Sudeley Castle, Nuneaton

Description

Sudeley Castle has the remains of a fairly large moat; there is a little water in one corner, but generally it is only a shallow depression. It was the manor house of the Sudeleys; evidently it was a place of some importance but, apparently, not known as a Castle till comparatively recently (Chatwin) There are no visible remains of the manor house to be seen within the enclosed area of the moat, which is of normal homestead type, though in rather poor condition (OS record card 1967). Excavation indicates a 13th/14th century date and revealed the manor house. The name 'Castle' is a misnomer. The surrounding moat is not formidable. The N ditch was visible, but had been obscured by ploughing and the W part had been completely levelled. The moat is rhomboidal, some 51.8m wide on the E side. The N and S measured 73.1m and 65.8m respectively. No evidence for an internal bank was found and the interior was not raised above the surrounding land. Two sections were cut across the moat on the W and N sides. The moat was shallow, flat bottomed, and with gently sloping sides, approx 8.8m wide. It was 1.8m deep on the W and 0.9m deep on the N. The W section appears to have been deliberately obliterated through the dumping of coal from a local pit (West, 1968) The E part of the moat was destroyed in 1974, when a dual carriageway was constructed over the site. At this time the W part of the site was under plough and the earthworks had been reduced to slight undulations. The W area was destroyed in Jan/Feb 1986 by open cast mining. A watching brief produced no new evidence for the date of the moat, or for internal features. Only a thin strip of the centre of the site now survives. (Moated Sites Research Group, 1986).

Comments

The site was descheduled in 1986 after being serious damaged to the point of total destruction. Although the excavation noted above dated the site to C13 the tenurial history given in Dugdale and VCH would indicate a late C12 origin.