Lyneham Hillock Wood (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SU027804
Latitude 51.52251° Longitude -1.96390°

Lyneham Hillock Wood has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Alleged site of a motte and bailey. A ditch and trackways are present. Not an antiquity. (PastScape)
? The remains of a Norman motte and bailey of about 4 acres. South of Hillocks Wood (VCH).
This is a ditch, averaging 4.0 m wide, with only slight banks on either side and it runs S.W. from the edge of Hillocks Wood for approx 100 m. then turns N.W. down a slope for some further 200 m. (F1 JP 24-AUG-68).
Situated below the crest to the S and commanding only a limited view to the N, the feature is not defensive and it is difficult to conceive either a camp, or a motte and bailey, in this position.
What seems most likely is that the ditch represents two separate tracks converging on a farm near the top of the hill, of which a brick barn still survives.
The original authority for describing the site as 'an ancient camp' was W.J. Parsons; while for the 2nd Edn. O.S. 25" Mrs. Cunnington described it as 'a ruined motte and bailey', though it is doubtful if she visited the site. (PastScape)

Mentioned as motte and bailey (Pevsner). There is nothing on ground here; older OS maps show a shapeless earthwork, nothing like a motte and bailey. (King 1983)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 216611.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) SU08SW603.

Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 502 (reject)
  Crittall, Elizabeth (ed), 1970, 'Parishes: Lyneham' VCH Wiltshire Vol. 9 p. 91 (tenurial history) online transcription
  Pevsner, N., 1963, Buildings of England: Wiltshire (London, Penguin) p. 286 (not in 2edn of 1975)
  Pugh, R.B. and Crittall, Elizabeth (ed), 1957, VCH Wiltshire Vol. 1 Part 1 p. 267
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 93 p. 116 (reject) online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio