Wimble Toot, Babcary (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Babcary.
In the historic county of Somerset.
Modern Authority of Somerset.
1974 county of Somerset.
Medieval County of Somerset.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST56052800
Latitude 51.04970° Longitude -2.62844°

Wimble Toot, Babcary has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Wimble Toot N.G.R.: ST 5605 2800 Parish: Babcary (but originally in Steart)
Description: Small motte, rising to 2.74m in height, with a well preserved ditch, 0.50m deep, around most of its E side. To the N the ditch lies below a field bank and hedge,and in the W it has been almost totally infilled.
Later or Associated Structures: A slight hollow, 1.50m across, on the summit of the motte may be the 'footprint' of a tower.
Quality or Condition: Earthworks of average strength.
Likely Builder/Owner: Domesday Book (19:38) records that two porters from Montacute (Esturt) for Robert, the Count of Mortain.
Date of Construction: 1067-1069 (Prior 2004)

A small motte (King 1983)

Despite part excavation, the bowl barrow known as 'Wimble Toot' survives well and will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the barrow and the landscape in which it was constructed.
The monument includes a bowl barrow on a high point on the east bank of the River Cary. The barrow has a mound which measures c.3m in diameter and is c.2.8m high. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. This has become partly infilled over the years and survives as a buried feature, but can still be seen on the east side of the mound c.6m wide. A c.3m diameter depression in the top of the mound is indicative of antiquarian investigation. (Scheduling Report last emended 1996)

The Wimble Toot is a flat topped tree covered mound with traces of a ditch to the N.W. and a well defined ditch to the S.E. It could be either a small motte or a large barrow, though from its appearance the latter seems more likely. (PastScape ref. Field Investigators Comments F2 NVQ {Norman Quinnell} 13-JUN-75)

Comments

It is located a some distance from Babcary, there is nothing to suggest it ever being a medieval centre of any sort (no paths or roads lead to it). There is no bailey nor anything to suggest any attached building, court or enclosure. Just below the actual hill top but on the visual crest if viewed from the south, which would make it visible from Streat but it would not be visible from the village and parish church of Babcary. Gatehouse favours the opinion of the exceptionally experienced field archaeologist Norman Quinnell over that of David King or Stuart Prior in this instance. Indeed for Gatehouse the question is what is there about this quite typical bowl barrow that made anyone ever suggest it was a motte? Has the slightly levelled top of the mound, caused by the earlier 'excavation', misled observers?

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1015279, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 22071
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 196316.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 53520.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry (A page that, when accessed in Sept 2013, required considerable editing since it, rather unquestioningly, accepts Prior.)
  Beastie's Prehistoric Portal (as bowl barrow)
  The Modern Antiquarian (as bowl barrow)
Books
- Prior, Stuart, 2006, A Few Well-Positioned Castles: The Norman Art of War (Tempus) p. 68-109
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 87
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 441
Periodical Articles
- Grinsell, L.V., 1971 'Somerset Barrows, part 2' Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol. 115 p. 88
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Prior, Stuart, 2004, _"Winning Strategies" An Archaeological Study of Norman Castles in the Landscapes of Somerset, Monmouthshire and County Meath, 1066-1186 (PhD thesis; University of Bristol) Vol. 2 p. 129 (accepted) Download via EThOS

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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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