Stoke Cross Motte, Stoke Lacy (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO62535054
Latitude 52.15187° Longitude -2.54905°

Stoke Cross Motte, Stoke Lacy has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

Earthwork remains of a probable motte. A ditched oval mound, 27 metres by 16 metres and 4.5 metres high with no traces of a bailey. The ditch, supplied by a stream on the north, is largely obliterated on the west by a modern road, and is 1.4 metres deep on the south east. (PastScape)

A moated mound recently cleared of trees & undergrowth, no indication of buildings (Hickling, 1968). A ditched oval mound 27m x 16m & 4.5m high, prob a motte, no trace of bailey. Ditch, supplied by stream to N is largely obliterated on W by modern road, 1.4m deep on SE (OS Record 1970). Members of the archaeology section of the Woolhope Club visited the site (13/11/94). A description of the existing earthwork is given along with comments and speculation confirming that the author believes it to be a castle site. The north and east section of the motte ditch have been filled and levelled with rubbish and soil (HAN, 1995). The site is halfway down the NW facing slope of a hill. The slope has been artificially steepened and a ditch cut at its foot. The sides of the mound are steep and the top of the mound level. (Herefordshire SMR)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 112577.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6664.

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. 263
  Salter, Mike, 2000, Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 62
  1981, Herefordshire Countryside Treasures (Hereford and Worcester County Council) p. 31
Periodical Articles
- Anon, 1995, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 63 p. 56-7 (plan)
  Hickling, R., 1968, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 10 p. 3

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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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