BUCKTON CASTLE

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DESCRIPTION

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A medieval ringwork castle and the remains of a bailey on the northern side. The ringwork is constructed as a raised platform 35m by 40m and is roughly rectangular. A road with traces of pavement, and two ditches, apparently outworks, are recorded leading to the castle on the north side. Two gold bead chains have been found on the site. The site was used as a beacon in the 16th and 17th century. Scheduled.

DETAIL

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(SD 98920161) Buckton Castle (NR) (site of) (1)

Listed as Class 'A' ringwork with the comment "very high site". (2)

Buckton Castle, hillfort - Iron Age 'A/B' (3)

Class B Earthwork (Fortresses on hilltops with contour following defences). Situated on Buckton Moor 3/4 mile east south east of Mossley Station, and at a height of 1123 ft above sea level is a small earthwork. It consists of an artificially raised platform surrounded by a rampart with an outer ditch on three sides. The original entrance is to the north east The raised platform measures 32 yards north west to south west, its surrounding rampart, which stands conspicuously above the level of the moor, shows signs of revetment. Apart from the area to the SW, where the natural slopes are very steep, a broad and deep ditch surrounds the work. Slight traces of an additional rampart are visible on the SE side.

Aiken (4a) describes 'ruins 6ft to 7ft higher than the area' near the SE side, but these are no longer visible.

A road with traces of pavement, and two ditches, apparently outworks, are recorded leading to the castle on the north side.

Various ornaments and two gold bead chains have been found in the immediate vicinity. (4)

The earthwork, as it stands, is clearly a ringwork, although closer in profile to Class 'B' than 'A'. Its strong defensive position, however, and the former existence of an outer rampart beyond the limits of a possible counterscarp bank to the ditch, suggests that the ringwork is superimposed on an Iron Age fort.

The whole is largely as described, apart from the postulated road and outworks on the north approach of which there is now no trace. There is no evidence on the adjacent slopes of any field system that would support the premise of Iron Age occupation.
Re-surveyed at 1:2500. (5)

Additional reference. (6)

SD 989 016. Buckton Castle. Listed in gazetteer as a site now rejected as a hillfort. Area 0.07ha. (7)

Additional reference (not consulted). (8)

Scheduled, SAM No. GM 4. (9)

Scheduled listing. (10)

Listed by Cathcart King. (11)

Description of the site and its history. (12)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" Prov Edn 1951-55

( 2) edited by A J Taylor 1969 Chateau Gaillard, 3. Conference at Battle, Sussex, 19-24 September 1966

(Cathcart King & Alcock) 3 - 1969 Page(s)117

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

( 4a) General reference

Aiken Dr 1795 History of Country Around Manchester (471)

( 4b) General reference

Ormerod 1819 History of Cheshire

( 4) edited by William Farrer and J Brownbill, M.A. 1908 The Victoria history of the county of Lancaster, volume two

The Victoria history of the counties of England 1908 Page(s)516

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 RE 18-FEB-76

(6) General reference

Greater Manchester Archaeological Journal 3 1987-88 pp61-69

(7) by A H A Hogg 1979 British hillforts : an index

BAR British series1 (1974) - 62 - 1979 Page(s)143

(8) Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society

Vol 72 1962 No 16 (J Forde-Johnston) Page(s)9-46

(9) English Heritage 1995 County list of Scheduled Monuments : March 1994

SAM List Greater Manchester Page(s)10

(10) Scheduled Monument Notification

English Heritage Schedule Entry 19/11/1996

(11) 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

(12) by Michael Nevell 1991 A history and archaeology of Tameside : Tameside 1066-1700

Page(s)115-9

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