Ridgmont; The Round House (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Rugemont Castle; Rugemunt; Brogborough Park Farm; Brogboro; Segenhoe

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SP97033846
Latitude 52.03610° Longitude -0.58729°

Ridgmont; The Round House has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The much mutilated earthwork remains of an early medieval ringwork are interpreted as the site of Rugemont Castle. Much of the site has been destroyed by the construction of the Round House in C19 (PastScape)

To the east of Brogborough Park Farm well-defined earthworks consisting of mound, fosse and outworks mark the site of RUGEMONT CASTLE. This castle was the stronghold of the de Greys and their predecessors the Wahulls in this parish, but no mention of it has been found before C12. In 1276 Walter Beywin is described as holding 7 selions 'above the castle of Rugemont.' Extents of Brogborough Manor, to which it appears to have been attached, contain no mention of it, though it may have been the 'capital messuage' found in earlier accounts of the manor. Cromwell is said to have slept at Brogborough during the Civil War and to have made use of the entrenchments to repulse an attack of the Royalist troops." (VCH Vol. 3)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1013016, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 20436
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 346609.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 30.

Books
- Lowerre, A.G., 2007, 'A GIS Analysis of the Location of Late-Eleventh-Century Castles in the Southeastern Midlands of England' in' Clark, J.T. and E.M. Hagemeister (eds.) Digital Discovery. Exploring New Frontiers in Human Heritage (Archaeolingua) p. 239-252 online copy
  Lowerre, A.G., 2005, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd: BAR British Series 385) p. 222-3
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 15
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 6
  Godber, J., 1969, History of Bedfordshire (Bedford) p. 23
  Wadmore, Beauchamp, 1920, The Earthworks of Bedfordshire (Bedford) p. 121-3
  Page, Wm (ed), 1912, VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 3 p. 321 online transcription
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Goddard, A.R., 1904, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Doubleday, H.Arthur and Page, Wm (eds), VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 1 p. 306
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England Vol. 1 p. 142 online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1884, Mediaeval Military Architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 145 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Cotchin, R., 1989, 'Where was Rugemont castle?' Bedfordsgire Magazine Vol. 22 no. 169 p. 1-5
  Baker, D., 1982, 'Mottes, Moats and ringworks in Bedfordshire: Beauchamp Wadmore revisited' Château Gaillard Vol. 9-10 p. 35-54 (plan)
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 199 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Luard, H.R (ed), 1866, 'Annales Prioratus de Dunstaplia' in Annales Monastici (London: Longman Rolls Series 36) Vol. 3 p. 269 (mention in 1276) online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 16 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 15 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 32 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 31 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 29 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 39 online copy
  Lowerre, A.G., 2004, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (PhD thesis: Boston College) p. 464-8

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.

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