Bickenhill Castle Hills Farm (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Bickenhill.
In the historic county of Warwickshire.
Modern Authority of Solihull.
1974 county of West Midlands.
Medieval County of Warwickshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP17668213
Latitude 52.43686° Longitude -1.74164°

Bickenhill Castle Hills Farm has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Castle Hills Farm, Bickenhill, is an L-shaped C17 house. The gabled wing projecting at the south end of the east front retains much of its original timber-framing, but the remainder is mostly of later red brickwork. A central chimney-stack has two diagonal shafts. Two ponds east and south of the house are remains of a moat (VCH). Near to the farmhouse "Castle Hills", is the site of the castle built by Nigel de Albain, or Roger de Mowbray. Foundations are here and there indicated by a slight elevation of the surrounding surface and there are traces of a moat. Probably reduced temp. Henry II and perhaps became the mansion of one of the Ardens. In an inquisition taken 4 Edward I, one of the parks belonging to Wm. de Arden, about a mile and a quarter distant from Hampton Church 'towards Elmedon', was situated here, but no reference is made to a castle (Hannett). A pond on the south side of the farmhouse, which is 70.0m in length, 8.0m in width, and which is at the present time almost dry, may be the south arm of a homestead moat, but there are no traces of any continuation to the east or west of the house (Field Investigators Comments–F2 ASP 01-JUL-76). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 331779.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 486 (possible)
  Salzman, L.F. (ed),1947, VCH Warwickshire Vol. 4 p. 35 online transcription
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Hannett, J., 1863, The Forest of Arden p. 290 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Dugdale, Wm., 1656, The Antiquities of Warwickshire (Thomas Warren) p. 713-4 (tenurial history) online copy

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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.

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