Haughley Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Haganet; Hawghlee; Hegenoth; Hageneth; Haghenet

In the civil parish of Haughley.
In the historic county of Suffolk.
Modern Authority of Suffolk.
1974 county of Suffolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TM025624
Latitude 52.22314° Longitude 0.96429°

Haughley Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A moated motte and bailey castle at Haughley. The motte, 210 ft in diameter at base and 80 ft high, has a flat summit which is not concentric with the base, giving a much steeper slope on the north side. Beneath the topsoil of the summit are the foundations of a shell keep. The quadrangular bailey to the south is 390 ft wide by 300 ft north to south, surrounded by a deep ditch and high bank which rises to a maximum height of 16 ft above the surface of the enclosure. An infilled ditch to the north of the motte was formerly used as an overflow and on the west side of the bailey is a moated area of apparently later date (VCH).
The motte and bailey is generally as described by VCH but there are no visible remains of the shell keep other than a scatter of flint about the summit of the motte. The moated enclosure to the west of the bailey incorporates the original stream, diverted to feed the ditch of the motte, and appears to be an additional outer bailey with south entrance, rather than a homestead moat (Field Investigators Comments-F1 FGA 24-FEB-66).
West suggests that the whole of the area south of the castle was within an outer bailey. Examination of the gardens shows a small scarp or rise about 2-3 ft high which is lost to the east by the development of the market, the green and the accretion of buildings on its line. However, in the gardens east of the churchyard there is a deep hollow which could be an infilled ditch, although there is now no sign of it joining the existing moat surrounding the bailey. The ditches to the north of the motte (including the "overflow" mentioned by VCH) and the land to the edge of the sunken way on the east may have delineated the demense of the castle; making the castle area a more complex but unified whole. The moated area to the west of the bailey was also considered by West to be the surviving part of the "outer bailey" (West). (PastScape)

Large motte and bailey castle built in late C11 by Hugh de Montfort. Centre of the Honour of Haughley (or Hagenet), sometimes called 'Honor Constabularie' through its connection with the constableship of Dover Castle. Castle seized by Crown in 1163. Captured, after a short siege, and destroyed in 1173 by rebels led by the Earl of Leicester, the keeper then being Ralph de Broc. (Suffolk HER ref. Renn)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006069, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number sf29
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 387048.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) HGH 001.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
  Haughley History Forum
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Liddiard, Robert, 2005, 'The Castle Landscape of Anglo-Norman East Anglia: A Regional Perspective' in Harper-Bill, C. (ed), Medieval East Anglia (Woodbridge, Boydell) p. 33-51
  Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 9
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 80
  Martin, Edward, 1999 (3edn), 'Medieval Castles' in Dymond, David and Martin, Edward (eds) An Historical Atlas of Suffolk (Lavenham) p. 58-9
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 235
  Brown, R.Allen, 1989, Castles from the Air (Cambridge University Press) p. 128-9
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 458
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 239
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 201
  Pevsner, N., 1961, Buildings of England: Suffolk (London, Penguin) p. 230
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Wall, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Suffolk Vol. 1 p. 598-600 (plan) online copy
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 282 online copy
Periodical Articles
- David, Gill, 2012, 'Archaeology in Suffolk 2011' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol. 42.4 p. 523 online copy
  Liddiard, Robert, 2006, 'Early castles in the Medieval Landscape of East Anglia' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 243-50
  2000, 'Archaeology in Suffolk 1999' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol. 39.4 p. 523 online copy
  West, S.E., 1977, 'Haughley Castle' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol. 34.1 p. 65-6 online copy
  King, D.J.Cathcart, 1972, 'The Field Archaeology of mottes; Eine kurze übersicht' Château Gaillard Vol. 5 p. 101-112
  Brown, R. Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' The English Historical Review Vol. 74 p. 249-280 (Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 90-121) view online copy (subscription required)
  Redstone, V.B., 1903, 'Notes on Suffolk Castles. I. Haughley Castle and its Park' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol. 11.3 p. 301-7 online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 212 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Pipe Rolls (see Pipe Roll Society for published references)
  Stubbs, Wm. (ed), 1867, Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi Benedicti Abbatis; Chronicle of the Reigns of Henry II and Richard I. A.D. 1169-1192 (London: Rolls Series 49) Vol. 1 p. 60 online copy
  Stubbs, Wm. (ed), 1876, Radulphi de Diceto decani Lundoniensis Opera Historica. The Historical work of Master Ralph de Diceto, Dean of London (London, Rolls Series 68) Vol. 1 p. 377
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)

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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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