Colmworth Manor and 'Motte' (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Colmworth.
In the historic county of Bedfordshire.
Modern Authority of Bedfordshire.
1974 county of Bedfordshire.
Medieval County of Bedfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL10785854
Latitude 52.21396° Longitude -0.37996°

Colmworth Manor and 'Motte' has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Moated manor, extant building dated to early C17. Alleged to have a motte (a low mound) nearby. (PastScape)

Manor House has a mostly 18/19th century exterior but features a panel of Tudor terracotta tiles set below the ground floor windows on the north east front. The house has been snowcemed and is not outstanding. It is situated on a square platform elevated above a natural south west slope and commands the adjacent road and river valley. The platform achieves a maximum height of 4.3m above the moat bottom and is 50.0m square. It has a ramped entrance at the east angle which could be original, the modern one being further to the north. An air-raid shelter has been dug into the slope at the south angle. Around the platform are the fragmentary remains of a moat and outer enclosure. The moat survives only as a large irregular pond at the north angle and a dry south west arm, 34.0m long by 10.0m wide and 1.2m deep. This is cut lower than the pond suggesting the surrounding ditch would have been at several levels rather than a continuous feature. No trace of north west and south east arms survive. A platform outside the south angle is probably building debris grassed over. The outer enclosure runs in a crescent from the west angle. It starts as a dry ditch 3.5m wide and 0.5m deep and now terminates in a pond 13.0m wide and 1.2m deep. Further enclosures visible on RAF air photographs in the field south east of The Manor have been filled and ploughed and are at present under standing corn. The site is probably spring fed but no trace of an outfall can be seen. (PastScape–ref. Field investigators comments, 1977)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1013453, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 11528
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1114868
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 362890.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 471; 8021.

Books
- Petre, James Scott, 2012, The Castles of Bedfordshire (Lavenham: Lavenham Press for Shaun Tyas) p. 101 (discounted as castle)
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 17 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 8 (possible)
  Goddard, A.R., 1904, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Doubleday, H.Arthur and Page, Wm (eds), VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 1 p. 186, 305
Periodical Articles
- 1985, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 15 p. 10-11 (plan) online copy

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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.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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