Lingen Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
The Churchyard

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO36586727
Latitude 52.29988° Longitude -2.93113°

Lingen Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a probable Masonry Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Lingen Castle is a motte and bailey earthwork situated to the immediate north of the church. It consists of a roughly circular motte with a large bailey on the west Side. The motte is around 19.2 metres in diameter at the top and it rises circa 6.7 metres above the bottom of a dry ditch. It is roughly level on the summit though the north east portion is slightly higher. The bailey on the west is roughly square and has remains of an inner rampart with traces of a deep ditch on the south and west. On the south side a second rampart forms a bank to the moat. There are traces of a curtain wall around the bailey. The western defences can now hardly be traced. There is evidence to suggest that a shell keep with a gatehouse on the West Side may have once existed on this site. The site is now under pasture but the features remain clearly visible and in good condition. Adjacent to the castle on the north side are the earthwork remains of a medieval village. Lingen Castle and its associated village is an excellent example of a planned Welsh Borders Norman settlement with its castle, church and fossilised village still present today. The motte and bailey are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs.(PastScape)

Comments

This large and elaborate earthwork stands north of and adjacent to the church yard, and is mostly made up of a natural hill (upon which the church also stands) which has been landscaped for defensive use. Trace of curtain wall around bailey. The name 'The Churchyard' is applied to both castles in Lingen parish. It seems to be most often applied to the ringwork which is isolated and not near a Church, it is less often applied to the motte and bailey adjacent to the actual churchyard of Lingen parish church.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005380, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number he111
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 106359.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1669.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Herefordshire Through Time
Books
- Shoesmith, Ron, 2009 (Rev edn.), Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press) p. 198-9
  Salter, Mike, 2000, Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 47
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 103 (slight)
  Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p. 230-1
  Stirling-Brown, R., 1989, Herefordshire Castles (privately published) p. 11, 20
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 208
  1981, Herefordshire Countryside Treasures (Hereford and Worcester County Council) p. 5
  Pevsner, N., 1963, Buildings of England: Herefordshire (Harmondsworth)
  RCHME, 1934, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire Vol. 3: north-west p. xxviii (plan), 136 No. 2 online transcription
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Gould, I. Chalkley, 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Herefordshire Vol. 1 p. 241-2 (plan)
  Robinson, C.J., 1869, The Castles of Herefordshire and Their Lords (London: Longman) p. 63-6 (history of owners only) online copy
Periodical Articles
- Sterling Brown, R., 2005, 'Field trip to Lingen and Pedwardine' Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 76 p. 26-36
  Lowe, Ros, Archaeological Research Section Woolhope NFC, 1998, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 69 p. 32-3
  Halliwell, P.R. (ed), 1992, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 57 p. 6, 22 (plan)
  Sterling Brown, R., 1988, 'Preliminary Results of Castle Survey' Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 50 p. 44
  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 successor to Lingen Ringwork )

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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.
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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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