Cranborne Castle Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle Hall

In the civil parish of Cranborne.
In the historic county of Dorset.
Modern Authority of Dorset.
1974 county of Dorset.
Medieval County of Dorset.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU05931266
Latitude 50.91338° Longitude -1.91701°

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

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Motte and bailey stands on a prominent rise called Castle Hill, at the N.W. end of a broad ridge. Nothing is known of its history. The earthworks cover some 2 1/2 acres and comprise a circular motte, 180 ft. in diameter and 28 ft. high, surrounded by a small ditch with an outer bank on the W. and N.W. A crescent-shaped bailey on the E. is bounded by a rampart up to 25 ft. high, with an outer ditch. A causeway across the ditch, and what appears to be an entrance through the rampart, are at the S. end of the bailey (RCHME 1975).
The tumulus on the summit of the great mound is modern and was raised in the early 19th century by L D G Tregonwell over the remains of two favourite horses (Warne 1872). (PastScape)

Comments

The location is somewhat unusual in being somewhat away from the centre of Cranborne. This may have been the Norman manor but the palace of King John at Cranborne Manor, built at the beginning of the C13, is at a more usual location for a manorial centre, adjacent to the church, and that may represent the site of the pre-Conquest manor. It is, therefore, possible that Castle Hill represents a rare example of Norman castle, built on a virgin site chosen for its height and/or defensive quality.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004560, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number do17
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 213663.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3 005 031.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 22
  Pomeroy, Colin, 1998, Discover Dorset Castles and Forts (Dovecote Press) p. 22
  Wilton, P., 1995, Castles of Dorset (Wimborne)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 65-6
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 127
  Penn, K.J., 1980, The Historic Towns of Dorset (Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Monograph 1) p. 124
  RCHME, 1975, An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset Vol. 5: east p. 15 no. 31 (plan) online transcription
  Sumner, Heywood, 1913, Ancient Earthworks of Cranborne Chase (London) p. 50-1
  Warne, 1872, Ancient Dorset (Bournemouth) p. 251-5 and plate viii
  Hutchins, J., 1861-73 (3edn), History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset (Blandford) Vol. 3 p. 381
Periodical Articles
- Smart, T.W.W., 1890, 'Castle Hill, Cranborne' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 11 p. 146-58 online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 203 online copy
  Barnes, W., 1881, 'Cranborne–The so-called Castle' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 4 p. 134-6 (Nonsense) online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Dorset County Council, 2011, Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Cranborne Download copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 114 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 120 online copy

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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