Reasons for Designation
Motte castles are medieval fortifications introduced into Britain by the
Normans. They comprised a large conical mound of earth or rubble, the motte,
surmounted by a palisade and a stone or timber tower. In a majority of
examples an embanked enclosure containing additional buildings, the bailey,
adjoined the motte. Motte castles and motte-and-bai1ey castles acted as
garrison forts during offensive military operations, as strongholds, and, in
many cases, as aristocratic residences and as centres of local or royal
administration. Built in towns, villages and open countryside, motte castles
generally occupied strategic positions dominating their immediate locality
and, as a result, are the most visually impressive monuments of the early
post-Conquest period surviving in the modern landscape. Over 600 motte castles
and motte-and-bailey castles are recorded nationally, with examples known from
most regions. Some 100-150 examples do not have baileys and are classified as
motte castles. As one of a restricted range of recognised early post-Conquest
monuments, they are particularly important for the study of Norman Britain and
the development of the feudal system. Although many were occupied for only a
short period of time, motte castles continued to be built and occupied from
the 11th to the 13th centuries, after which they were superseded by other
types of castle.
Cranmer's Mound is a well-preserved example of a small motte which was later
re-used as a prospect mound to overlook an extensive complex of fishponds and
islands. All the earthworks survive well and have not been disturbed since
the site went out of use. The remains of a variety of associated features
will therefore be retained, and will include the buried foundations of
buildings.
Details
The monument includes the motte known as Cranmer's Mound or Mount, which was
later adapted to become a prospect mound, the enclosure to the west of the
mound and the hollow way leading southwards towards it, a series of fishponds
which are linked together to form moats round five islands, and a block of
ridge and furrow which lies north of the fishponds.
The name of the mound derives from its traditional association with Thomas
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Henry VIII, who is said
to have climbed the mound in order to listen to the bells of Whatton church
whilst visiting his brother who resided at the family home in Aslockton. If
this story is true, it indicates that the mound was already in existence in
the first half of the sixteenth century. This would make it somewhat earlier
than most purpose-built prospect mounds, which were garden landscape features
dating primarily to the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However,
some prospect mounds were adapted from earlier features, such as the earthwork
castles of the Middle Ages. Cranmer's Mound is interpreted as a small
medieval motte or castle mound which originally stood some 5m high and was
surmounted by a stone or timber tower. The tower could never have been
substantial, since the level area at the top of the motte is only 4m by 6m,
but it is possible that an enclosure known as a bailey extended from the foot
of the motte and contained additional buildings and ancillary features. In
fact, later documents call the field in which the monument is situated Bailey
Close, as if there had been a tradition of a bailey associated with the motte.
However, it is not known when the name originated and, as the enclosure of the
field clearly post-dates the ridge and furrow within it, and the ridge and
furrow itself post-dates the motte, the name may not be of much significance.
The west face of the motte drops directly into a 9m wide ditch which is c.2m
deep and also extends round the south side where it widens to 10m. This
section is deeper and more substantial than the rest of the water-management
complex and is believed to have been part of an original circular ditch round
the base of the motte which was later recut to form two sides of a square. To
complete the square, shallower ditches were dug round the north and east
sides, and it can be seen that the older and newer sections do not join
up,being at different levels. By the addition of these two new ditches, a
platform was created round the base of the motte on its east side so that it
now appears to occupy the west half of a rectangular island measuring 35m from
east to west by 25m from north to south. It is not known precisely when these
alterations were carried out, but it would have been after the motte went out
of use. Most likely it was in the late medieval or early post-medieval
period, and would have been contemporary with the use of the motte as a
prospect mound.
To the west of the motte is a rectangular enclosure formed by a bank measuring
0.75m high by 3m wide. From north to south it measures 26m and, from east to
west, 34m. There is a 5m wide entrance at its north-west corner which is
approached from the north by a sunken track or hollow way. This hollow way
flanks the head of a block of linear earthworks representing the grassed over
remains of ridge and furrow ploughing.
