Bishopstrow Farm (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Motte Field

In the civil parish of Bishopstrow.
In the historic county of Wiltshire.
Modern Authority of Wiltshire.
1974 county of Wiltshire.
Medieval County of Wiltshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST901441
Latitude 51.19603° Longitude -2.14305°

Bishopstrow Farm has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Double ringwork and central motte seen on aerial photographs. Spur holloway marks entrance to north. Possible temporary anarchy-period castle. Trial trenched by R.W Smith, 1981 (Wilts SMR).
The small scale excavation in 1981 in the NW corner of the motte ditch produced 12th century pottery. However, the large amount of residual IA pottery suggests that the motte may be a short-term fortification sited within the extant earthworks of an IA domestic complex (Creighton). (PastScape)

Although partially damaged by cultivation, limited excavation has demonstrated the considerable archaeological potential of the Bishopstrow monument. Sites of this type are particularly rare on Salisbury Plain.
The monument includes an earthwork castle comprising a motte, a double ringwork and associated features immediately east of Bishopstrow Farm. A hollow-way extending to the north of the modern farm is identified as an entrance. The monument survives as earthworks although spread by cultivation. Small-scale excavation in 1981 of a pit cluster to the south of the motte and in the north-western section of the defences revealed pottery sherds of probable C12th date. It has been suggested that the castle was a short-lived fortification erected during the Anarchy. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

This is an area of many barrows, some of which have been misidentified as mottes. There is a possibility that this site, which does not seem to be a manorial centre, may be a barrow in an Iron Age enclosure with some incidental C12 finds. If occupied as a military base in the C12 then that occupation is likely to have been by a small band of loosely aligned armed men reusing an existing pre-historic earthwork as a secure base for their exploitation of local people and travellers on the Southampton-Bristol road.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1009891, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 10211
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 879133.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) ST94SW464.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 88
  Scott, D. and McOrmish, D., 1989, 'Non-Hillfort Settlement and its Implications' in Bowden, M. et al (eds), From Cornwall to Caithness: Some aspects of British Field Archaeology, Papers presented to Norman V. Quinnell (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports 209) p. 103
  Pugh, R.B. and Crittall, Elizabeth (ed), 1957, VCH Wiltshire Vol. 1 Part 1 p. 160
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 93 p. 112 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.
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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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