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Eastbach Court Castle Hill

In the civil parish of English Bicknor.
In the historic county of Gloucestershire.
Modern Authority of Gloucestershire.
1974 county of Gloucestershire.
Medieval County of Gloucestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO58641537
Latitude 51.83540° Longitude -2.60166°

Eastbach Court Castle Hill has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

A field is labelled 'Caste hill' on a map of the western part of the Forest of Dean, dating from 1608 (Saxtoy).
NB - A rectified copy of the 1608 map produced by Gordon Clissold shows this field name linked to the adjacent field name, to produce the single name 'Leggcastel Hill'. Examination of a bromide copy ofthe original 1608 map shows this to be incorrect, and the two fields should be labelled individually as 'The Legg' and 'Castle hill' (Pers. comm. L.Butler, 08/06/2004.).
A suspected early Norman timber fortification at Eastbach was re-sited at English Bicknor and later re-built in stone (Walters 1992).
This field name possibly reflects the site of a castle at Eastbach, which was later re-sited at English Bicknor (SMR 249) (Pers. comm. L.Butler, 08/06/2004.). (Gloucestershire SMR)
Comments

Although English Bicknor was probably founded as a village quite late there doesn't seem to be any reason to think that English Bicknor Castle had a precursor on a different site. Eastback may have been a sub manor of Bicknor before the C16 (when it is first recorded as a sub manor) and it may just be possible that there was a small symbolic motte reflecting the knightly status of an early, unrecorded, sub-tenant but it seem more probably the field name relates to part of the demense lands of the main manor of Bicknor.
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This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:21:29

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