Scheduled Monument: Despite some disturbance, this is a good example of a Norman motte (earthwork castle), which probably formed one of a pair controlling the valley traffic around Clun (the other being Clun Castle itself).
Motte with ditch and outer bank cut from a natural glacial moraine. There is no trace of a bailey. The motte has been mutilated by gravel digging but had a base diameter of about 25m . Its present maximum height is 2.3m. The ditch and bank remain only on the SE side, elsewhere they have been dug away. The ditch is 10m wide and 2m deep, the bank is 8m wide and 1.2m externally. Considered to be an incomplete earthwork <1c>
Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Low score as one of 46 Motte and Bailey Castles <10>
Scheduling revised in 2001. Scheduling description: ->
-> The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a motte and bailey castle to the south of the hamlet of Bicton. It has been constructed by adapting a low elongated glacial mound, on the eastern side of the flood plain of the River Unk. It is situated 1.9km upstream of Clun Castle located next to the River Clun, which is the subject of a separate scheduling. The close proximity of these two castles suggest that they acted together during the early Middle Ages to control river crossing points and the movement of people along the valleys. ->
-> The oval shaped motte appears to have been originally circular, approximately 30m in diameter at its base. It has been modified by later quarrying for gravel and now stands to a height of 2.2m. A dry flat-bottomed ditch surrounds the motte, which is defined by an external bank and a small bailey -to the south. The south eastern part of the bank is about 8m wide and also stands about 2.2m high. The rest of the bank is now visible as a slight earthwork, having been reduced in height by later quarrying and the digging of drainage ditches. The southern part of the glacial mound appears to have been deliberately altered to form a small bailey, a level rectangular platform measuring approximately 14m by 25m. A former field boundary has cut into the base of the scarp which defines the western side of this platform <11>
Record of management issues and reccommendation made in c.1996 <12>
Photographed during aerial survey in 2009. <13>
The motte at Bicton was seen as earthworks and mapped from aerial photographs during the Marches Uplands Mapping Project. NMR SO2982/7-9 01-JUL-1981. <14>
| [00] | SSA20722 - Card index: Shropshire County Council SMR. Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards. SMR record cards. SMR Card for PRN SA 01197. |
| [01b] | SSA1163 - Article in serial: Hogg A H A & King D J C. 1963. Early Castles in Wales and the Marches. Archaeologia Cambrensis. Vol 112. p77-124. p96. |
| [01a] | SSA178 - Volume: Page W (ed). 1908. Victoria County History Volume 1. Victoria County History of Shropshire. Vol 1. p385. |
| [01c] | SSA31554 - Site visit report: Ordnance Survey Field Investigator. Various. NRHE: Ordnance Survey Field Investigators Comments. F1 ASP 13-SEP-73. |
| [01] | SSA4846 - Card index: Ordnance Survey. 1973. Ordnance Survey Record Card SO28SE23 . Ordnance Survey record cards. SO28SE23 . |
| [02] | SSA17207 - Oblique aerial photograph: Musson Chris R. 1983-Jul-20. CPAT 83/03/0023. |
| [03] | SSA4848 - Field Monument Warden Report: Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission (HBMC). 1986. Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 26551. |
| [04] | SSA475 - Monograph: Bird A J. 1977. History on the Ground. p110. |
| [05] | SSA4849 - Site visit report: Tyler Alan W. 1978-Oct-18. Visit Notes, 18/10/1978. |
| [06] | SSA12874 - Photograph: Tyler Alan W. 1978-Oct. Bicton Motte & Bailey, Clun. Black and white. 35mm. |
| [07] | SSA17208 - Oblique aerial photograph: Musson Chris R. 1985-Jul-23. CPAT 85/16/0023. |
| [08] | SSA17209 - Oblique aerial photograph: Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust. 1985. Oblique View of Bicton Castle, 1985. Colour. |
| [09] | SSA4847 - Scheduled Monument notification: Department of the Environment (DoE). 1971. Map of Scheduled area, 1971. |
| [10] | SSA20084 - TEXT: Horton Wendy B. 1990/ 1991. MPP Evaluation File. Motte and Bailey Castles. |
| [11] | SSA20348 - Scheduled Monument notification: English Heritage. 2001. Scheduling Papers (Revised Scheduling, 09/03/2001). 33834. |
| [12] | SSA23415 - Management report: Leigh Judith. 1996. The Clun environmentally sensitive area: management plans for Scheduled Ancient Monuments. English Heritage. |
| [13] | SSA25874 - Oblique aerial photograph: Shropshire Council. 2009-Jan-6. SA0901_192 to SA0901_196 (5 photos) Flight: 09_SA_01. Colour. Digital. |
| [14] | SSA31570 - COLLECTION: Historic England. 1993-1994. NRHE: RCHME: Marches Uplands NMP. MU.265.4. |
| [15] | SSA29017 - Monograph: Cathcart King D J. 1983. Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the Islands. Volume II : Norfolk-Yorkshire and the islands. Vol 2. Vol. 2, p. 423. |