Black Bourton (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Black Bourton.
In the historic county of Oxfordshire.
Modern Authority of Oxfordshire.
1974 county of Oxfordshire.
Medieval County of Oxfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP28290296
Latitude 51.72465° Longitude -1.59182°

Black Bourton has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

"Burtuna". The castle was attacked by Henry of Anjou in 1147 - the mound at SP 283 029 is a possible identification near Black Bourton but R H C Davis (English Historical Review 77, p.228) suggests Purton near Cricklade (Wilts). Tumulus shown as a barrow on the David and Charles Sheet 69. Cirencester.
The field was surveyed in 1970. As published, it is 1.3m high and is very spread. It is situated at the southern end of an old ploughing headland, and the possibility that it is a windmill mound cannot be discounted. (Oxfordshire HER)

Quia cum ad civitatem Cricheladam, et ad municipium, quod Burtuna dicitur, quae tunc regii habebantur juris, quasi interius, sine obstaculo, irrupturi advenissent, hinc, cum dedecore effugati, inde, metu eos abigente, festine fuere propulsi. (Sewell)

Propose as Stephanic castle of Burtuna attacked 1147. Burtuna is variously identified as Black Bourton, Oxon (SP286042) and as Purton, Wilts (SU096872) or Burton Grove Farm, Wilts ( SU191891). All sites are near Cricklade, with which this castle is associated. Black Bourton parish was divided into three manors in the C12 (Bourton Winslow, Bourton Inge and Abbot Bourton)

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 311.

Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 387
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 124
  Potts, W., 1907, in Page, Wm (ed), 'Ancient Earthworks' VCH Oxfordshire Vol. 2 p. 345 (as round barrow) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Davis, R.H.C., 1962, 'The authorship of the Gesta Stephani' The English Historical Review Vol. 77.2 p. 229 available from Oxford Journals
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Sewell, R.C. (ed), 1846, Gesta Stephani, Regis Anglorum et Ducis Normannorum p. 128 online copy (The newer edition and translation by Potter, K.R. (ed), 1976 (2edn), Gesta Stephani (Oxford University Press) should be consulted for serious study. See also Speight, S., 2000, 'Castle Warfare in the Gesta Stephani' , Château Gaillard Vol. 19 see online transcription)

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.

Data >		County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio