Bury Castle, Brompton Regis (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Brompton Regis.
In the historic county of Somerset.
Modern Authority of Somerset.
1974 county of Somerset.
Medieval County of Somerset.

OS Map Grid Reference: SS93852698
Latitude 51.03217° Longitude -3.51531°

Bury Castle, Brompton Regis has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Bury Castle comprises a series of earthworks forming an oval enclosure of Iron Age. At the southern end of the ramparts is a small motte believed to be of an early C12 date. Surveyed in June 1996 by RCHME who as a result of this also believe that the site is a resused late prehistoric defended enclosure. The prehistoric enclosure measures 85m N-S by 58m E-E and is enclosed by a bank up to 4m high. There is no sign of an entrance and this was probably blocked in the medieval period. The motte is 23m diameter, placed over the ramparts, and with a ditch 6m wide encircling it. The site is apparently undocumented but it is suggested that it was probably built by William de Say before 1144, the year of his death. (Somerset HER)

Bury Castle stands above the junctions of the R. Exe with its tributary the Haddeo, at the end of a high ridge running N & S. It is oval in shape, the apex pointing SW, and the base NE. Maximum length and breadth about 120 x 80 yds. The apex where the entrance is found, is occupied by a mount with an enclosing ditch and the camp might be classed with mount and base court forts, but the mount is very small as compared with the area of the enclosure. Hillfort Class B. (VCH 1911).
This is a motte & bailey (F1 GHP 17-AUG-65).
Bury Castle was surveyed in June 1996 at 1:1000 scale as part of RCHME's East Exmoor Project and at the request of the Exmoor National Park Authority. A detailed report (RCHME 1996) was produced.
The earthworks comprise an oval enclosure, presumably of Iron Age date. Built onto the south end of the prehistoric ramparts is a small motte, possibly built in the early 12th century (R Wilson-North & H Riley 12-JUN-1996 RCHME Field Investigation). (PastScape)

Comments

The Iron Age hill fort does not appear to be the site of the manorial centre of the large manor of Brunetone, which was probably in Brompton Regis 4.75km (3 miles) to the north. Was this small motte added to the hill fort to make a castle built here to defend the county border as suggested by Stuart Prior (an idea that was not well greeted at the Castle Studies Group Conference in 2010 for the rather obvious reason that counties are administrative regions not sub-national states that need defending)? Was it built as a safe retreat? Was it a subsidiary manorial centre in a large and hilly manor? Was it a hunting lodge (The manor is on the southern edge of the Royal forest of Exmoor, but it might be argued the hunting would be better in the north of the manor)?

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006170, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number so342
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 36540.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MSO8841; MMO36540; MSO11072; 33369 (Somerset HER).

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Prior, Stuart, 2006, A Few Well-Positioned Castles: The Norman Art of War (Tempus) p. 68-109
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 69
  Dunning, Robert, 1995, Somerset Castles (Somerset Books) p. 30-1
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 442
  Burrow, Edward J., 1924, Ancient Earthworks and Camps of Somerset (Cheltenham and London) p. 72-3
  Bothamley, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Somerset Vol. 2 p. 482-3
Periodical Articles
- Gray, 1923, Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol. 69 p. xxi-xxii
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1888, Ancient charters, royal and private, prior to A.D. 1200 (Pipe Roll Society 10) p. 108
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk South West Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 184 (new entry) online copy
  Prior, Stuart, 2004, _"Winning Strategies" An Archaeological Study of Norman Castles in the Landscapes of Somerset, Monmouthshire and County Meath, 1066-1186 (PhD thesis; University of Bristol) Vol. 2 p. 130 Download via EThOS
  RCHME, 1996, Bury Castle, Brompton Regis, Somerset. (Unpublished client report)

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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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