Steers Copse Mound, Bentley (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Bentley Castle

In the civil parish of Bentley.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Hampshire.
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU79394627
Latitude 51.21013° Longitude -0.86484°

Steers Copse Mound, Bentley has been described as a certain Siege Work.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

At this point in a grass field, formerly arable, is a ploughed-over motte with a surrounding ditch and the remains of a bank which on the south extends from the motte to form a small area - probably a bailey. The motte is flat-topped, 52.0m. in average diameter and 1.8m. high with a ditch, 8.0m. wide and 0.5m. deep. The bank is surveyable only on the west and east sides and elsewhere is visible as a spread rise. The mound is littered with fragments of stone and many flints, but the surface soil in the area is naturally stony. Several fragments of Ro. tile were found including flanged roofing tile which as at Barley Pound - (SU 74 NE 8) may have been taken from the Ro. Villa site - (SU 74 NE 7) and built into the structure which probably surmounted this motte. No other trace of such a structure was seen. The motte is placed on the southern crest of a prominent E-W ridge commanding an extensive area to the south. (F1 WW 26-SEP-56)
Probably a siege-castle which, together with Powderham (SU 84 NW 51), would have been used to blockade Barley Pound (SU 74 NE 8) (King and Renn 1971).
Excavations by Hants. County Council and D.O.E. showed the castle to consist of a low motte with attached bailey. Part of the motte was surrounded by a V-shaped ditch and the bailey was delineated by a bank. Under the motte was a buried ground surface which covered a Roman building (Stamper 1979; 1980).
Excavations in 1980 showed the V-shaped ditch ran right around the motte, apart from where it was abutted by the bailey. The ditch was deliberately filled at an unknown date, with material from the motte, but only after an initial period of natural silting over many years. It remains unclear if Roman material found during the excavations derives from a Roman building in the immediate vicinity of the castle or from the substantial villa site to the north (Stamper 1981; 1984). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 243764.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 17499.

Books
- Osborne, Mike, 2011, Defending Hampshire: The Military Landscape from Prehistory to the Present (Stroud: The History Press) p. 243 (listed in Appendix)
  Purton, P.F., 2009, A History of the Early Medieval Siege c. 450-1220 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) p. 273n3
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 40
  Coulson, Charles, 1994, 'The Castles of the Anarchy' in King, Edmund (ed.), The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign (Oxford University Press) p. 85
  Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 189
  1983, Archaeology in Hampshire; annual report (Hampshire County Council) p. 96
  Stamper, P.A., 1981, Archaeology in Hampshire; annual report (Hampshire County Council) p. 24-5
  Stamper, P.A., 1979, 'Excavations of a Mid-12th Century Siege Castle at Bentley' in Archaeology in Hampshire; annual report (Hampshire County Council) p. 23
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 225
Periodical Articles
- Hughes, Michael, 1989, 'Hampshire Castles and the Landscape 1066-1216' Landscape History Vol. 2 p. 27-60
  Stamper, P.A., 1984, 'Excavations on a mid-twelfth century siege castle at Bentley, Hampshire (motte, ditch, ?undefended bailey, c 1147)' Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol. 40 p. 81-9
  Youngs, S.M. and Clark, J., 1981, 'Medieval Britain in 1980' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 25 p. 200-1 download copy
  Webster, L.E. and Cherry, J. (Stamper, P.A.), 1980, 'Medieval Britain in 1979' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 24 p. 247 download copy
  King, D.J.C. and Renn, D.F., 1971, 'Lidelea Castle - a suggested identification' Antiquaries Journal Vol. 51 p. 301-3
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), 1955, Gesta Stephani (Nelson) p. 138-9 (p. 208 in the 1973 edn.)

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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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