Dymock; The Old Rock (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO68923074
Latitude 51.97477° Longitude -2.45329°

Dymock; The Old Rock has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Traces of a moat remain at Old Rock farmhouse (Gethyn Jones 1966).
There is no evidence or tradition of a moat at Old Rock. The garden on the south east side of the house is raised above the road and it is possible the moat ran between the road and the garden but there is now no evidence of it (F1 DRB 26-APR-72). (PastScape)

Traces of a moat. Reputed site of a de Bohun castle. (Rawes ref. Gethyn Jones)

The Old Rock is a large brick farmhouse built on what is believed to be the site of a de Bohun castle. Traces of the moat remain, and the old Norman well was in use until 1950. (Gethyn Jones)

it is said that one of the Bohuns, earls of Hereford, built a castle here; but there is no vestiges remaining, except the castle-rock and the castle-tump. The tump is a round mount on the borders of the parish next to Newent, thrown up by hands, with an area at top, by such too small for a building of any great strength. (Rudder)

Comments

Rudder also writes "the castle-rock and the castle tump-house are both Mr. Hill's" (p. 411). This close association suggests these two sites were closely related and probably adjacent. Castle Farm, at SO709291, was a moated site so probably of some antiquity. It seems most unlikely that Old Rock, over 2.5km away, is the same as Rudder's "castle-rock". There were other manors in Dymock so it is just possible this was the site of a moated house of some status, although the evidence is weak. This was not the site of the de Bohun castle which can safely be attributed to Dymock Castle Tump.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 112086.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 5195.

Books
- Gethyn Jones, J.E., 1966, Dymock Down the Ages (Alan Sutton Publishing, Gloucester) p. 122
  Rudder, S., 1779, A new history of Gloucestershire p. 409 online copy (large file)
Periodical Articles
- Rawes, B., 1978, 'A Preliminary Check List of Moated Sites in Gloucestershire' Glevensis Vol. 12 p. 36 online copy
  Rawes, B., 1977, 'A Check List of Castles and other Fortified Sites of Medieval Date in Gloucestershire' Glevensis Vol. 11 p. 39-41 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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