Preston Castle, Hertfordshire (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle Farm

In the civil parish of Preston.
In the historic county of Hertfordshire.
Modern Authority of Hertfordshire.
1974 county of Hertfordshire.
Medieval County of Hertfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL17572513
Latitude 51.91228° Longitude -0.29201°

Preston Castle, Hertfordshire has been described as a Masonry Castle but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

'Castle Farm on site of Preston Castle' marked on OS 6" 1960. The OS states that 'nothing is known about the castle at the farm and no documentary evidence for it can be found. There are no traces of antiquity at the site. The farmhouse is 19th century, the outbuildings modern' (OS Records).
'Preston Castle (or Hunsdon House) is a house about which very little information is available. The name Preston Castle derives from Captain Robert Hinde, who built earthwork fortifications in the grounds and is said to be the original of Lawrence Sterne's Uncle Toby. An early 19C engraving shows that the house comprised two wings… the older east wing had details of about the middle of the 17C… behind was added a taller early 18C wing of six bays. Hinde provided the entire house with battlemented parapets of uniform height and cross-loops like those of a medieval castle. The whole was demolished in the 19C' (Smith). It was marked 'Castle Farm, on site of Preston Castle' (in archaic lettering) on (OS 1st ed. 6". 1884). The battlements and earthworks presumably dated to the early 18C; 'Uncle Toby' is a character in Sterne's mid 18C novel Tristram Shandy. (Hertfordshire HER)

Castle Farm is the alleged site of Preston Castle: however no evidence has been yet found at the site to support the theory. (PastScape were given monument type includes 'medieval castle')

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 362299.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1956.

Books
- Smith, J.T., 1993, Hertfordshire Houses: Selective Inventory p. 144

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
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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.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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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