Moulton Castle Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Moulton.
In the historic county of Northamptonshire and the Soke of Peterborough.
Modern Authority of Northamptonshire.
1974 county of Northamptonshire.
Medieval County of Northamptonshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP78606715
Latitude 52.29686° Longitude -0.84885°

Moulton Castle Hill has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Manor House Site (?) (SP 78606715), 1 km. N.E. of the church on the N. side of a valley, on clay at 114 m. above OD. The area is traditionally known as Castle Hill and is said to be the site of the manor house of the Fitz John family who are known to have held land in Moulton in the 13th century (VCH Northants., IV (1937), 88–90). Bridges writing in c. 1720, said that foundations of buildings had been dug up and that there were traces of a moat (J. Bridges, Hist. of Northants., I (1791), 419).
The remains lie on a small, natural, almost circular knoll. On air photographs taken in 1946 (RAF VAP 3G/TUD/UK 118, 6224–5) most of the knoll was already under cultivation and only a wedge-shaped area of land remained intact. Within this, standing on the summit, was a V-shaped bank with its apex to the N., with a large depression or pit to the S. and what appear to have been rectangular platforms below it. These have been totally destroyed by modern ploughing and only the depression, 25 m.–30 m. across and up to 2 m. deep, survives. The surrounding area is very stony and there are patches of dark earth. A few sherds of medieval pottery have been discovered there. (RCHME)

Comments

There were several holdings in Moulton in 1086. This may have been the manor house of one of the secondary holdings, possibly one that became surplus when some of the holdings were combined later in the middle ages. It is, therefore, possible there was a small castle here perhaps one that was basically a large farmhouse using a natural knoll as a symbolic motte representing the status of a tenant. Intriguingly one of the Domesday tenants of 1086 was a William the artificer (or William the Engineer; William Engaine) who held 8 manors in Northamptonshire and who must have been a valued military engineer although it should not be assumed this was his holding or that the building on the natural knoll dates from the C11.
Not to be confused with Moulton King's Hall, Lincolnshire which is, sometimes, called Moulton Castle.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 343437.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MNN15545.

Books
- Lowerre, A.G., 2005, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd: BAR British Series 385) p. 250
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 77
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 319
  RCHME, 1979, An inventory of the historical monuments in the County of Northampton Vol. 2: Central Northamptonshire (HMSO) p. 111 online transcription
  Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1937, VCH Northamptonshire Vol. 4 p. 88-90 (tenurial history) online transcription
  Bridges, John, 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire (Oxford) Vol. 1 p. 419
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Lowerre, A.G., 2004, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (PhD thesis: Boston College) p. 552

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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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