Norwood Castle, Oaksey (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: ST98489443
Latitude 51.64867° Longitude -2.02335°

Norwood Castle, Oaksey has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Remains of a Norman motte and bailey, known locally as Norwood Castle. The low flat-topped motte is 1.5m high with a sub circular bailey to the north west, measuring internally 37m north east to south west by 26m transversely. (PastScape)

The Norwood Castle site is important as it is an outstanding example of a small motte and bailey and survives particularly well. The monument has considerable potential for the recovery of archaeological remains in addition to environmental evidence which may give an insight into the economy of people living in and around the site as well as the environment within which the monument was constructed.
The monument includes a Norman motte and bailey earthwork set on high ground overlooking a tributary of the River Thames. It comprises a low flat-topped motte 1.5m high and 20m across surrounded by a moat 0.5m deep and up to 7m wide. To the north-west of the motte is a sub-circular bailey measuring internally 37m from NE-SW and 26m from NW-SE. The bailey is defined both by an earthen bank 1.5m high and a surrounding ditch 1m deep. This remains water-filled on its south-west side. The site is described by Aubrey, an antiquarian, as 'a little citadel with a keepe hill, both moated round'. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

The main manorial centre of the large Domesday manor must have been the site near the church - Oaksey manor. Presumably this site represents a sub manor, possible one rather short lived and absorbed into main manor (it being so well preserved because of being abandoned and not redeveloped), held by a knight or serjeant for some military service. However it may just represent the centre of a holding a free tenant (there were 13 in 1299 - four of whom held a yardland) in which case we have a peasant's house dressed up to look like a small castle!

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1012048, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 12291
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 212835.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) ST99SE451.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Oaksey Village Website
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 96
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 278 (slight)
  Crowley, D.A., 1991, VCH Wiltshire Vol. 14 Malmesbury Hundred p. 179 online transcription
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 500
  Pevsner, N. (Revised by Cherry, Bridget), 1975, Buildings of England: Wiltshire (London, Penguin) p. 363
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 93 p. 111 online copy
  1952, 'Notes' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 54 p. 227 online copy
  1930-32, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 45 p. 137 online copy
  Downman, E.A. and Goddard, E.H., 1919, 'Plans of Wiltshire Earthworks' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 40 p. 352 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	Scheduling
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