Watch Hill mote-hill (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Burgh By Sands.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY31385970
Latitude 54.92729° Longitude -3.07215°

Watch Hill mote-hill has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

Collingwood was writing at a time when many thought mottes were Saxon and therefore were pre-Conquest earthworks although castle studies writers seem to have ignored his chapter in the VCH. The information given by Collingwood in the VCH, where he is suggesting a number of possible mottes, is scant. Watch Hill is a fairly ubiquitous place name but this may be Watch Hill at Burgh by Sands where the Cumbrian HER records an unclassified cropmark at the given map reference although Collingwood may actually have been referring a collapsed mile castle, which may have had some medieval use as a base for a residential tower (see Burgh by Sands Towers of Andrew the Chaplain and Radulph Wallensis). Regardless, the fact no other castle studies writer has identified this site is significant and it can be rejected.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3390.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Collingwood, W.G., 1901, 'Remains of the pre-Norman Period' in H.Arthur Doubleday (ed), VCH Cumberland Vol. 1 p. 293 online copy
  Nicholson, J. and Burn, B., 1777, The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland (London) Vol. 2 p. 222 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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