Malmesbury Cams Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of St Paul Malmesbury Without.
In the historic county of Wiltshire.
Modern Authority of Wiltshire.
1974 county of Wiltshire.
Medieval County of Wiltshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST94058577
Latitude 51.57077° Longitude -2.08723°

Malmesbury Cams Hill has been described as a certain Siege Work.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The ringwork on Cam's Hill is a particularly fine example of this type of comparatively rare medieval earthwork. It survives in excellent condition and offers considerable potential for the survival of primary archaeological deposits and of environmental material. The strategic significance of the site and its relationship to other contemporary monuments within the vicinity, offers considerable scope for the study and interpretation of the medieval settlement pattern and social organisation in this area of the landscape.
The monument includes a ringwork on Cam's Hill, set in a good strategic position on the westerly crest of a north-south spur. This siting would seem to have been designed to overlook the valley of the River Avon, believed to have been an important routeway during the medieval period. The earthwork remains comprise a strong circular enclosure bank, up to 18m wide at base and averaging 1.8m high. This is surrounded by a substantial ditch averaging 4m wide and 1.5m deep, giving a total diameter for the site of some 50m. The ditch survives as an earthwork around the south and east sides only, but is also believed to exist as a buried feature around the north and west also.
The central area enclosed within the defences is characteristically small, having a diameter of only 20m, an area of some 0.03ha. This interior is raised slightly above the surrounding natural ground level to a height of some 0.5m. The internal scarp of the enclosing bank is lowered approximately midway along the south east quarter, representing the position of the original entrance. There are no traces of any structures in the interior of the enclosure. (Scheduling Report)

The earthwork remains of a small ringwork on Cam's Hill. It survives as a circular enclosure bank surrounded by a substantial ditch, now visible on the south and east sides only. The enclosed central area has a diameter of only 20m and is raised slightly above the natural ground level. There is evidence of an entrance roughly midway along the south east quarter. Possibly built circa 1144 as one of three siege castles built to besiege Malmesbury. The location of the other two siege castles is not known. (PastScape)

Comments

Behind a long bank, which has been suggested as a siege line but is probably a field boundary or park pale. If this line is a park pale then the enclosure may be connected to the park rather than being a military structure. However, this site is morphologically similar to known siege castles of the period such as Danes Castle, Exeter and The Rings at Corfe however, unlike these examples, in does not have a direct line of site of Malmesbury Castle, being on the reverse side of the hill.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1021288, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 19038
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 212635.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) ST98NW452.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Duncan Wright, Michael Fradley and Oliver Creighton, 2016, 'Malmebury, 'Cams's Hill', Wiltshire' in Duncan Wright and Oliver Creighton (eds), Castles, Siegeworks and Settlements Surveying the Archaeology of the Twelfth Century (Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd) p. 96-104
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 94
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 499
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 239
  Pugh, R.B. and Crittall, Elizabeth (ed), 1957, VCH Wiltshire Vol. 1 Part 1 p. 269
  MacDonald, E., 1920, Castles of England and Wales Vol. 1 p. 228
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 288 online copy
  Britten, John, 1814, Beauties of England and Wales Vol. 15 Part 2 p. 622
Periodical Articles
- Wright, D.W., Fradley, M. And Creighton, O., 2015, 'The ringwork at Cam's Hill, near Malmesbury: archaeological investigation and landscape assessment' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 108 p. 105-18
  Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 93 p. 108 online copy
  King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol. 3 p. 90-127
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Sewell, R.C. (ed), 1846, Gesta Stephani, Regis Anglorum et Ducis Normannorum p. 59 online copy (The newer edition and translation by Potter, K.R. (ed), 1976 (2edn), Gesta Stephani (Oxford University Press) should be consulted for serious study. See also Speight, S., 2000, 'Castle Warfare in the Gesta Stephani' , Château Gaillard Vol. 19 see online transcription)

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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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