Worton Motte

Description

Possibly the small mound of a motte and bailey 20m in diameter and 2m high. It was formerly thought to be a round barrow. (PastScape)

The site occupies a hill with gentle slopes to the N and E and a steeper slope to the W. The monument includes a flat topped conical mound made of earth and stone. The mound measures 18m in diameter and stands up to 2m high. Surrounding the mound is a quarry ditch from which material was obtained during its construction. This has become partially infilled over time but remains visible at ground level as a shallow feature 2m wide and c.0.3m deep. The ditch has become obscured by leaf litter on the E side of the mound but will survive as a buried feature. The barrow and the nearby church lie at the centre of an extensive medieval field system, much of which is visible as earthworks OS field investigation 5/5/72 suggests that this is the mound of a small motte and bailey castle with the church now standing in the bailey. Over Worton church occupies the remains of a circular platform on the spine of a steep ridge. Contiguous to the NW is s circular mound OS field investigation suggests that this is the mound of a small motte and bailey castle with the church now standing in the bailey. Over Worton church occupies the remains of a circular platform on the spine of a steep ridge. Contiguous to the NW is a circular mound 17m in diameter and 2m high. Mound is overgrown. Round barrow close to church. Diameter 60' (80m) height 6' (1.75m). C.20m diameter and 2m high. (Oxfordshire HER)

On the hill on which the church stands and just outside the north wall of the churchyard is a mound 198 ft. circumference and 9 ft. high, planted, and having the characteristics of the other round barrows of this district. A report in the parish says that it covers a heap of rubbish piled there at the restoration of the church in 1844, but the present rector (Rev. W. H. Langhorne) tells me that an old inhabitant says that he remembers the mound there before the restoration. On the other side of the valley is Ilbury Camp, a conspicuous object from the spot where the mound stands. (VCH 1907)

Comments

The Oxfordshire HER online record has a summary which calls this a 'hlaew', an Anglo-Saxon burial mound. It is scheduled as a hlaew. The suggestion this was a motte appears to come from a field report by Mike Aston in 1972. The suggestion does not seem to have been taken up by other authorities. The situation of the mound, by the church, is suggestive of a motte but the air photo shows ridge and furrow right up to mound with no room for a manorial complex. Also early churches were deliberately sited next to earlier pre-Christian spiritual centres, including burial mounds. The tenurial history, suggesting the manor was held by serjeantry of service in the royal larder is not really suggestive of a castle, although some small mottes in the welsh marches may be of manors of this sort of status. There is no particular reason to think the site of the manor house has ever mover from Worton House, south east of the church. Only careful investigation, probably including excavation, will determine the nature of this mound.