Barton Castle, Wield (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Barton Copse

In the civil parish of Wield.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Hampshire.
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU62003807
Latitude 51.13855° Longitude -1.11517°

Barton Castle, Wield has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a Masonry Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

Description

A little earthwork in Barton Copse, Wield, is at the edge of the oak copse in the bottom of a hollow which runs out westwards.
It is roughly a square of c.50 yards bounded by a bank standing at most c.2 feet above the area and 3 feet above the bottom of the ditch. On the north face the ditch seems more marked along the inside of the bank; on the west the present hedge bank seems to be the original boundary of the enclosure. On the north side there are some flints along the bank which rather suggest a wall. There is no obvious original approach or entrance. It is just on the edge of the clay. It seems likely that the enclosure has to do with the Barton of the place-name (Williams-Freeman).
In a wood at some distance from Wield is the site of a destroyed house known as the Castle. It was probably a house of the Wallop family, but nothing of it now remains, its masonry having been, according to local report, carried off for building material in the village. (Parish of Wield in the Hundred of Fawley). (May possibly apply to this site, but see also SU 64 SW 16, traditional site of 'Hurst Castle', situated about 250m. outside the parish boundary of Wield) (VCH).
Nothing identifiable with the description by Williams-Freeman was seen in perambulation of Barton Copse. The ground is uneven and in the south of the area demarcated the wood has grown beyond the boundary bank and ditch marking its former west side. This bank and ditch has a profile similar to that described by Williams-Freeman (F1 WCW 04-NOV-56).
A motte and bailey type earthwork close to the right of way between Wield church (SU 63 NW 5) and Godsfield (SU 63 NW 7). Well defined walls suggest a date of mid - C12th. (Hants Treasures). (PastScape)

Comments

The Hampshire Treasures entry is reference as Freeman Williams and does not represent recent fieldwork. The VCH does suggest there was possibly a house here and Freeman Williams description of the site would not be inconsistent with the remains of a domestic house. He does not seem to be describing the site as a motte and bailey. The source of the Hampshire Treasures description of this as the site of a motte and bailey is unclear and may well be fanciful. Further investigation required but seems unlikely to have been a motte and bailey castle.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 239591.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 19189.

Books
- Williams-Freeman, J.P.,1915, An Introduction to Field Archaeology as Illustrated by Hampshire (London) p. 229, 422
  Page, Wm (ed), 1908, VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 3 p. 347 online transcription

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio