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The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
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Peel Hall Motte

In the civil parish of Horton Cum Peel.
In the historic county of Cheshire.
Modern Authority of Cheshire.
1974 county of Cheshire.
Medieval County of Cheshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ49896965
Latitude 53.22158° Longitude -2.75198°

Peel Hall Motte has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

This site has been considered by some writers to be a castle but is rejected as such by Hogg and King as is considered to be a moated house. However, in the later Castellarium Anglicanum King considers it a possible motte (Had King forgotten his earlier dismissal or had he reconsider it?). PastScape records 'Remains of a moat and motte and bailey which were bulldozed in 1948.' This was a mound in the grounds of Peel Hall measuring '50ft in circumference' (sic - ? diameter) with gazebo on top. A medieval pele tower is said to have stood within a moat at the site of the current Hall.

Earthworks and structures alleged by previous authorities to a form a moat or motte and bailey are in fact remains of a formal garden arrangement associated with the Hall. Although now much degraded and visible as only as a roughly circular ditch or sunken area some 10m wide and 0.2m deep with an overall diameter of 54-56m, the earthworks are pricipally the remains of a ditched ornamental mound or mount, originally 54m in diameter overall with the mound itself 37m in diameter: a structure on the mound may have been a summerhouse or gazebo. There is evidence that this mound was part of a more extensive formal garden which has been subjected to changes in layout throughout the history of the house. (Everson)
Comments

Clearly the mound was used in the formal gardens of what was a considerable larger house than now currently stands but this, of itself, does not exclude earlier origins. However, site is to east of Chester (away from Wales) and not near a existing parish church (although Peel was a recognised township in Little Mouldsworth parish) and these do make it less likely that it was a castle mound.
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Sources of information, references and further reading
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This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:21:30

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