Barrow Hill, Chaddesley Corbett (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Chaddesley Corbett.
In the historic county of Worcestershire.
Modern Authority of Worcestershire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Worcestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO90897514
Latitude 52.37423° Longitude -2.13523°

Barrow Hill, Chaddesley Corbett has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

Site on eminence known as Barrow Hill (first apparent ref lay subsidy 1327 'atte Berewe'). Allies visited site 1844, describes it as 115yds long 90 yds wide at broadest, in shape like a pear, with narrow part to W. 'Round tump at E end of summit of tumulus and whole hill is very perfect in appearance except at N side which has undergone excavation'. Still of considerable size almost giving impression of a motte. Over 30' high and probably over 100' diameter. No sign of surrounding ditch. Locally believed that sand of which site is composed was derived from elsewhere (Allies)
Research Report 1999 suggests that the feature might be geological (Perkins).
Tom Pagett of Hagley Historical Society carried out research and conducted a site visit in 2006. His initial suggestion is that Barrow might come from Berewe meaning small wood and not be a barrow at all but a geological feature deposited by a glacier. He stresses that there is not enough evidence to draw any conclusions as to the origins of the monument (Pagett). (Worcestershire and Worcester City HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 118486.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) WSM02269.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The megalithic Portal
Books
- Perkins, W., 1999, The Barrow Hill Paradox: burial mound, castle motte or natural landscape feature
  Montgomerie, 1924, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm and Willis-Bund, J.W. (eds), VCH Worcestershire Vol. 4 p. 433
  Allies, J., 1852, The Ancient British, Roman and Saxon Antiquities and Folklore of Worcestershire (London: J.H. Parker) p. 124-6 (as celtic tumulus) online copy
Periodical Articles
- Pagett, T., 2006, 'Barrow Hill- Drayton: A short report on its possible origins' Hagley Historical and Field Society_
  Cantril, T.C., 1907-10, _Transactions of the Worcestershire Naturalists Club Vol. 4 p. 398-9

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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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