks could have been obliterated, leaving the ditch visble as they are. Further the rings to the east may belong in the earlier period to the monuments history. The rectangular shape in the north corner of the field is not, I think, of any antiquity as recent ploughing to the east shows that the marks continue right across this field in an east direction, and are formed of comparatively modern builders rubble - broken bricks and tiles. {1}
The area is bisected by a farm track running E-W across the S end of the site. To the south of this track the field appears uncultivated with a crop of clover and thistles, to the north a corn crop had just been harvested at the time of visit. Earthworks are barely visible. There is a little brick scatter throughout the plough soil and 2 sherds of pottery were noted. These appear to be of post medieval date. {3}
Whole area freshly ploughed. Ringwork showing up as raised circular feature, outlined by a gravel spread. Square enclosure to north is particularly defined by a lighter soil in this area. No artefacts recovered. {4}

{1} O.E.C. 13/3/1966
{3} Paterson, H, FMW 25/9/1984
{4} Paterson, H, FMW 26/2/1988

<12> Aerofilms, 1996, Aerofilms 1996 air photos, 19/1696-1697 (18/7/96) (Aerial Photograph). SBD10645.

Cropmarks TL 183445

<13> Angela Simco, Comments (Observations and Comments). SBD10509.

Plot of cropmarks

<14> Bedfordshire County Council, 1970 - 2000s, HER Photograph Archive, F688/22-26; 1990 (Photograph). SBD10506.

Images of the cropmarks from the ground.

<15> English Heritage, SAM Record Form, No. 20414; 20/2/1995 (Scheduling record). SBD10803.

The ringwork and bailey is visible primarily as a cropmark but is also marked by slight undulations on the ground. The site covers an area which extends for about 100m east of the A1 Biggleswade bypass and straddles the track, which crosses part of the monument. The main stronghold, the ringwork, is 30-35cm in diameter and is surrounded by a ditch up to 18m wide. The ditch is largely infilled but is visible as a slight hollow. The centre of the ringwork is slightly raised, to about 0.5m above the general ground level, and would originally have held a defensive earthen bank, probably strengthened with wooden palisades. An outer defended court, or bailey, lies on the western side of ringwork. This is oval in shape, measuring about 120m north-south by 75m east-erst, and is surrounded by a 10m wide, infilled ditch which is linked to the ditch of the ringwork on the eastern arm. The interior of the bailey is raised by about 0.5m. The bailey is sub-divided into two roughly equal parts by a ditch runnning west from the ringwork. There is a causeway across the ringwork ditch, at the north-west, giving access to the bailey.
Partial excavation in 1962 of a section of the ringwork defences revealed the remains of timber and daub buildings and pottery dated to the 12th century. Organic materials were also found in the ditch. The ringwork is considered to be one of a group of 12th Century Anarchy castles in Bedfordshire.
The metalled surface of the trackway is excluded from the scheduling but the ground below is included.

<16> Hunting Surveys, 1981, Hunting Aerial Photos 1981, HSL BEDS 81 1: 6/8685-8686 (13/6/1981) (Aerial Photograph). SBD10659.

Visible on aerial photos

<17> Bedfordshire County Council, HER Slide Archive, 473-475; 2147-2148; 2862; 5955-5956; 6012-6013 (Slide). SBD10508.

Aerial photos and plans

<18> English Heritage, Notification of Scheduling, or an Affirmation or Revision of Scheduling, 20/11/1995 (Scheduling record). SBD12102.

Amendment to scheduled area.

<19> Angela Simco, Comments (Observations and Comments). SBD10509.

Pottery & tile found 15/12/1988, passed to St Mary's for storage 12/91

<20> Bedfordshire County Council, Planning Dept File, 1977-1980 (Unpublished document). SBD11426.

Information on proposed gravel extraction

<21> NMR/AMIE, HE NRHE Monument Inventory, 362741 (Index). SBD12367.

The earthwork and cropmark remains of a medieval ringwork and bailey castle together with a complex of other buried ditches and enclosures on a low gravel island to the west of Biggleswade. The site was initially identified from the air in 1954. Some rescue excavation was undertaken in 1962 in advance of the A1 Biggleswade by-pass. The site appears to date from the century or so after the Norman Conquest. Finds included pottery and evidence for wattle & daub and timber structures. Ordnance Survey field investigation in 1968 suggested that only the central mound and faint traces of the encircling ditch were still visible on the ground. The remainder had been levelled by the plough. The site is scheduled.

<22> Andrew Miller, 1995, RCHME: AP Primary Recording Project (Archaeological Report). SBD12554.

A rapid examination of air photography (NMR, TL 1844/5/291-4, TL 1844/7-9, TL 1844/13/2170-2, TL 1844/14-9, 21-51) shows the ringwork and bailey, including a possible sub-dividing ditch in the bailey, and the unusual nature of the ditch cropmarks, which appear divided into small blocks.

<23> Google, Google Earth Aerial Imagery/Google Maps, Google Maps (viewed 21/12/2020), original photo date? (Website). SBD11824.

2 close up images of cropmarks extracted from aerial photography, one of the ringwork and baileys and another of the area immediately to the north faintly indicating the rectilinear enclosure present there but more particularly showing some roughly parallel WNW to ENE linears, the southernmost pair of trackway dimensions though very straight and clipping the northern edge of the northern bailey.

Protected Status:

• Archaeological Notification Area (AI) HER468: RINGWORK & BAILEY
• Scheduled Monument 1010115: A ringwork and bailey castle, ring ditch and enclosures east of Brookland Farm
• SHINE: Cropmarks close to the Biggleswade Ringwork

Monument Type(s):

• ENCLOSURE (Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
• RING DITCH (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
• SUBRECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE (Late Bronze Age to Roman/Romano-British - 800 BC to 409 AD)
• PALAEOCHANNEL (5th Century - 400 AD? to 499 AD?)
• CASTLE (12th Century - 1100 AD to 1199 AD)
• RINGWORK AND BAILEY (12th Century - 1100 AD to 1199 AD)

Associated Finds

• FBD5608 - SHERD (12th Century - 1100 AD to 1199 AD)

Associated Events

• EBD1305 - A Ringwork and Bailey at Biggleswade

Sources and Further Reading

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