MOAT HILL

ALTERNATIVE NAME:

ALDINGHAM MOTTE

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A medieval motte and bailey and possible associated features are visible as earthworks on air photographs. The motte is sub-circular in plan with the south eastern side having been lost to erosion. To the north of the motte is a ditch extending from the south east to the north west with a possible causeway in the centre. Extending to the north east is another ditch. A bank to the west may be a post medieval field boundary utilising aspects of the earlier earthworks. The features are extant on the latest 1998 NMR oblique photography. Excavations in 1968 showed that this castle overlay a 12th century ringwork, was modified in the late 12th/early 13th century and was abandoned in the mid-13th century. Aldingham motte is 30 feet high with a surrounding ditch 10 feet deep on the south side and 8 feet deep on the north, varying from 15 to 20 feet wide at the bottom. Some 40 yards north of the mound there is a broad straight ditch 250 feet long and 18 feet wide at the bottom, extending at almost right angles to the sea cliff. Scheduled.

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(SD 27786983) Moat Hill (NR) Castle Mound (NR) (1-2)

Aldingham Moat Hill is c 30ft high with a surrounding ditch 10ft deep on the S side and 8ft deep on the N, varying from 15-20ft wide at the bottom. About 40 yds N of the mound there is a broad straight ditch 250ft long and c 18ft wide at the bottom, running at almost right angles to the sea cliff. A diagonal causeway crosses the ditch and a slight artificial scarp runs northwards, parallel with the cliff. (3)

The Castle mound has been badly eroded by the sea on the SE side but the remaining portion with surrounding ditch is well defined. The broad ditch to the N of the motte may have enclosed a bailey although there is now no connection with the mound. The causeway across the ditch appears to be an original feature. To the W of the ditch is a very slight ploughed down bank which appears to connect with the lynchet or old Field boundary running from the ditch in a northerly direction. (4)

Aldingham motte. Excavation of the seaward part of the motte by B K Davison for the MPBW revealed three periods of occupation spanning the 12th century. The earliest defences consisted of a ringwork 40m diam, defined by a rampart 3m high. Later the site was converted into motte and bailey by filling in and heightening the ringwork to form a mound 4m high and by adding an outer enclosure. The motte was further heightened in late 12th or early 13th centuries and provided with a vertical timber revetment set in a bedding trench 2m deep, but this phase was left unfinished and apparently abandoned by mid 13th century. (Plan). (5)

Moat Hill, motte and bailey castle and earlier ringwork; scheduled. (6)

Listed by Cathcart King. (7)

Listed. (8)

A medieval motte and bailey and possible associated features are visible as earthworks on air photographs, centred at SD 2778 6986. The motte is sub-circular in plan with the south eastern side having been lost to erosion. To the north of the motte is a ditch extending from the south east to the north west with a possible causeway in the centre. This feature measures 78m in length. Extending to the north east is another ditch measuring 79m. A bank to the west may be a post medieval field boundary utilising aspects of the earlier earthworks. The features are extant on the latest 1998 NMR oblique photography.
(9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1847

( 2) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1971

( 3a) Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society

H Swainson Cowper 9, 1888 Page(s)404-11

( 3b) General reference

West T Antiquities of Furness

( 3) Society of Antiquaries of London Archaeologia : or miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity

(H Swainson Cowper) 53 PT 2 - 1893 Page(s)422-4

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 EG 16-JUN-58

( 5) Medieval archaeology : journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology

(D M Wilson and D G Hurst) 13 - 1969 Page(s)258

( 6) Scheduled Monument Notification

English Heritage SAM Amendment 18.10.95

(7) by David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery

1 - 1983 Page(s)244

(8) Denis R Perriam and John Robinson 1998 The medieval fortified buildings of Cumbria : an illustrated gazetteer and research guide

Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society extra series vol.29 Page(s)375

(9) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR SD 2769/1 (13440/04) 07-FEB-1979

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