Lavendon; The Bury (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Lavendon.
In the historic county of Buckinghamshire.
Modern Authority of Milton Keynes.
1974 county of Buckinghamshire.
Medieval County of Buckinghamshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP916538
Latitude 52.17450° Longitude -0.66189°

Lavendon; The Bury has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Amorphous earthworks alleged to represent a medieval ringwork but more probably representing the remains of village shrinkage. Part of the earthwork may be caused by an amateur excavation. (PastScape)

The monument includes a small ringwork situated on a gentle west facing valley slope in a field called The Bury. The earthwork remains comprise of a circular enclosure with an overall diameter of 40m formed by a bank up to 10m wide at the base and averaging 1m high. The central area of the enclosure appears lightly hollowed. The bank is most pronounced around the southern part of the site, but is less well defined elsewhere. There is now no visible trace of a surrounding ditch though this will survive as a buried feature, having become infilled over the years. To the north of the enclosure is a series of earthworks representing a portion of a much more extensive area of ridge and furrow cultivation, This is separated from the enclosure by a well defined plough headland some 8m wide and up to 1m high (EH scheduled monument description 1994) Small ringwork comprising a circular enclosure with overall diameter of 40m formed by a bank 10m wide at base & 1m high. Now no visible trace of a surrounding ditch. To the N is an area of ridge & furrow & a headland. Site may be a precursor of Lavendon Castle to N. (Milton Keynes HER)

Comments

The site is 100yds N of the Saxon parish church and the name does suggest a Saxon manorial centre. The suggestion is made that this was a ringwork precursor to Lavendon Castle. However, although was seen as a roughly circular earthwork 40yds in diameter 3ft high with a central depression quarried in the SE, it is dismissed as a soil dump. Lavendon castle would be unusual in not using the existing Saxon thegnal site but there were several manors in the parish of Lavendon even at the time of Domesday.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1011295, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 19088
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 346981.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MMK342.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- A History of Lavendon
Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 29 (reject)
Periodical Articles
- (Britnell and Mynard), 1970, Records of Buckinghamshire Vol. 18.5 p. 333
  1969, Wolverton and District Archaeological Society Journal Vol. 2 p. 7-
  1969, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 13 p. 255 online copy
  1964, Wolverton and District Archaeological Society Newsletter
  Britnell, Richard, 24 April 1964, 'A History of Lavendon' Bucks Standard Newspaper

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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.

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