Adforton Motte (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Adforton.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO40377121
Latitude 52.33643° Longitude -2.87465°

Adforton Motte has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

On the basis of Aerial Photographs and cropmarks a site has been identified that may have once been the location of a medieval motte. On a ridge just to the east of the village lies a circular cropmark with an irregular ditch, this feature is too large to be consistent with a barrow, and unfortunately has been ploughed out making further assessment difficult. Adforton was a demesne manor of the Mortimers in 1086. This fact makes its interpretation as a medieval castle site less likely as it is only 2 km north of the main Mortimer seat, Wigmore Castle. It is in a good position to regulate the passage of the road running north from Wigmore. (Herefordshire Through Time)

Possible Prehistoric or Roman enclosure; an asymmetric, three-sided enclosure with curved corners, 75m by 55m, defined by 1 ditch. Two gaps are visible facing west and east, which may be entrances. Centrally located inside this enclosure is a large sub-circular enclosure, 20m across which may be a Bronze Age round barrow. A single central pit is visible inside this ring-ditch. Centred at SO 4037 7121 (Morph No. MU.171.1.1-3) This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1068849.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 10099; 8304.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Herefordshire Through Time
Books
- Shoesmith, Ron, 2009 (Rev edn.), Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press) p. 49
Periodical Articles
- 1993, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 60 p. 7

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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.

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