Bishopton Castle Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle Holl; Biscoptun

In the civil parish of Bishopton.
In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of Darlington.
1974 county of County Durham.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ36662089
Latitude 54.58189° Longitude -1.43430°

Bishopton Castle Hill has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The motte and bailey castle at Bishopton survives in an exceptional state of preservation. Additionally, it is a complex monument which retains valuable information about its origin and development. It will greatly add to our knowledge and understanding of the Norman Conquest of northern Britain. The monument includes an exceptionally well preserved Norman motte and bailey castle situated on low lying land beside the Bishopton Beck. The motte is conical in shape with a near circular top; it stands to a height of 11.5m and measures 55m across at the base and is surrounded by a moat 10 to 15m wide and 1.4 to 3.5m deep. Immediately to the north west of the motte there is a bailey which measures 80m north east to south west by 40m north west to south east. Its north west side is bounded by a ditch 16m across and 2.7m deep, its north east side by a bank 0.4m wide and 0.4m high and its south west side is bounded by a trivallate earthwork 25m across. The western boundary of the site consists of a double ditch system which runs parallel with the Bishopton Beck. Within the eastern part of the bailey there are the remains of a rectangular building measuring 28m by 9.5m, and the remains of a second building abutting the northern wall of the bailey. The motte and the bailey is surrounded on the east by a substantial moat, crossed by two raised causeways 1.3m high; the moat is up to 70m wide and is 1.5m deep and was fed with water, by a series of artificial channels, from the Bishopton Beck. Little is known of the history of the monument but a reference in AD 1143 referring to the fortification of a castle by Roger Conyers may refer to Bishopton. It is not known if there was a previous castle on the site. (Scheduling Report)

It has been incorrectly suggested that a Durham Palatinate licence to crenellate was granted in 1143 (Click on the date for details of this supposed licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1008668, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 20970
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 25795.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) D335.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The Durham Record
  Wikipedia entry
  The Round Mounds Project
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 121, 122-3
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 19
  Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlisle) p. 18-9 (plan)
  Dodds. G.L., 1996, Historic Sites of County Durham (Sunderland), 30-2
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 26
  Corfe, Tom (ed), 1992, 'The Visible Middle Ages' in An Historical Atlas of County Durham p. 28-9
  Proud, K., 1990, The Prince Bishops of Durham (Durham) p. 14
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 134
  Hugill, Robert, 1979, The Castles and Towers of the County of Durham (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 37
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 111
  Page, Wm (ed), 1928, VCH Durham Vol. 3 p. 213 online transcription
  Page, Wm (ed), 1907, VCH Durham Vol. 2 p. 141-2 online copy
  Gould, Chalkley, 1905, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Durham Vol. 1 (London) p. 353-4 online copy
  Boyle, J.R., 1892, Comprehensive Guide to the County of Durham: its Castles, Churches, and Manor-Houses (London) p. 162-3
  Surtees, R., 1816 (1972 Reprint), The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham (London) Vol. 3 p. 67 online transcription
  Brayley, E. and Britton, J., 1803, Beauties of England and Wales; Durham Vol. 5 p. 97-8
  Hutchinson, Wm, 1785-94, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham Vol. 1 p. 195-6 online copy; Vol. 3 p. 195-7 online copy
Periodical Articles
- 1883-4, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser2) Vol. 1 p. 75-6 (where taken for a barrow)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Arnold, T. (ed), 1882-5, Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia (London: Rolls Series 75) Vol. 1 p. 150, Vol. 2 p. 314
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

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