Mount Caburn Camp, Glynde (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Glynde.
In the historic county of Sussex.
Modern Authority of East Sussex.
1974 county of East Sussex.
Medieval County of Sussex (Rape of Pevensey).

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ44430891
Latitude 50.86167° Longitude 0.05088°

Mount Caburn Camp, Glynde has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The earthworks and interior of a small multivallate hillfort situated on The Caburn. Part excavation in 1937-8 revealed the hilltop to have undergone a complex history of development from the Iron Age to the medieval period. Initially, to 100 BC the settlement comprised an Iron Age open village, followed by a more complex fortified proto- "town" settlement from about 100 BC to the Roman conquest. There was evidence of further fortification at the time of the Roman conquest. Later phases of use included local reconstruction at an unknown date (probably Saxon) and a mid-C12 phase of refortification as an Adulterine castle. (PastScape)

Comments

King calls this a possible site and writes' too large and weak for a likely castle; probably a fortified village' In King's terms 'possible' meant suspect.
Reportedly capped with medieval palisade of no great strength. This prominent hill top site can never have an easy residential site since there is no comfortable water supply. Certainly for a high status residence of a horse riding elite the lack of water would have been prohibitive. The suggestion this was an 'adulterine' castle site seems to be one of received wisdom rather than something based on consideration of evidence. Even the idea that this was any sort of medieval fortification seems weak and the supposed weak palisade may well be a fence for stock control.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1014527, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 27029
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 405932.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MES1456.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Sussex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 56
  Guy, John, 1984, Castles in Sussex (Phillimore) p. 126-7
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 474 (possible)
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 126
Periodical Articles
- Drewett, Peter L. and Hamilton, Sue, 1999, 'Marking time and making space: Excavations and Landscape Studies at the Caburn Hillfort, East Sussex, 1996 - 98' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 137 p. 7-38 online copy
  Wilson, Arthur E, 1939, 'Excavations at the Caburn, 1938' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 80 p. 193-213
  Wilson, Arthur E, 1938, 'Excavations in the Ramparts and Gateway of the Caburn, August - October 1937' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 79 p. 169-194
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 14 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 31 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 29 online copy

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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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