Weston Turville; The Mount (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
West Turville; Weston Molyns; Manor House

In the civil parish of Weston Turville.
In the historic county of Buckinghamshire.
Modern Authority of Buckinghamshire.
1974 county of Buckinghamshire.
Medieval County of Buckinghamshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP859104
Latitude 51.78609° Longitude -0.75609°

Weston Turville; The Mount has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Motte and twin baileys. The works apparently consisted of a motte with surrounding ditch and a bailey to the south of the motte; of a second bailey on the east, only a part of the ditch remains. Renn found a fragment of Saxo-Norman pottery here and gave it to Aylesbury Museum. There are two references to a castle here in C12, one to its slighting in 1173-4. The motte is 60m in diameter and 5m high, with a ditch 2.4m deep around the east arc. The southern bailey is 80m by 70m and is enclosed by a ditch 1.8m deep. The eastern bailey is 80m by 50 and is defended by a ditch, 2m in maximum depth, with an inner bank, now 0.5m high. (PastScape)

The motte was dismantled on the orders of Henry II in 1173. (PastScape ref. King)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1333 Jan 23 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Comments

The order to 'dismantle' the motte in 1173 does not mean this site did not continue to be the manorial centre or a lordly residence, although the house and offices are likely to have been buildings within the baileys rather than anything on the motte. It is likely this is the site for for which a licence to crenellate was granted in 1334 to John de Moleyns and his wife. It is unlikely that the motte or even the bailey was refortified at this time, although some rebuilding of the house by the wealthy Treasurer of England is entirely possible. An early C18 manor house sits in the bailey of the castle and this may well be the site of Molyns house.
The agreement between Geoffrey de Turville and John of the Lee (see Jenkins, 1938) where Geoffrey gave John one hide of demense land for service of castle guard at Weston is an exceptionally rare document. This seems to date from the 1140's and may represent social climbing by both men during a period of central government instability. Was the action taken in 1173 one designed to put Geoffrey back into his proper place?

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006937, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number bu61
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1332909
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 344448; 869875.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 0105600000.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 37
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 10 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 28-29 (Called Manor House)
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 317
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 344
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1960, Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire (Harmondsworth) p. 282
  RCHME, 1912, An inventory of the historical monuments in Buckinghamshire Vol. 1 (south) p. 316 online copy
  Page, Wm (ed), 1908, VCH Buckinghamshire Vol. 2 p. 324 online transcription
  Ditchfield, P.H. and Page, Wm (ed), 1906, VCH Berkshire Vol. 1 p. 316
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 148 online copy
  Sheahan, J., 1862, History and Topography of Buckinghamshire (London) p. 215 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 410 online copy
Periodical Articles
- 1989, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 19 p. 14 online copy
  1988, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 18 p. 27 online copy
  Hagerty, R.P., 1986, 'The Turvilles and the castle of Weston Turville' Records of Buckinghamshire Vol. 28 p. 179-81
  Yeoman, P.A.St J., 1986, 'Excavations at the motte, Weston Turville Manor, 1985' Records of Buckinghamshire Vol. 28 p. 169-78
  Yeoman, P.A., 1986, 'Excavations at the Manor House, Weston Turville' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 16 p. 41-2 online copy
  Farley M., 1985, Records of Buckinghamshire Vol. 27 p. 132
  Brown, R. Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' The English Historical Review Vol. 74 p. 249-280 (Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 90-121) view online copy (subscription required)
  1922, 'Gold ring found at Weston Turville' Records of Buckinghamshire Vol. 11.4 p. 220-1 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Jenkins, J.G. (ed), 1938, Cartulary of Missenden Abbey Part 1 (Buckinghamshire Records Society 2) p. 220-2 (Castle guard agreement) online copy
  Stenton, F.M. (ed), 1932, The First Century of English Feudalism, 1066-1166 (Oxford) p. 281
  1896, The Great Roll of the Pipe for the twentieth year of the reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1173-1174 (Pipe Roll Society Publications 21) p. 82 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1893, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1330-34) Vol. 2 p. 493 online copy

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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.

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Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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