Greeny Castle, Dean (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Green Castle; Glebe Field

In the civil parish of Dean.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY07262510
Latitude 54.61239° Longitude -3.43745°

Greeny Castle, Dean has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

Earthworks in Glebe Field are reputedly those of a castle, but probably archery butts or spoil heaps. (Jackson 1990)

At Dean..." are parallel excavations in a swampy hollow and of oblong-square form"... (Dickinson)
"At the foot of {Park Hill, Dean} are... parallel trenches {which} are parallel excavations, but for what purpose they were constructed remains an enigma. They appear to be much later than the British period, and it has been suggested that they may have been medieval fish-ponds. Their waterlogged condition and proximity to the old church and manor house give colour to this view but the theory is not completely convincing." (Mason and Valetine)
"Probably fishponds" (Rec 6" (KS Hodgson Nov 1947))
Situated at the face of the S.W. slopes of Park Hill are a series of parallel depressions enclosed on the E side by an earthen bank. Two of the depressions run from NE to SW whilst three others are at right angles to them and run from NW to SE. The depressions which are reed covered and marshy underfoot, are separated by earthen banks each of which averages 3m in width by 0.7m in height, and are obviously constructed with the spoil from the depressions. On the western side is a stream, dry at the time of investigation which would serve to feed the ponds formed by the parallel banks. A spring inside the NE corner of the enclosure bank would also appear to serve the same purpose. The earthen bank enclosing the whole site acts as a pond bay preventing the overflow from the open ends of the depression. Mr. T.W. Waite, the owner of the field could offer no information on the nature of the site and there were no significant field names. The banks have no defensive appearances, and as suggested by {Hodgson} are most probably the remains of Md. fishponds (F1 EJ 09-SEP-59). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 8865.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 4727; 1025.

Books
- Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carlisle: Carel Press) p. 98
  Armstrong, A.M., 1971, The Place-Names of Cumberland, part 2 The Wards of Allerdale Above Derwent and Allerdale Below Derwent (English Place-Name Society 21) p. 368
Periodical Articles
- Mason, J.R. and Valetine, H., 1925, 'Studfold Gate Circle and the Parallel Trenches at Dean' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 25 p. 271 online copy
  Mason, J.R., 1923, 'Antiquities at Dean' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 23 p. 34 online copy
  Ferguson, R.S. and Cowper, H,Swainson, 1892, 'An archaeological survey of Cumberland and Westmorland; and of Lancashire North-of-the-Sands' Archaeologia Vol. 53 p. 501
  Dickinson, W., 1878, 'On and off the Road from Papcastle to Lamplugh Woodmoor' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 3 p. 345 online copy

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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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