Styford Motte, Bywell (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Bywell.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of Northumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ01556249
Latitude 54.95701° Longitude -1.97731°

Styford Motte, Bywell has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

A large, artificial conical-shaped mound with a strong ditch surrounding on three sides. On the south there is a steep, natural slope to the river valley below. The mound is 5m high on the east, and the summit slopes slightly upwards to 6.6m high on the west. The ditch is deepest and widest on the north where the approach is from higher ground. The whole earthwork has been mutilated by much quarrying. Ridge-and-furrow ploughing runs up to the perimeter of the ditch. There is no apparent outer bank. Situated with a commanding view to ES and W, the earthwork is defensive, and is quite characteristic of a motte (F1 JLD 17-MAY-56).
Styford motte was built in the 12th century, and was the caput of the Bolbec family (Dodds 1999). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 20603.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N10057.

Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 452-3
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 97
  Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlisle) p. 112
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 341
  Sanders, I.J., 1960, English Baronies. A study of their origin and descent 1086-1327 p. 84-5
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online

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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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