Brailes Castle Hill Motte (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Brailes.
In the historic county of Warwickshire.
Modern Authority of Warwickshire.
1974 county of Warwickshire.
Medieval County of Warwickshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP30774007
Latitude 52.05820° Longitude -1.55274°

Brailes Castle Hill Motte has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Earthwork and buried remains of a motte castle, known as Castle Hill Motte. In the early to mid-C12 Brailes was part of the domain of Robert Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, and the construction of the castle has been attributed to him. The motte is sited on a natural knoll whose summit has been reshaped to some extent and artificially raised to create the flat-topped mound. It measures 24m across its top with traces of a low bank around its outside edge and is surrounded by a 2.5m wide ditch. The motte stands on an oval-shaped platform which has been formed by modifying the sides of the hill to create a levelled area around the motte. Immediately to the north, west and south west is a further terraced area which, together with the platform, are believed to have formed a series of outworks around the motte and will have provided a fairly sophisticated means of access to the mound itself. (PastScape)

Castle Hill Motte, together with its associated outworks, survives well and represents a good example of this type of monument. Buried archaeological deposits relating to both the construction of the castle and the activities of its inhabitants will survive within the motte ditch and the mound itself providing valuable information on the wealth and status of the castle's inhabitants.
The monument is situated on the east side of the village of Upper Brailes and includes the earthwork and buried remains of a motte castle, known as Castle Hill Motte. In the early to mid-12th century Brailes was part of the domain of Robert Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, and the construction of the castle has been attributed to him.
The motte is sited on a natural knoll whose summit has been reshaped to some extent and artificially raised to create the flat-topped mound. It measures approximately 24m across its top with traces of a low bank around its outside edge and is surrounded by a 2.5m wide ditch. The motte stands on an oval-shaped platform which has been formed by modifying the sides of the hill to create a levelled area around the motte. Immediately to the north, west and south west is a further terraced area which, together with the platform, are believed to have formed a series of outworks around the motte and will have provided a fairly sophisticated means of access to the mound itself. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1018858, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 21630
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 335226.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2311.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Windows on Warwickshire
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
Books
- Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 263 (slight)
  Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p. 31
  Salter, Mike, 1992, Castles and Moated Mansions of Warwickshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 20
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 481
  Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1949, VCH Warwickshire Vol. 5 p. 18 online transcription
  Willoughby Gardner, 1904, 'Ancient Defensive Earthworks' in Doubleday, H.A. and Page, Wm (eds), VCH Warwickshire Vol. 1 p. 358-9 online copy
  Ribton-Turner, C.J., 1893, Shakespeares Land (Lemington and London) p. 355 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Chatwin, P.B., 1947-8, 'Castles in Warwickshire' Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society Vol. 67 p. 11-12
  Bloxham, 1875, Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society Vol. ? p. 31
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Dugdale, Wm., 1656, The Antiquities of Warwickshire (Thomas Warren) p. 426-8 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk West Midlands Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 48 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk West Midlands Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 49 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 48 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 47 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 58 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 57 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 57 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 65 online copy

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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.

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