Swaffham Bullbeck (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Four Mile Stable

In the civil parish of Swaffham Bullbeck.
In the historic county of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely.
Modern Authority of Cambridgeshire.
1974 county of Cambridgeshire.
Medieval County of Cambridgeshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL58995990
Latitude 52.21434° Longitude 0.32572°

Swaffham Bullbeck has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Situated on a slight ridge in undulating arable about 46m OD are the much reduced remains of a motte and bailey. The bailey, which is the most substantial feature, is sub-triangular and measures 60m N to S 70m transversely within a spread ditch up to 30m wide by 1.7m deep. Around the inner edge is the suggestion of an inner rampart but nothing surveyable . The motte, which stands 1m high measures about 30m in diameter but little trace of a ditch survives except on the N adjacent to the bailey. The interiors are featureless and the whole which has been considerably reduced by ploughing gives the impression of having been adapted from natural folds and gulleys. (Camb SMR report)

Comments

Possible motte (or ringwork) and bailey very badly ploughed down. Recorded as possible castle by King "on strength of an aerial photograph by Dr St Joseph" Area of barrows.
This is an area of several barrows. There is no recorded medieval settlement or finds in the area accept for 'An enclosure referred to as Hare Warren in 1605, situated near Upper Hare Park House. It appears to have been a park pale or warren for containing hares. Parts survive as earthworks.' (PastScape record 374434) situated 500m SW. Could be a small castle associated with a park but perhaps this is a barrow and Iron Age enclosure of coincidental connection and a superficial resemblance to a motte and bailey.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 374422.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 06517.

Books
- Wareham, A.F. and Wright, A.P.M. (eds), 2002, VCH Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely Vol. 10 p. 247- online transcription (report of barrows and manorial history but no mention of possible castle)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 41
  RCHME, 1972, An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Cambridgeshire. Vol. 2: north-east Cambridgeshire p. 10? no. 75 (as barrow and ring ditch) online transcription

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