Lower Oddington motte (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SP235254
Latitude 51.92663° Longitude -1.65965°

Lower Oddington motte has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

(SP 235254) The possible site of a Norman motte lies south of the church in a wood (OS Map annotation 1937)
The site occupies a small, low, natural ridge with poor defensive potential. There is no indication of artificial scarping of the slopes; it is very unlikely that it was utilised as a 'motte' (F1 CC 15-APR-77).
This location falls within the area mapped from aerial photographs by English Heritage's Gloucestershire NMP, but no trace of a motte was identified on this site during that survey (RCHME/EH Aerial Photographers Comment). (PastScape)

Comments

This alleged motte is near to the church and probably site of medieval village, although that is now further north. The VCH does not mention this supposed motte but does write there was a residential manor house of the Archbishop of York in this general location (Lower Oddington Palace). The tenurial history is of this being a manor disputed between St Peter's Abbey, Gloucestershire and, initially, Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester and his successors the Archbishops of York. Neither of these are likely to have built a castle here.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 332588.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3925.

Books
- Elrington, C.R. (ed), 1965, VCH Gloucestershire Vol. 6 p. 87- (tenurial history) online transcription

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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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