Staunton on Arrow Motte (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO36966003
Latitude 52.23484° Longitude -2.92450°

Staunton on Arrow Motte 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

Mound, or motte, circular with a flat top and surrounded by a dry ditch. The diameter at the top is about 63 ft and it rises at most 28 ft above the bottom of the ditch. There can be little or no doubt that it is a castle-mound. Ill-defined scarpings to the S and W may indicate the former existence of one or more baileys (RCHME). This mound appears to be a motte. It rises some 5.4 m above the ditch on the north side, where the ditch is 0.6 m deep. To the S the ditch has been destroyed. The tops of the natural ridges to the north and west, may have been used as baileys, but there is now no evidence of this (Field Investigators Comments F1 DRB 12-JUN-72). (PastScape)

Mound or motte, circular, flat top, surrounded by dry ditch. Diam at top c63' rises almost 28' above bottom of ditch. Little or no doubt this is a castle mound. Ill defined scarpings to S & W may indicate the existence of 1 or more baileys (RCHME) Rises some 5'4m above ditch on N side, where ditch is 0.6m deep. To S ditch has been destroyed. The tops of natural ridges to N & W may have been used as baileys, but no evid of this (OS record 1972) No ditch is visible now except where it runs up against churchyard wall (Scheduling Report) Motte & bailey. Some buried foundations of what was almost certainly a polygonal shell keep on the motte. On side of the mound opp the church are some stone ledges partially exposed poss a stair to the keep. Bailey now poorly defined, but area with spring fed pool & buried foundations are prob part of it. An early castle, almost certainly stone by mid C12 if not earlier (Sterling Brown, 1988). (Herefordshire SMR)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005383, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number he120
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 106483.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 341.

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. 261-2
  Salter, Mike, 2000, Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 62
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 103 (slight)
  Stirling-Brown, R., 1989, Herefordshire Castles (privately published) p. 18
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 211
  1981, Herefordshire Countryside Treasures (Hereford and Worcester County Council) p. 9
  RCHME, 1934, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire Vol. 3: north-west p. 183 No. 1 online transcription
  Gould, I. Chalkley, 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Herefordshire Vol. 1 p. 229, 231
Periodical Articles
- Sterling Brown, R., 1988, 'Preliminary Results of Castle Survey' Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 50 p. 45
  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

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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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