Beoley Holt End (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SP07726950
Latitude 52.32360° Longitude -1.88819°

Beoley Holt End has been described as a Masonry Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Water filled earthwork identifiable on 1st Edition OS map and 2005 aerial mapping. Potentially the southern half of a moat, 110-120 metres long across the southern arm. The northern half has been back-filled.
A site visit on 22/04/2008 showed the modern houses to be built on a large rectangular platform raised high above the surrounding area, and commanding good views in all directions. Nash mentions that the Beachamps had a seat in Beoley which burnt down in 1303 and Habingdon mentions a castle in Beoley 'now in ruins'. These two statements are generally taken to refer to The Mount, which lies circa 1km to the west and is Scheduled as an Iron Age Hill fort, re-fortified in the medieval period. However, this site could be the location for the medieval castle and is of significant archaeological potential. The site visit confirmed the survival of substantial earthworks. (Worcestershire and Worcester City HER)

Habington wrote of Beoley: 'Cominge to the mannors which weare purchased by the Earles of Warwicke, Boeley presenteth itself as the fyrst and worthyest, a Lordshyp in former ages fortifyed with a Castell, the Churche mounted on a hyll in the myddest of a large parcke replenyshed with deere, inryched and grand with timber and woodes, and lastly the mannor attended with tenants wanting nothinge concurringe to greatenes.' (VCH)

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) WSM38684.

Books
- Page, Wm and Willis-Bund, J.W. (eds), 1924, VCH Worcestershire Vol. 4 p. 12-19 online transcription
  Nash, T., 1781, Collections for a History of Worcestershire (London: T Payne and son) Vol. 1 p. 68

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 >		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