There are six ridges running west to east, all except for the southernmost
measuring c.11m wide and divided from the next by a 1m deep furrow. The
southernmost is slightly narrower at its west end, though it widens out to the
east, and is higher at 1.5m. This ridge forms the north boundary of the
moated fishpond complex and indicates that the fishponds and ridge and furrow
are broadly contemporary. The ridge and furrow has been cut by the modern
field boundary to the east, but a broad headland east of this boundary shows
where the block ended and the plough turned. East of this headland, the south
ridge continues to the end of the fishponds while, to the north of it, faint
earthworks indicate a second block of ridge and furrow approaching from the
north at right-angles to the first. This block is far less well-preserved,
however, and has been ploughed out to north and east.
South of the enclosure which lies west of Cranmer's Mound is a roughly
rectangular fishpond which measures 24m from west to east by 7m from north to
south. It is enclosed at its west end but only partially enclosed at its east
end where a 2m wide sluice connects it to the ditch round the south and west
sides of the mound. This sluice would have controlled the movement of water
between the two and, after it was recut, the motte ditch probably also served
as a fishpond. It is enclosed to the north but, at the south-east end, there
are two sluices connecting it to other parts of the water-management complex.
The southernmost is another 2m wide channel linking it to the pond along the
south side of the second island, while the northernmost is a narrow drain
connecting it to the ditch dividing the second island from the first. A
narrow earthwork measuring 12m by 3m extends from west to east in the ditch
immediately west of these sluices and will have been a water-management
feature. The ditch between the first and second islands is 3m wide and formed
a single fishpond with the ditch round the north side of the motte.
The second island measures 33m from east to west, by 22m from north to south.
In addition to the main platform, there are earthworks projecting from the
north-west and south-west corners which form the sluices controlling the
junctions between the ditches round the two islands. On the platform itself,
extending north to south along the west side, there is a rectangular sunken
area measuring 4m by 19m. This may also be a fishpond though, as it does not
connect with the other features, it could prove to be the cellar or sunken
floor of a building. The ditch to the south of this island is 10m wide and 2m
deep, while the ditch to the north is 8m wide and 1m deep. Both the north and
the south ditch continue in an unbroken line past the remaining three islands,
though the width of the north ditch varies in accordance with the dimensions
of the islands. The ditch between the second and third island is 8m wide but
is partially blocked towards its south end by a sub-circular mound measuring
7m by 6m. This mound is less than 1m high and would have been the site of a
bridge-support or sluice-gate. Both the first and second islands are roughly
2m high but slope at 45 degrees out of the surrounding ditches so that the
platforms are substantially smaller than the base measurements. The third
island slopes to the same degree but is slightly higher than the others at
2.5m. It measures 27m from north to south and 35m from east to west and, like
all the islands, has a level, featureless platform.
The ditch to the east of the third island is 8m wide and is planted with the
same boundary hedge that cuts through the ridge and furrow. Beyond this later
boundary, the north and south ditches begin to draw together round the fourth
and fifth islands, growing shallower as they do so. The fourth island is of a
similar height and gradient to the others but smaller and rhomboidal in shape.
Its west and east sides measure 22m and 14m respectively while, from east to
west, it measures 15m. Further to the east lies the fifth island which is
only 1m high and roughly square with a diameter of 7m. In addition, a very
low 3m wide mound can be seen to the east of this, in the sunken area where
the north and south ditches join.
This sunken area forms a crescent shaped pond c.18m long which curves to the
north-east. At its tip, the ridge forming the north boundary of the site ends
and, 5m beyond this, there is a final shallow sunken area measuring 5m from
north to south by 9m from east to west. A faint sluice joins this pond to the
main system. At the eastern limit of the site there is a raised trackway
which leads to a stile in the north field boundary but ends suddenly on the
east field boundary. The age of this trackway is uncertain, neither is it
known whether it is associated with the monument. It is therefore not
included in the scheduling. Excluded from the scheduling are the field
boundaries crossing the monument though the ground underneath these is
included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
