Great Bedwyn (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Great Bedwin

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SU28356295
Latitude 51.36455° Longitude -1.59301°

Great Bedwyn has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Leland writes 'I had once been told that there was a castle at Great Bedwyn, but no-one in the town could tell me anything about it.' but, elsewhere, 'At Bedwyn in Wiltshire there used to be a castle or fortress, and its ruins and site may still be seen.'

Great Bedwyn emerged as the centre of a large Anglo-Saxon estate in the 8th century, although its genesis may lie in the landscape around and beyond the Study Area. Circa 1km to the south of the modern village, beyond the scope of detailed examination in this survey, lies the large villa complex of Castle Copse, where extensive excavations (Hostetter & Howe 1997) have demonstrated continuous occupation from the 1st to 5th centuries AD. It is believed that the villa acted as the focal point of a large agricultural estate, and it is in this role, although probably not in direct succession, that the settlement is thought to have begun (Eagles 1997) – possibly by the later 6th century. Haslam (1976) advances the theory that following the decline of centralised Roman authority, the old Iron Age hillfort of Chisbury (c.2.2km to the north of Great Bedwyn) was reoccupied and effectively became the centre of a new estate based largely upon the bounds of the former Romano-British one. Chisbury is thought to be the stronghold of 'Cissanbyrig', listed in the 10th century Burghal Hideage, and Haslam suggests that if this were so it would only have been a temporary refuge in times of strife, with ordinary 'civilian' life based within the fertile river valley below the fort. (Mcmahon p. 13)

Comments

Salter thinks he may have been referring to Iron Age Hill fort at Chisbury. There is also the site of a large Roman courtyard villa at Castle Copse (SU28356295). Timbs and Gunn also give both Chisbury castle and a site they call 'Castle Hill, south of the town' for a fortification 'formed or strengthened by Cissa, a Saxon chieftain'. (NB. Chisbury is north of Great Bedwyn).
Gatehouse suspects Leland was, in fact, referring to both sites in his two entries. Great Bedwyn was a significant Saxon settlement with a mint from 1056-65 and was a borough in C11 and C12, but failed to flourish after this. Although there may have been a Saxon royal manorial centre in the town there is little likelihood of a post-Conquest castle at, or near, Great Bedwyn.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003257, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number wi916
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) SU26SE304 (Castle Copse Roman villa).

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 91
  Hostetter, E and Howe, T.N. (eds.), 1997, The Romano-British villa at Castle Copse, Great Bedwyn (Indiana University Press)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 502 (possible)
  Haslam, J., 1976, Wiltshire towns: the archaeological potential (Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society)
  Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol. 2 (London) p. 12 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 499, 504
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1908, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 2 p. 27 online copy ; Vol. 5 p. 80 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Mcmahon, Phil, 2004, The Archaeology of Wiltshire's Towns An Extensive Urban Survey Great Bedwyn (Wiltshire County Archaeology Service) online copy

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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.
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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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