King Johns Castle, Kineton (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SP32955089
Latitude 52.15538° Longitude -1.51947°

King Johns Castle, Kineton has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The earthwork and buried remains of King John's Castle, a motte and bailey castle. It is thought that Richard I granted Kineton to his brother John in the late C12 who in turn granted it to Stephen de Seagrave in circa 1216. The motte is located at the south eastern end of the bailey and has been artificially raised. The flat-topped mound has a diameter of 44m at its base and stands some 2m high. It is surrounded by a ditch which separates the motte from the bailey. Most of its circuit has become infilled over time, but the ditch will survive as a buried feature. The bailey has a 'D'-shaped plan and is thought to have originally been bounded by a bank, which remains visible in places as a low, intermittent earthwork. Until recent years the bailey was occupied by allotments and now takes the form of a raised, levelled area with the ground falling away gradually beyond. (PastScape)

King John's Castle survives well and represents a good example of this class of monument. Both the motte and the bailey area to the north east are thought to retain buried structural and artefactual evidence for the buildings which originally existed here, and will provide information regarding the activities and status of the site's inhabitants. Additionally, the silted motte ditch will retain archaeological deposits relating to the economy of the inhabitants and the environment in which they lived.
The motte and bailey castle is accessible to the public and serves as a valuable public amenity.
The monument is situated close to the River Dene, on the south western outskirts of Kineton, and includes the earthwork and buried remains of King John's Castle, a motte and bailey castle. It is thought that Richard I granted Kineton to his brother John in the late 12th century who in turn granted it to Stephen de Seagrave in c.1216.
The motte is located at the south eastern end of the bailey and has been artificially raised. The flat-topped mound has a diameter of 44m at its base and stands some 2m high. It is surrounded by a ditch which separates the motte from the bailey to the north east and is most visible on the north side of the motte. Most of its circuit has become infilled over time, but the ditch will survive as a buried feature. The bailey has a 'D'-shaped plan and is thought to have originally been bounded by a bank, which remains visible in places as a low, intermittent earthwork, and possible a wall. Until recent years the bailey was occupied by allotments and now takes the form of a raised, levelled area with the ground falling away gradually beyond. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

The tradition of this being a castle where King John sometimes held his court dates to before Dugdales time.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1018859, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 21638
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 335431.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1183.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1992, Castles and Moated Mansions of Warwickshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 38
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 483
  Willoughby Gardner, 1904, 'Ancient Defensive Earthworks' in Doubleday, H.A. and Page, Wm (eds), VCH Warwickshire Vol. 1 p. 382-3 online copy
  Ribton-Turner, C.J., 1893, Shakespeares Land (Lemington and London) p. 327 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
  Whitley, 1883, The Builder Vol. 65 p. 580
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Dugdale, Wm., 1656, The Antiquities of Warwickshire (Thomas Warren) p. 430-32 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Baker, H.D., 1987, Warwickshire Monument Evaluation and Presentation Project

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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.
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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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