Woodchester (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle of the Wood; Castellum de Silva

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO839031
Latitude 51.72693° Longitude -2.23419°

Woodchester has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Woodchester has been suggested, on place-name grounds, as a possible location for the Castle of the Wood recorded as being stormed by King Stephen in 1147. King considered the location "would not be an unlikely site for an Angevin castle"

Dumque filius ejus, ad hostes retundendos, ex unam regni parte, promptissimè desudaret, pater, ex aliam, consuetam triumphalis militae ...... ciam frequentissimè reportabat. Castellum siquidem, quod dicebatur de Silvâ, ubi se totius pacis, et tranquilitatis inimici receperant, omnemque circumjacentem provinciam instantissimè infestârant, improvisè adveniens cum violentiâ cepit, suisque impositis latissimae provinciae dominatum conquisivit. (Gesta Stephani)

Comments

The location of Castellum de Silva is not identified and several possible sites have attracted speculative identification as this castle. The medieval manor house of this, always heavily wooded, parish was by the church (Norman ruins remain) at the northern extreme of the parish and on the site of a huge Roman Villa. Although there are some hints of a high status landscape, such as a record of a religious house founded by Gueta, wife of Earl Godwin, it would seem likely that the name Woodchester is a reference to the Roman building and not a medieval castle. However, even if the name originated from a Roman site this does not exclude it being the site of a medieval castle although there is no real evidence for a castle here.
Gatehouse favours Silchester as this site. The Gesta Stephani author may, in fact, have meant the Roman walled town which, while not really defensible, would have made a good military field camp for an army but there was also a small castle there, made by fortifying the Roman amphitheatre. The original celtic placename of Calleva meant 'The Place in the Woods'. It may be possible the Saxon place-name derived from a Latin/Saxon mix? i.e. Silva-ceastra 'castle in the wood'.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004839, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number gc107
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 560
  Herbert, N.M.,1976, VCH Gloucestershire Vol. 11 p. 294-5 (parish history only) online transcription
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 350
Periodical Articles
- Davis, R.H.C., 1962, 'The Authorship of the Gesta Stephani' The English Historical Review Vol. 77.2 p. 228 available via Oxford Journals
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Potter, G.R. (ed), 1976, Gesta Stephani (Clarendon Press) p. 208

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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.

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