Seymour's Mount, Steppingley (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Seymour's Clump

In the civil parish of Steppingley.
In the historic county of Bedfordshire.
Modern Authority of Bedfordshire.
1974 county of Bedfordshire.
Medieval County of Bedfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL001351
Latitude 52.00490° Longitude -0.54338°

Seymour's Mount, Steppingley has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

An earthwork forming a low bank around a roughly circular area. On a west-facing slope with an apparent entrance on the downslope side. It has been suggested as a possible ringwork but may be associated with a rabbit warren: the adjacent farm is called Warren Farm. (Bedfordshire HER)

Ring-work of possibly Anglo-Danish date called Seymour's Mount near Steppingley. It lies on the extreme end of a short west-facing spur, cut off by a short water-filled moat. On the top of the spur a flat circular area 110 feet in diameter has been dug out of the hill, with a very low bank round the rim. (PastScape)

This is an area about 30m in diameter with a very low, surrounding embankment seemingly created from the earth within. There is no apparent external ditch. It is on a spur of a slight hill slope: its entrance on the downhill slope on the west is discernible. A short water filled moat cuts off the spur from the main hill mass on the east. Was this a ringwork? It has not appeared in any previous Gazetteer. (Petre 2012)

Comments

Apart from the adjacent farm fairly isolated, the parish church being 1km away. Use as a rabbit warren seems likely but that would not exclude it being a ringwork. Indeed reusing existing old embanked enclosures for warrens make great sense. This could equally apply to pre-Conquest embanked enclosures such as Iron Age farmsteads. Dateable finds may help with identification but Gatehouse feels the location makes a medieval ringwork fairly unlikely. It may well be it has not previously appeared in gazetteer's of castles not because it was unknown but because it does not have the strength and quality of a Norman ringwork.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 360037.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2807.

Books
- Petre, James Scott, 2012, The Castles of Bedfordshire (Lavenham: Lavenham Press for Shaun Tyas) p. 77
  Dyer, James, 1972, 'Earthworks of the Danelaw Frontier' in P.J. Fowler (ed), Archaeology and the landscape: essays for L. V. Grinsell p. 233-4, 235

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Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
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