Chalgrave motte (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Chalgrave.
In the historic county of Bedfordshire.
Modern Authority of Bedfordshire.
1974 county of Bedfordshire.
Medieval County of Bedfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL00952738
Latitude 51.93553° Longitude -0.53380°

Chalgrave motte has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Small motte and bailey, excavated in 1970 and since completely levelled. It had been constructed in two phases and abandoned in C13. Traces of a manorial site of several periods and of an C11 timber manor-house were found during the excavations, the latter under the motte. (PastScape)

Chalgrave, Bedfordshire, began as a small motte c. 110, built close to the church and over an area which had been occupied by a manorial complex of uncertain date. Towards the end of the same century the motte was enlarged to take a long single-storey timber building, and the encircling ditch was recut; clearly the first castle was found to be too small to provide the facilities required by a new lord. However, in spite of this, the castle was abandoned for reasons unknown in the late C12 or early C13 in favour of another site close by (Pinder and Davison 1988). (Kenyon 1990)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 359611.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 721.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Petre, James Scott, 2012, The Castles of Bedfordshire (Lavenham: Lavenham Press for Shaun Tyas) p. 55, 57
  Edgeworth, M., 2007, 'The Medieval Period' in M. Oake et al, Bedfordshire Archaeology. Research and Archaeology: Resource Assessment, Research Agenda and Strategy (Bedfordshire Archaeology Monograph 9) p. 98-109
  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. 218-19
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 13
  Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p. 49, 355
  Kenyon, John, 1990, Medieval Fortifications (Leicester University Press) p. 11
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 7
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 207
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 139
  1970, Archaeological Excavations (HMSO) p. 25
  Wadmore, Beauchamp, 1920, The Earthworks of Bedfordshire (Bedford) p. 157-9
Periodical Articles
- 1990, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 20 p. 2 online copy
  Pinder, A. and Davison, B., 1988, 'The excavation of a motte and bailey castle at Chalgrave, Bedfordshire, 1970' Bedfordshire Archaeology Vol. 18 p. 33-56
  1987, 'A motte and bailey castle at Chalgrave' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 17 p. 10-11 online copy
  1986, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 16 p. 28 online copy
  Baker, D., 1982, 'Mottes, Moats and ringworks in Bedfordshire: Beauchamp Wadmore revisited' Château Gaillard Vol. 9-10 p. 35-54 (plan)
  Davison, B.K., 1971, 'Chalgrave, Bedfordshire' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 1 p. 16-17 online copy
  (Davidson), 1971, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 15 p. 145 download copy
  Dyer, J.F., 1963, 'Bedfordshire Earthworks X, Moated Homesteads' Bedfordshire magazine Vol. 9 no. 65 p. 8-9
  Dyer, J.F., 1962-3, 'Bedfordshire Earthworks VIII, The Castles: Part One' Bedfordshire magazine Vol. 8 no. 63 p. 349-50
  1955, Bedfordshire Archaeologist Vol. 1 p. 43-5
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. 446-49

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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.
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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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