Horsford Castle Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle Yards; Horsforth

In the civil parish of Horsford.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Norfolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TG20541566
Latitude 52.69405° Longitude 1.26210°

Horsford Castle Hill has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a probable Masonry Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Motte and Bailey castle; decayed soon after 1431. Known as Castle Hill or Castle Yards. Circular ditched motte with circular bailey to south. Motte not appreciably higher than bailey bank now. Damaged by ploughing in recent years. Aerial photographs suggest a stone keep on motte (?C12) and perhaps barbican between motte and bailey. Some C14 antiquities found. Liddiard interprets the castle as the Malet's hunting ground - a country retreat on the periphery of their estates - or a castle raised for their tenant Waller of Caen. (Norfolk HER)

The motte, which as been considerably mutilated particularly on the N and S sides, measures overall 77.0m. to 85.0m in diameter by 2.3m in height above the ditch which is now for the most part dry. The bailey which lies on the S side, is the best preserved aspect of the feature. It encloses an area 72.0m E to W by 32.0m. transversely within a substantial bank and dry ditch (Field Investigators Comments–F2 RD 20-FEB-81). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003998, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number nf140
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 132896.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 8001.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Liddiard, Robert, 2005, 'The Castle Landscape of Anglo-Norman East Anglia: A Regional Perspective' in Harper-Bill, C. (ed), Medieval East Anglia (Woodbridge, Boydell) p. 33-51
  Cushion, B. and Davison, A., 2003, Earthworks of Norfolk (Dereham: East Anglian Archaeology 104) p. 170-1 (plan)
  Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 9
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 58
  Liddiard, R., 2000, Landscapes of Lordship (British Archaeological Reports British Series 309) p. 35-6, 85-8
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 164 (slight)
  Rogerson, Andrew, 1994, 'Castles' in Wade-Martins, P, (ed), An Historical Atlas of Norfolk (2edn Norwich; Norfolk Museums) p. 68-9
  Margeson, S., Seiller, F. and Rogerson, A., 1994, The Normans in Norfolk (Norfolk Museums Service) p. 30
  Wade-Martins, P. (ed), 1987, Norfolk From The Air Vol. 1 (Norfolk Museums Service) p. 29
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 307
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 245
  Wilton, J.W., 1979, Earthworks and Fortifications of Norfolk (Weathercock Press) p. 23
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1962, Buildings of England: Norwich and north-east Norfolk (Penguin) p. 171
  Clarke, R.R., 1960, East Anglia Vol. 2 (London Press) p. 233 plate 58
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 301-2 online copy
  Blomefield, F., 1809, ''Taverham Hundred: Horseford' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 10 p. 432-37 (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Liddiard, Robert, 2006, 'Early castles in the Medieval Landscape of East Anglia' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 243-50
  Barrett-Lennard, T., 1904, 'Some Account of the Manor or Castle of Horsford' Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 15 p. 267-93 (mainly manorial history) online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)

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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.

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