Brockton Castle Mound (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Shipton.
In the historic county of Shropshire.
Modern Authority of Shropshire.
1974 county of Shropshire.
Medieval County of Shropshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO58029367
Latitude 52.53926° Longitude -2.62037°

Brockton Castle Mound has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The motte at Brockton survives well and remains a good example of its class. Although the area once occupied by the bailey is now largely submerged beneath the waters of a pond, a length of the northern bailey bank survives well and, despite some modification, remains a good sample of the original bailey earthworks. Both the motte and the northern rampart will retain valuable archaeological information relating to the construction and occupation of the site. Environmental evidence pertaining to the landscape in which the monument was constructed will survive sealed beneath the motte and the surviving section of the bailey bank and in the ditch fill. Such motte castles provide valuable information concerning the settlement pattern and social organisation of the countryside during the medieval period.
The monument includes the remains of a motte and bailey castle in a valley bottom adjacent to the village of Brockton on the north side of Corve Dale. It includes a well defined motte of rock and earth, roughly oval in plan with dimensions of 25m north to south by 20m east to west and up to 2.1m above the surrounding ground surface. A ditch averaging 8m wide and 1.5m deep surrounds the eastern half of the motte. The western half of the ditch is now submerged beneath a large pond which lies up to the motte margin. A bailey, which would have protected the domestic buildings of the castle, is believed to have been attached to the west side of the motte. This area is now submerged beneath the water of a partly embanked pond some 60m east to west by 40m north to south and is not included in the scheduling. There is a length of bank which curves from the north side of the motte towards the north west for 60m. Although it has been strengthened to act as a dam for the pond, its lower levels are believed to represent the northern side of the bailey. This is included within the scheduling. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1012858, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 19190
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 111412.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00358.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Abaroth's World
Books
- Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p. 36-7
  Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 87 (slight)
  Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p. 8
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 429
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Wall (after Downham), 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol. 1 p. 398
  Eyton, R.W., 1857, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 4 p. 109-113 (tenurial history) online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 112 p. 77-124
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 1995, Scheduling Papers (Revision, 19/05/1995)
  Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, 1986, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 20813

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.
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