Stoney Littleton (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Wellow

In the civil parish of Shoscombe.
In the historic county of Somerset.
Modern Authority of Bath and North East Somerset.
1974 county of Avon.
Medieval County of Somerset.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST72605654
Latitude 51.30732° Longitude -2.39444°

Stoney Littleton has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Ditch suggested to be possible motte and bailey. Actually a loop of the disused Somerset Coal Canal containing upcast from a railway cutting which severs it. (PastScape)
ST 726566 - "to the east of the Hang Hill Road bridge over the railway at Stay Littleton, is a flat bottomed ditch, 8 ft. deep and 10 ft. wide, running in a curving line from the south side of the road, continuing north of it, and ending at the railway. There are indications that the ditch formerly completely enclosed an oval area about 200 yds. NE - SW. and about 90 yards at its widest NW - SE". There are, also, indications of an inner ditch cutting off the northern part of the enclosure from the southern, just north of the road. Tratman thinks this site may have been a castle mound and bailey, but was unable to find any references to the site. {Possibly refers to the Somerset Coal Canal Lin.31} (Tratman).
At ST 72654 a loop of the Somerset Coal Canal, containing upcast from a railway cutting which severs it, has been mistaken by Prof. Tratman for a Motte and Bailey (F1 JP 31-JUL-64). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 203081.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MBN6231.

Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 446, lxvii
Periodical Articles
- Tratman, 1955-60, Somerst and Dorset Notes and Queries Vol. 27 p. 204
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Prior, Stuart, 2004, _"Winning Strategies" An Archaeological Study of Norman Castles in the Landscapes of Somerset, Monmouthshire and County Meath, 1066-1186 (PhD thesis; University of Bristol) Vol. 2 p. 146 (reject- mislocated as in Wellow parish) Download via EThOS

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.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio