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Chaddleworth, Woolley Farm

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Mitchell Copse, Wooley Farm; Woolley Castle

In the civil parish of Chaddleworth.
In the historic county of Berkshire.
Modern Authority of West Berkshire.
1974 county of Berkshire.
Medieval County of Berkshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU40727956
Latitude 51.51355° Longitude -1.41454°

Chaddleworth, Woolley Farm has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Probable Medieval ring work visible as a cropmark, measuring 46m in diameter and mapped from aerial photographs. A collection of C12 pottery has been found on the site. (PastScape)

A small motte and banks noticed on a property near Fawley. (Kaines-Thomas, 1960) Mr. Kaines-Thomas pointed out Mitchell Copse, Chaddleworth as being the area in which the earthwork was found. It is at SU40727957 and consists of a ringwork formed by a bank with an outer ditch. There is no central mound and no causeway or obvious entrance way. It is not a motte and its inherent weakness suggests that it was of little if any defensive value. A number of probably early C12 sherds (identified by Reading Museum) were found on the surface. The work overlooks the site of Woolley D.M.V. and is probably of medieval origin although its purpose is obscure. (PastScape–ref. field investigators comment, 1964)

Presumably a manorial centre of some sort to the DMV. The manor is recorded as being in the hands of William Peverel in the Domesday Book, but by a family called Forester by the early C13. Woolley House, a late C17 stately home lies 400m NE in a deer park. This is presumably a successor building. Probably not a castle, but a defended manor house of some status.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
PastScape   County HER            
Maps >
Streetmap   NLS maps   Where's the path   Old-Maps      
Data/Maps > 
Magic   V. O. B.   Geology   LiDAR   Open Domesday  
Air Photos > 
Bing Maps   Google Maps   Getmapping   ZoomEarth      
Photos >
CastleFacts   Geograph   Flickr   Panoramio      

Sources of information, references and further reading
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This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:20:07

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