Ravenstone Moat (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Ravenstonedale.
In the historic county of Westmorland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Westmorland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY719045
Latitude 54.43473° Longitude -2.43407°

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

There are no visible remains.

Description

Moated site or motte with gate. Since the manor was in the hands of absentee monastic landlords from the reign of Henry II, it seems that this site represents the pre-1150 manor house. (PastScape ref. Perriam and Robinson)

Ravenstone Moat
NY 719 045
Motte.
Higham 1976: Plan. Moated with gate '... hitherto unrecorded... since the manor was in the hands of absentee monastic landlords from the reign of Henry II, it seems that this site represents the pre-1150 manor house...'
No excavtion report found (Perriam and Robinson 1998)

Comments

Gatehouse feels it is questionable (i.e. doubtful) that this was the site of a motte castle. It is clearly a manorial centre of some sort but the earthworks pictured by Matthew Emmott and visible of the aerial photo look like fishponds, rather than a moat. The site needs proper investigation by a field archaeologist. If these are fishponds then they will date to after 1150 although the manorial site will have an earlier origin. Possibly Perriam and Robinson were writing about some other earthworks nearby (considerable amounts of a park pale survive to the north and some tumuli are also marked) which may now be lost to the major road embanking.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1390209.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 99 (slight)
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 304
Periodical Articles
- Higham, N., 1976, 'An Early Medieval Site at Coldbeck, Ravenstonedale' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 76 p. 214-15 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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