Clements Farm Mound, Miserden (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
New Seal Wood

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO92791035
Latitude 51.79176° Longitude -2.10593°

Clements Farm Mound, Miserden has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Possible Bronze Age bowl barrow, it has also been suggested as a castle mound but is also possibly a spoil tip from a near by quarry. It measures 24m in diameter and up to 4 meters high on the north side. (PastScape)

A conical circular mound thought to be a round barrow or a castle-mound, despite the existence of quarries to the SW, measured 28 paces in diameter by 10ft high in 1960, with a large depression in the centre (O'Neil and Grinsell).
A steep-sided mound approx 50 ft in diameter at the top, which is flat but not quite horizontal, with a deep circular hollow in the centre. There is no surrounding ditch, but the material for the mound may have been taken from a large quarry immediately to the SE (oral information).
As described, the mound is 4.0m high on the N side and 2.5m high on the S where it abuts the lip of an old quarry 50.0m across and 2.0 - 4.0m deep. There is no sign of a ditch around the mound and it is suspiciously like a quarry tip (F1 NVQ 24-MAY-72).
This earthwork mound is visible on aerial photographs. It is more likely that a spoil heap immediately next to a quarry would have an elongated shape rather than a conical one. Tree cover immediately to the south of this earthwork indicated on the first edition OS map dated 1885 may suggest the quarrying is of a later date. The depression at the top of the mound may be the result of an investigation of this mound. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1016871, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 32355
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 117559.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 181.

Periodical Articles
- 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
  O'Neil, H. and Grinsell, L.V., 1960, 'Gloucestershire Barrows, Lists: Round Barrows, Gloucestershire' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol. 79 Part 1 p. 125 (Barrow or castle mound?) 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.

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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