Bryn y Cwn Motte, Flint (The Gatehouse Record)

Bryn y Cwn Motte, Flint

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Plas yn Balls; Bryn-cwn; Bryn y cwm

In the community of Flint.
In the historic county of Flintshire.
Modern authority of Flintshire.
Preserved county of Clwyd.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ23837144
Latitude 53.23447° Longitude -3.14272°

Bryn y Cwn Motte, Flint has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Bryn-y-Cwn is a large earthwork motte and partially surviving counterscarp bank located about 1 mile north of Flint. The site consists of a tree-clad circular mound, c.55m in diameter and 8.0-12m high, with a summit diameter of 16m, set upon the N end of a spur, ditched to the S. The location of the bailey (if any) has been lost. There is no recorded history for the castle, although possibly it is the site 'palisaded' in 1244 (see Hen Blas as alternative site for this work). Its proximity to the castle at Flint may be an indication that Bryn-y-Cwn Castle served as an outpost or support site for this larger castle nearby. (Dervived from Coflein)

The monument comprises the remains of a motte and bailey castle, a military stronghold built during the medieval period. A motte and bailey castle comprises a large conical or pyramidal mound of soil or stone (the motte) surrounded by, or adjacent to, one or more embanked enclosures (the bailey). Both may be surrounded by wet or dry ditches and could be further strengthened with palisades, revetments, and/or a tower on top of the motte. The motte is roughly circular and stands to a height of 30ft with a flattened top, which measures 90ft in diameter. The ditch on west side rises 15ft to the counterscarp and on the south side of motte, a spur of high ground runs south. This is separated from the field to the west by the ditch which measures 15ft deep with a small stream at the bottom, and from the field to the east by a wide ditch rising 10ft to field boundary. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is FL064.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 307133.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 100346.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Jeff Thomas's Castles of Wales
  CastleUK.net
Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 238 (listed)
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 80
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles of North Wales (Malvern) p. 87 (slight)
  Manley, J., Grenter, S. and Gale, F., 1991, The Archaeology of Clwyd
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 153
  Davies, E., 1949, Prehistoric and Roman Remains of Flint (Cardiff)
  RCAHMW, 1912, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Flintshire (HMSO) p. 25 no. 86 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Swallow, Rachel, 2016, 'Cheshire Castles of the Irish Sea Cultural Zone' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 173.2 p. 288-341
  Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 112 p. 77-124
  Jones, H.L., 1854, 'List of the Pre-Historic Remains of Wales - arranged according to Counties. No. I.' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 9 p. 86 online copy

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain Designated Historic Asset Descriptive Information from The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), 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.
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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.

Lidar coverage in the UK is not complete. The button above will give an idea of the area of coverage. Higher resolution lidar images in both DSM and DTM form may be available from Lle A geo-Portal for Wales (click the preview tag to bring up a map and then select format byclicking on the small blue diamond in the top right corner of the map.)

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This record last updated 06/07/2016 16:46:13

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