Culverhay Castle, Englishcombe (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
English Combe

In the civil parish of Englishcombe.
In the historic county of Somerset.
Modern Authority of Bath and North East Somerset.
1974 county of Avon.
Medieval County of Somerset.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST719631
Latitude 51.36555° Longitude -2.40500°

Culverhay Castle, Englishcombe has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a Masonry Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Medieval ringwork castle comprising motte and elliptical bailey. The ringwork is surounded by a substantial ditch with an outer bank on all but the southern side. To the west is is a smaller enclosure or bailey and within the main enclosure are slight earthwork remains of stone buildings. Excavation in the 1930s revealed the footings of a small circular keep, tentatively dated to the early 13th century. A hunting park seems to have been attached to the castle. (PastScape)

Ringwork, measuring 18.28m long by 36.57m wide, surrounded by a substantial ditch, up to 1.52m deep,with an outer bank on all but the S side. There are two slight causeways across the ditch on the N and S sides, although the former looks relatively modem. On the W side is a smaller enclosure which may represent the remains of a bailey.
Later or Associated Structures:Small circular stone keep; the remains of 2 or 3 stone buildings; revetment or curtain-wall with towers at its angles; small bailey.
Quality or Condition: Earthworks of average strength/ featureless stone fragments or foundations.
Likely Builder/Owner: ?Nigel de Gourney (the tenant of Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances, in 1086). (Prior 2004)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006992, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ba121
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 204528.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MBN1769.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Bond, James, 2006, 'The Architecutre of Power' in Barry W. Cunliffe, 2006, England's Landscape The West (English Heritage) p. 85-6 Google preview, without illustrations
  Prior, Stuart, 2006, A Few Well-Positioned Castles: The Norman Art of War (Tempus) p. 68-109
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 70
  Dunning, Robert, 1995, Somerset Castles (Somerset Books) p. 37
  Aston, M., Iles, R. (eds), 1989, The Archaeology of Avon p. 123-4
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 443
  Burrow, Edward J., 1924, Ancient Earthworks and Camps of Somerset (Cheltenham and London) p. 514
Periodical Articles
- Iles, R. and Stacey, M .,1983, in Iles, R., 'Avon Archaeology 1982' Bristol and Avon Archaeology Vol. 2 p. 54
  Pounds, N.J.G., 1934-8, Proceedings of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club p. 226-30
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Prior, Stuart, 2004, _"Winning Strategies" An Archaeological Study of Norman Castles in the Landscapes of Somerset, Monmouthshire and County Meath, 1066-1186 (PhD thesis; University of Bristol) Vol. 2 p. 145 Download via EThOS

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.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER	Scheduling
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio