Coates Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Fittleworth.
In the historic county of Sussex.
Modern Authority of West Sussex.
1974 county of West Sussex.
Medieval County of Sussex (Rape of Arundel).

OS Map Grid Reference: SU992176
Latitude 50.94953° Longitude -0.58813°

Coates Castle has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are uncertain remains.

Comments

Seemingly the site was suggested in 1961 yet no gazetteer of castles published since then mentions it despite the obvious place-name being marked on the OS map. This suggests the identification was weak. The building called Coates Castle is a C19 castellated mansion with no apparent earlier precursor. There are at least five recorded bowl barrows in the immediate area. There is a Norman Chapel at SU99741782 and it just may be this was a manorial centre but the most likely explanation for this record would seem to be a mis-identified bowl barrow.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MWS2476.

Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Keefe, P.A.M., 1961, Sussex Archaeological Society Research Committee Minutes 63

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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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