Hailes Castle, Stanway (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hayles

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SP051301
Latitude 51.97006° Longitude -1.92673°

Hailes Castle, Stanway has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The abbey at Hailes was one of the last Cistercian houses to be founded in England, and became a great centre of pilgrimage. The remains of the abbey survive well and are known from partial excavations and survey over the years to retain further information about the abbey and the lives of its inhabitants. Unusual is the overlap between the abbey and the earlier ringwork, a class of monument whose dates of construction generally range from 1066 to the 12th century. Most ringworks were roughly circular areas enclosed by an earthwork bank and external ditch. They were usually constructed to serve as defended settlements, although some have been interpreted as military strongholds. Although now levelled, probably by a combination of landscaping works in the 17th century and recent cultivation, aerial photographic evidence demonstrates that buried features will survive.
The monument includes the known extent of St Mary's Abbey, a Cistercian abbey, the west range of which was converted into a country house in the 17th century, and the earlier Hailes Castle, a ringwork whose extent was partly incorporated into the abbey's inner precinct. The site lies adjacent to a tributary of the River Isbourne on the lower slopes of a north west facing combe in the Cotswolds. Little is known of the ringwork to the north of the abbey, although the site is known both from earthworks, recorded on early editions of Ordnance Survey maps, and now from aerial photographs. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1018070, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 28850
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 328152.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 66; 68.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- English Heritage official site
Books
- Michael Fradley, Duncan Wright and Oliver Creighton, 2016, 'Hailes Camp, Gloucestershire' in Duncan Wright and Oliver Creighton (eds), Castles, Siegeworks and Settlements Surveying the Archaeology of the Twelfth Century (Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd) p. 71-81
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Gloucestershire and Bristol (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 22
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 184
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 199
Periodical Articles
- Wright, D.W. and Fradley, M., forthcoming, 'Decoding an Elite Landscape: Power and Patronage at Hailes, Gloucestershire' Church Archaeology
  Walker, D., 1991, 'Gloucestershire Castles' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol. 109 p. 15 online copy
  Aston, Mike with Viner, Liner, 1981, 'Gloucestershire Deserted Villages' Glevensis Vol. 15 p. 28 online copy
  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
Guidebooks
- 1998, Hailes Abbey (London: English Heritage)
  Coad, J.G., 1985, Hailes Abbey (London: English Heritage) p. 3
  Coad, J.G., 1970, Hailes Abbey (HMSO)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Royce, D. (ed), 1892, Landboc. Sive Registrum monasterii Beatae Mariae Virginis et Sancti Cénhelmi de Winchelcumba (Exeter) Vol. 1 p. 65
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk South West Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 171 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk South West Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 173 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 183 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 174 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 187 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 171 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 168 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 172 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
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