Damery Old Castle, Alkington (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: ST70759440
Latitude 51.64763° Longitude -2.42413°

Damery Old Castle, Alkington has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

An irregular oval camp, 160 yards by 40 yards across, consisting of a single ditch. No internal rampart exists, the spoil from the ditch having been thrown outwards (Playne). It is named 'Old Castle' on the OS 1" 1830 but 'Damery Camp' by Witts and Burrow (Burrow; Witts).
Probably a mediaeval earthwork. A mediaeval schist hone found here c 1950 is in Bristol City Museum (Verey).
A mediaeval defensive enclosure of "ringwork" type dominating what was probably an important road/river crossing. The entrance was probably at the east end, although both the west and east ends have been overlaid and mutilated by an enclosure and a garden respectively.
Disturbed ground to the N of the site at ST 70799446 probably represents later settlement (Field Investigators Comments F1 MJF 08-FEB-71).
The defensive ringwork is centred at ST 7075 9440, and measures approximately 155m south-west to north-east, and 92m south-west to north-east. Only the north-eastern side of the ringwork is visible on aerial photographs; and shows clearly on vertical aerial photographs of 1992 as a wide ditch and outer bank. The southern side is obscured by woodland; the western end by vegetation; and the eastern end by the gardens and boundaries of two properties (NMR OS/92064 094-095 13-MAY-1992). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1002111, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number gc274
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 205368.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 317.

Books
- Verey, David, 1976, Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: the Vale and the Forest of Dean p. 82
  Burrow, E.J., 1919, Ancient Entrenchments and Camps of Gloucestershire (E.J. Burrow and Co) p. 74
  Witts, G.B., 1883, Archaeological Handbook of the County of Gloucester (Cheltenham) p. 17 no. 35
Periodical Articles
- Playne G. F., 1871-76, Cotteswold Naturalists Field Club Proceedings Vol. 6 p. 228

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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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