Coed y Fedw Tump (The Gatehouse Record)

Coed y Fedw Tump

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Dingestow

In the community of Mitchel Troy.
In the historic county of Monmouthshire.
Modern authority of Monmouthshire.
Preserved county of Gwent.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO445088
Latitude 51.77534° Longitude -2.80580°

Coed y Fedw Tump has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are uncertain remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Earthwork remains at Coed-y-fedw Archaeological features here fall into two areas: Homestead enclosure.–Two sides of a rectangular enclosure are clearly visible with the possible remains of a rectangular building in the corner of the L-shape so formed. Downhill, to the S, the ground is uneven being characterised by indeterminate bumps which may conceal other structures. These remains cover an area of some 100m (NNE-SW) by 80m. Possible medieval motte.– A ditched, irregularly-shaped mound in an area measuring 40m (N-S) by 50m. Some nearby earthworks (?trackway approaching the motte from downhill) on the north are also clearly visible. (Coflein)

Square shaped enclosure with rounded corners, bearing appearance of a medieval homestead motte. (Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust HER)

The monument comprises the remains of a medieval moated site, situated in improved pasture on the rounded summit of the slopes above a small NE-flowing tributary of the River Trothy. The moated site measures roughly 25m from NE to SW by up to 24m transversely, within a moat that measures about 4m in breadth where best preserved and about 0.3m in depth. The raised mound stands about 1.3m in height; subrectangular on plan, it measures 18m on its NE side and 24m on its SW side. The moat is most distinct on the NE side, where it is also broken by a raised trackway or causeway that joins the mound on its NW side. The moat may have been a dry ditch, for its position on a rounded summit is unusual. The surrounding field also contains several relic field boundaries and possible traces of ridge and furrow; and a slight terraced platform situated downslope and about 50m to the NE of the moated site. This platform measures about 26m from NW to SE by 16m transversely and contains the partial remains of what is probably a garden enclosure. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Roadside site. Marked Tump on 1st edition map. Associated with deserted medieval settlement. The GGAT HER seems to a unique use of the term "medieval homestead motte" which is probably a confabulation of homestead moat and motte. However it may well be this mound was attached to a homestead to symbolise the knightly status of the tenant.

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is MM213.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 95255.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 03604g.

Periodical Articles
- Briggs, C.S., 1974, Archaeology in Wales Vol. 14 p. 42 no. 75 (note)

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 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.
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.

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.)

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.

This record last updated 07/07/2016 08:21:57

¤¤¤¤¤

Data >	Coflein	County HER	Scheduling
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	Historic Wales	V. O. B.	Geology	LIDAR
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio