John of Gaunts Hill, Sutton (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Sutton.
In the historic county of Bedfordshire.
Modern Authority of Bedfordshire.
1974 county of Bedfordshire.
Medieval County of Bedfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL22104773
Latitude 52.11426° Longitude -0.21861°

John of Gaunts Hill, Sutton has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

John of Gaunt's Hill is an oval mound measuring 180 feet by 115 feet. The surrounding ditch is widest on the east and measures 48 feet across and 10 feet deep and the mound rises out of it to a height of 16 feet. Modern red roofing tiles are found a few inches below the surface on the south of the mound. It is possible that the mound has been occupied for gardening purposes as the Elizabethan manor house stood near it to the north (VCH). A superficially motte-like mound 62.0m. N-S by 36.0m E-W, 3.0m. in height, surrounded by a broad ditch 16.0-19.0m. win width, 1.5-3.0m. in depth. A probably original causewayed entrance on the W side leads into the flat summit of the mound. Original purpose uncertain but probably ornamental. The work has been somewhat spread and reduced by the plough, and is now under turf, with a golf green upon the mound (field investigators comments 1969). (PastScape)

Comments

Lowerre (2005) rejects this as a castle, partly based on the small size of the eleven holdings recorded in the Domesday manor of Sutton, all less than 2 hides (although Alwin the reeve held four of these total value of £1/9s.). While castles built in such small holdings are rare in this part of the country they are fairly common in the welsh marches and, therefore, the possibility of this being a castle site can not be excluded. The destruction of the landscape by a golf course makes reading this monument difficult. However seems rather complex for a simple prospect mound and not quite orientated to the house and, whilst clearly used as a garden feature, may well have an earlier origin. 200m NE of church in location entirely feasible for a manorial centre. On balance Gatehouse favours this as a small motte and bailey, possible built by Alwin the Reeve, a Saxon, and designed to show his status and acceptance of Norman rule through the adoption of a Norman building form.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005403, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number bd39
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 365897.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 510.

Books
- Petre, James Scott, 2012, The Castles of Bedfordshire (Lavenham: Lavenham Press for Shaun Tyas) p. 77
  Lowerre, A.G., 2005, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd: BAR British Series 385) p. 223
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 16
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 6
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1968, Bedfordshire and the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough p. 153
  Wadmore, Beauchamp, 1920, The Earthworks of Bedfordshire (Bedford) p. 173-5
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Goddard, A.R., 1904, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Doubleday, H.Arthur and Page, Wm (eds), VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 1 p. 300-1
Periodical Articles
- Baker, D., 1982, 'Mottes, Moats and ringworks in Bedfordshire: Beauchamp Wadmore revisited' Château Gaillard Vol. 9-10 p. 35-54 (plan)
  Dyer, J.F., 1962-3, 'Bedfordshire Earthworks VIII, The Castles: Part One' Bedfordshire magazine Vol. 8 no. 63 p. 350
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Lowerre, A.G., 2004, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (PhD thesis: Boston College) p. 468-9

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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.

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.
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