Hough on the Hill Castle Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Hough on the Hill.
In the historic county of Lincolnshire.
Modern Authority of Lincolnshire.
1974 county of Lincolnshire.
Medieval County of Lincolnshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK92404644
Latitude 53.00731° Longitude -0.62407°

Hough on the Hill Castle Hill has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Adjoining the school at the east end of the hill is a substantial motte, intact except where the playground has cut into the west side. The diameter of the overgrown top is about 75 ft. On the west side are traces of an earthwork around the church and churchyard, which is of interest since there is extensive late Saxon work in the tower of the church. We are possibly dealing with a pre-conquest earthwork (OS card; Scheduling record).
During a watching brief (2000), a substantial cut feature was identified, located at roughly SK9229 4634. This feature is thought to be part of the bailey ditch, or a later addition to it. (Lincolnshire HER)

This is a motte and bailey situated on a natural mound which is partly bounded by a stream. Modern building has encroached on the north and west sides of the bailey, within which is the Saxon church (F1 BHS 24-NOV-64).
Part of the bailey bank is visible to the SW of the motte, but elsewhere it has been mutilated by later paths, and buildings. Modern features have destroyed any evidence of the NW side of the bailey. At SK 9244 4643, 20.0m east of the motte, there is a pond bay, which may be contemporary with the earthwork. No evidence of a mill site could be found (F2 GJM 28-OCT-76).

Comments

The parish church of All Saint's is C11, and possible founded early in the C10, is mentioned in Domesday. It is within the bailey of the castle which suggests the castle originated as a Saxon 'thegnal' burh (the manor was one of many held by Earl Ralph the Constable in Lincolnshire and Norfolk) although the motte will be a Norman addition (although it is based on a natural mound) and the bailey earthworks may well have been enlarged and strengthened by Court Alan of Brittany (overlord of the manor in 1086) or, more probably, Gilbert de Gand (aka Gilbert of Ghent - the tenant).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003571, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number li180
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 325849.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 30279.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
Books
- Osborne, Mike, 2010, Defending Lincolnshire: A Military History from Conquest to Cold War (The History Press) p. 24, 32
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 51
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 260
  Foster, C.W. and Longley, T. (eds), 1976, The Lincolnshire Domesday and the Lindsey Survey (The Lincoln Record Society 19)
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1964, Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (Harmondsworth) p. 580
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, O.H., 2004, ''The Rich Man in his Castle, The Poor Man at His Gate': Castle Baileys and Settlement Patterns in Norman England' Château Gaillard Vol. 21 p. 25-36
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1086, Domesday Book 12,43 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Archaeological Project Services, June 2000, Maintenance work on the churchyard wall, All Saints' Church, Hough on the Hill online copy
  Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 148, 155, 160, 435 online copy
  HBMC, 1967, Scheduling record: AM 7. SAM 180

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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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