Middleton Motte (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Middleton Mount

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

OS Map Grid Reference: TF66071643
Latitude 52.72008° Longitude 0.45760°

Middleton Motte has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Motte and bailey castle. The motte is 45m in diameter and 10m high with a platform on the top 9m across. It is encircled by a ditch 8m wide and 2,5m deep. The bailey adjouned the motte on the eastern side and was sub rectangular in shape, 58m by 36m. Overlying the bailey ditch on the south western side where it joins the motte is a latter pond. It is possible that the castle was built soon after the Norman conquest, fragments of pottery recovered during excavations show that it was occupied during the first half of the 12th century. It may be one of the unlicensed castles built during the civil war between Stephen and Maud. (PastScape)

Excavations 1987 (Ashwin) showed bailey on east with underlying Late Saxon occupation, within larger rectangular enclosure first noted by R.R. Clarke, perhaps prehistoric or Iron Age. (Norfolk HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1016481, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 30551
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 356233.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3394.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The Norfolk Archaeological Trust
  CastleUK.net
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. 172-3 (plan)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 59
  Liddiard, R., 2000, Landscapes of Lordship (British Archaeological Reports British Series 309) p. 33-5, 82-5
  Wade-Martins, P. (ed), 1999, Norfolk From The Air Vol. 2 (Norfolk Museums Service) p. 41
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 160 (mention)
  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, 31
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 307
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1962, The Buildings of England: Norfolk: North-West and South (Penguin) p. 258
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Blomefield, F., 1808, 'Freebridge Hundred: Middleton' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 9 p. 20-34 (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
  Ashwin, T., 2001, 'Middleton Mount - Excavations in and around the Eastern Bailey of Middleton Castle' Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 43 (3) p. 645-56

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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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