CAINHOE CASTLE

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Motte and bailey complex. The motte incorprates a natural sandstone outcrop standing 11m above the floodplain. It is 60m wide at the base and the flat top is 10m in diameter. Three irregularly shaped baileys are separated from the motte by a ditch. Cainhoe was the centre of the Barony of Cainhoe, held by the d'Aubigny family from the Conquest until the mid 13th century. No castle is mentioned in 1272 when the male line had been extinguished and the estate divided. By 1374, the fortifications were ruinous.
(See TL03NE24 for associated deserted village and TL03NE25 for succeeding moated manorial works).

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(TL 098374) Castle Hill (NAT) Cainhoe Castle (NR) (site of) (NAT) (1)

Cainhoe Castle consists of a motte and three baileys. The motte is situated on the enceinte, facing north, and is protected by what was originally low-lying marshy ground. The mound is surrounded by a deep ditch up to 40 feet wide. The baileys were surrounded by dry ditches, the south face of the south bailey being also defended by an inner bank.

The castle was the head of a Bedfordshire barony known as that of d'Aubigny, held in 1086 by Nigel de Albini. "There is no church or village here" (2). (2-4)

Visited 11.3.63. A magnificent motte with complex baileys carved out of a prominent and commanding knoll. There are traces of a DMV immediately to the south-west. (5)

A motte and complex of three baileys, situated under pasture and scattered undergrowth at the higher E end of a narrow W to E ridge. The area is known locally as Castle Hills. The flat low-lying ground to the N and E was evidently once marshy.

Natural steep slopes have been utilised as defences on the N side of the motte and largely form the rampart of the E bailey.
Quarrying has mutilated parts of the W bailey (1) ramparts and although the topography of the area suggests the 'main' entrance was on the W side, the mutilations mask positive indication of this. An earthen causeway across the S bailey ditch at TL 09823723 is of uncertain purpose, and could be a later feature.

To the W of the complex along the ridge, an area of disturbed ground forming no coherent pattern indicates former settlement, possibly contemporary with the motte.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. (6)

(TL 089374) Castle Hill (NAT) Motte & Bailey (NR) (7)

Cainhoe was the centre of one of the most powerful baronies in Bedfordshire, the d'Albini family reigning there from the Norman Conquest until the middle of the 13th century. (Cainhoe not listed by Renn, Norman Castles in Britain, 1973). In 1233 the male line of the family had been extinguished and in 1272 the inheritance was shared by three sisters. The description that survives shows that the fortress was still in use at that time, but by 1374 it was described as ruinous. (8)

Cainhoe Castle. Scheduled. (9)

Trial excavations carried out in 1973 on the earthworks to the south and south-east of Castle Hill demonstrated that none of them represented building platforms or enclosures as part of Cainhoe deserted Medieval village. The area to the south-east at this date was probably wet and marshy, unsuitable for habitation. There were, however, the remains of a stable and wattle structure of about 500AD.

Excavation on the site of the hill to the south of the Motte showed that the defences at this point were entirely natural. A road surface uncovered to the south-east of the hill, although orientated towards one of the castle entrances was not necessarily contemporary with the castle. The earthworks to the south of Castle Hill were devoid of features and were probably the result of field drainage or quarrying. (10)

A rapid examination of air photography (12a) shows the Motte and Bailey earthworks, as well as earthworks to the west which may relate to the DMV. Also visible are the earthworks of probable fishponds around TL 09503767, which are presumably associated with the castle and DMV. (11)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1960

( 2) edited by H Arthur Doubleday and William Page 1904 The Victoria History of the county of Bedford, volume one

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)291-2

( 3) edited by H Arthur Doubleday and William Page 1904 The Victoria History of the county of Bedford, volume one

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)324

( 4) by Beauchamp Wadmore 1920 The earthworks of Bedfordshire

Page(s)95-7

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 GSL 12-MAR-63

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F2 JRL 01-AUG-73

(7) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:10 000 1979

(8) General reference

Beds & Hunts Landscape 1979 99 122 photos (P Bigmore)

(9) General reference

DOE (IAM) List Anc Mons 3 1978 8

(10) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

1975 (A Taylor & P Woodward) 10 Page(s)41-52

(11) RCHME/EH Aerial Photographers Comment

Andrew Miller/10-JAN_1995/RCHME: AP Primary Recording Project

(11a) Aerial photograph

NMR, TL 0937/1-10

RELATED MONUMENTS

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CAINHOE
CLOPHILL

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The deserted settlement of Cainhoe is recorded in Domesday Book. After the Conquest, it became the possession of the d'Albini family. It was deserted ...

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