Shelford (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Shelford And Newton.
In the historic county of Nottinghamshire.
Modern Authority of Nottinghamshire.
1974 county of Nottinghamshire.
Medieval County of Nottinghamshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK66134234
Latitude 52.97442° Longitude -1.01691°

Shelford has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Situation: The site comprises a minor earthwork within the parish churchyard.
Preservation: A low, denuded earthwork of uncertain form.
Description: The churchyard contains an artificial earthwork, c. 5m across and of approximately horse shoe shape, lying immediately south-east of the church. Whilst potentially a fortification (a ringwork?) forming the caput of the twelfth century Honour of Shelford, the precise nature of the feature remains obscure. (Creighton 1998)

Comments

Slight earthworks in churchyard suggested as possible castle site. A possibility supported by foundation of a priory here in the reign of Stephen. Recorded as remains of a Civil War gun battery in PastScape based on strategic position 'on a rise overlooking a tactically important crossing over the Trent' and documentary evidence for Civil War activity in area.
It remains possible that this earthwork was a medieval castle site with or without later reuse in the Civil War. Speight suggests possibly a rebuilding of a residence of the late Saxon lord Toki by the Alselins and compares this site to Earl Barton in Northamptonshire.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1016151, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 30215
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 320044.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) M1805.

Periodical Articles
- Speight, Sarah, 1995, 'Four More Early Medieval 'Castles' Sites in Nottinghamshire' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol. 99 p. 65-6
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.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. 488 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
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.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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.
Help is acknowledged.

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