Aslockton Cranmers Mound (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Aslockton.
In the historic county of Nottinghamshire.
Modern Authority of Nottinghamshire.
1974 county of Nottinghamshire.
Medieval County of Nottinghamshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK74404015
Latitude 52.95376° Longitude -0.89444°

Aslockton Cranmers Mound has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A motte and bailey later converted to a homestead moat. Known as 'Cranmer's Mount' solely because Aslockton is Archbishop Cranmer's birthplace. (Allcroft, 1908)

16ft high Norman motte with two rectangular courts. The SE part of the motte has been mutilated by ballast digging. (VCH)

Medieval motte and bailey, later used as a prospect mound, with associated moated fishponds, a hollow way and ridge and furrow, surviving as earthworks. The Motte is 16ft high, but the south east part has been mutilated by ballast digging. (PastScape)

Watching brief carried out by NCC on land immediately adjacent to the castle site revealed traces of medieval features in plan with pottery on surface as well as post medieval garden or landscape features. (James Wright, 2010)

Comments

Birthplace of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1489, although by this time the motte was probably being used as a prospect mound. The location of the later house is uncertain. The moated platforms to the east of the mound, presumably the site of the original bailey, may represent the site of the house or may be moated gardens. An interesting site worthy of further study because of the possibility of illuminating the complex ways in which castle earthworks were later modified and adapted.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1009306, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 13400
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 321902.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) M1591; M17827.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
  Castles by Dr Sarah Speight, The Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Wright, James, 2008, Castles of Nottinghamshire (Nottinghamshire County Council) p. 43, 60-1
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 84
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 203 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 379
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 180
  Allcroft, A. Hadrian, 1908, Earthwork of England (London) p. 405-6 online copy
  Stevenson, W., 1906, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Nottinghamshire Vol. 1 p. 305-6 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Speight, Sarah, 1994, 'Early Medieval Castles in Nottinghamshire' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol. 98 p. 66
  Chalkley Gould, I., 1907, 'Some Nottinghamshire Strongholds' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 13 p. 51-64 esp. 60-1 (plan) online copy
  1897, Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol. 1 p. 24 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Wright, James, 2010 Dec 9, pers. corr.
  Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 68, 92-3, 475-6 online copy

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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.
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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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