MONUMENT NO. 116827

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DESCRIPTION

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Mound, the suggested site of a possible Motte or Millmound. The mound is 12 metres in diameter and 0.7 metres high. The ditch is visible only as a slight scarping of the slope. Excavations in 1955 revealed that the mound was not of prehistoric origin but was probably medieval. The excavators discovered that the centre of the mound had been dug up and robbed in the 1920's.

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(SO 87559863) (1) Close to Wightwick Mill is a tumulus or burial mound and on the opposite side of the road are some remains of an old fort or earthwork. The field-names, such as Tilbury Camp, Campo de Tettenhall, and others, found in old deeds, indicate their military nature. (2)

A section was cut across the mound in 1955, by A Oswald and P Gathercole, at the request of Tettenhall Council as they were proposing to 'bulldoze' it. The section revealed that the mound could not have been prehistoric as fragmentary brick and coal as found on the old turf line below the mound debris. The centre had been robbed-out in the 1920's, by boys from Wolverhapton Grammer School, working under an unknown master. No sherds or artifacts were found. A post hole on the perimeter of the mound is the only evidence of timber structure but it was surrounded by a wide ditch at least 15 feet deep and probably about 30 feet wide. The total lack of artifacts of any kind seems to indicate that either the structure was never finished or its occupation was purely temporary.
The excavators concluded that it was either a hastily erected motte to control the valley, or possibly a mound for a mill. (3)

On the summit of this prominent, natural hill are the traces of a mound, 12m in average diameter and 0.7m. The ditch is visible only as a slight scarping of the slope. The base of the hill has been further scarped by ploughing. The excavation-trench has been left open: it is c 1m wide and 9m long and was driven from the south-west to the centre of the mound where it was enlarged into a square pit. A red sandy soil containing small pebbles similar to the natural sub-soil, with traces of old turf-lines and lenticulation, is visible in the sides of the trench. Darker soil at the edge of the mound indicates the former ditch. The hill is under grass with trees upon it. The garden-fences of a new housing estate are encroaching upon the north side of the mound. (4)

The mound, a glacially-worn sandstone outcrop, lies within private gardens of an estate. The larger part of the summit is within 142 Bridgnorth Road, and a former occupier, Mr Breakspear, now of 141 Bridgnorth Road, had the summit levelled and lowered by about 1.0m so that any remains of an artificial mound have now disappeared.

Inspection of the Tettenhall Tithe Map, 1852, was negative and the place names mentioned by J P Jones (2) have not been located. There are no traces of an earth/work in the vicinity of the mound. To the north, upon the hill, the land is fully developed with housing; to the south in the valley, the ground has been much worked over for gravel or is waste land. (5)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Annotated Record Map

Corr 6" (A Oswald 9/55)

( 2) General reference

The History of Tettenhall 1894 7 (J P Jones)

( 3) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 WW 20-JUN-58

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F2 ASP 08-MAR-74

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