Thruxton Court

Description

earthwork and buried remains of a motte castle, situated above a tributary of the River Dore, on lowland which slopes gently to the north. The remains include an earthen mound, of circular form, c.36m diameter at the base, with steep sides rising c.4.5m to a flat top of c.20m diameter. The mound is overgrown with brambles and mature trees. To the east the mound has been cut back for several metres and is now vertical; the present farm buildings stand c.2m away. A reservoir, now disused, has been sunk about 2m into the top of the mound. The remains of a surrounding ditch, from which material for the mound's construction will have been quarried, are visible to the north west. The ditch is c.4.5m wide here, however recent modifications to the south, south east, and east have obscured the remainder of its circuit. The motte was excavated in the 1860s by the Reverend Archer Clive, and was found to contain a simple stone chamber, pottery, iron and glass bottle fragments and animal bone. Although no burial evidence was recorded, the stone chamber is thought to indicate a Bronze Age burial mound, or barrow, which may have originally occupied the site and been adapted for defensive purposes in the medieval period. (Scheduling Report)

Motte castle at Thruxton Court in a good state of preservation. Excavations in the 1860s found a simple stone chamber, pottery and iron. The motte is 5.5m high and 20m in diameter across the top. (PastScape)

Remnants of buried foundations on motte prob shell keep, lot of loose stone in & on site. Some diag tooled stone in farmyard wall next to motte. Formerly a stone lined cavity in the motte thought to have been a burial chamber the motte being raised on a barrow. The present cavity in the motte appears to be a stone lined basement or blocked well shaft now plastered & forming some sort of water storage cistern now disused. Signs of several baileys or outer enclosures. (Herefordshire SMR ref. Sterling Brown, 1988)