Gringley on the Hill; Beacon Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Beach Hill

In the civil parish of Gringley On The Hill.
In the historic county of Nottinghamshire.
Modern Authority of Nottinghamshire.
1974 county of Nottinghamshire.
Medieval County of Nottinghamshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK74179077
Latitude 53.40872° Longitude -0.88566°

Gringley on the Hill; Beacon Hill has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Situation: The Beacon Hill earthwork occupies a promontory position on the east side of Gringley-on-the-Hill village.
Preservation: It is unclear whether the slight nature of the defences represent a much denuded castle site, a temporary/unfinished castle earthwork, or another landscape feature.
Description: The summit of the hill has been levelled so as to form an irregular oval platform measuring c. 30m east-west x 20m north-south, and the sides of the feature have been artificially scarped to give a height of c. 11m on the north side and c. 7m on the south side prior to a further break of slope. Immediately to the north of this platform, a curvilinear length of apparently artificial terracing follows the natural contours of the hill, and may represent heavily denuded outer defences. It is unclear whether this confusing earthwork, comprising little more than an artificially scarped hill-top, was ever truly defensible and any more than the site of a beacon, as the place-name suggests, although it has alternatively been suggested that the site is a barrow.
Excavation: Unconfirmed and undated reports claim ‘Roman relics’ were found on the site of Beacon Hill. (Creighton 1998)

It was occupied in 1644 by Prince Rupert, when he relieved Newark Castle. (An obvious error - Beacon Hill at Newark). (PastScape ref. VCH)

A natural hill, possibly utilised as a beacon, and rendered defensive by scarping and the construction of a slight ditch; the artificial work is of a slight and inept nature and any occupation of the site must have been for a short period only. (PastScape ref. Field Investigators Comments–F1 FDC 26-NOV-62)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003241, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number nt18
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 323195.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) M5110.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 86
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 381 (possible)
  Stevenson, W., 1906, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Nottinghamshire Vol. 1 p. 296 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 480 online copy

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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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
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