Pipe Aston Tump 1 (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Aston Tump 1

In the civil parish of Pipe Aston.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO46187190
Latitude 52.34253° Longitude -2.79141°

Pipe Aston Tump 1 has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The earthwork remains of a moated motte mapped from aerial photographs. When field investigated in 1972 the earth and stone motte was 44m in diameter at the base and 22m in diameter on the summit. It rose 6m above the encircling moat. The marshy moat was 11m in width and from 0.5m deep on the south side to 1.5m deep on the north side. The moat was fed by a stream from the north east, leaving from the south west. (PastScape)

Mound & moat, prob castle. Mound roughly circular c 47yds diam at base rising about 24' above bottom of ditch. Moat still wet on NW side (RCHME). Earth & stone motte 44.0m in diam at base, the flat summit 22m in diam being 6m above moat. Moat once wet now marshy 11m wide, from 0.5 - 1.5m deep. Fed from stream entering from NE & leaving from SW (OS record, 1972), Outline of former bailey visible in course of road to N Motte & bailey. Partially buried foundations of a polygonal shell keep with at least 1 small D shaped tower on it, prob C11 castle (Scheduling Report). Another motte/tump lies 200m to the north (Pipe Aston Tump 2). Notes on the Aston Castles by Paul Martin Remfry. Historical information is used to try and date when the castles were built with the suggestion that this was the main castle and was built between 1138 and 1139 (HAN, 1997). (Herefordshire SMR)

Comments

A steep side mound, surrounded on all side by what would have been a wet moat, with a flat top with a area large enough for a fair sized hall. It is entirely possible this was stone revetted with the local shale, making an impressive house. However there is no bailey and nothing to suggest there ever was one, although the building to the north is a courtyard complex now surrounded by a wall. This is located by the small church of St Giles, Pipe Aston with a notably fine tympanum of the Herefordshire school of Romanesque and original C12 interior wall painting.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1001753, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number he79
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 108758.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 313.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Jeff Thomas's Castles of Wales
  CastleUK.net
  Herefordshire Through Time
  Paul Martin Remfry
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Shoesmith, Ron, 2009 (Rev edn.), Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press) p. 243
  Salter, Mike, 2000, Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 13
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 103 (slight)
  Stirling-Brown, R., 1989, Herefordshire Castles (privately published) p. 16
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 202
  1981, Herefordshire Countryside Treasures (Hereford and Worcester County Council) p. 4
  RCHME, 1934, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire Vol. 3: north-west p. xxviii (plan), 9 No. 2 online transcription
  Gould, I. Chalkley, 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Herefordshire Vol. 1 p. 224
Periodical Articles
- Halliwell, P., 1997, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 67 p. 41-44
  Sterling Brown, R., 1988, 'Preliminary Results of Castle Survey' Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 50 p. 43
  Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 112 p. 77-124
  Renn, D.F., 1959, 'Mottes: a classification' Antiquity Vol. 33 p. 106-12 (listed as siegework)
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 210 (mislocated in Shropshire) 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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