Reasons for Designation
The village, comprising a small group of houses, gardens, yards, streets,
paddocks, often with a green, a manor and a church, and with a community
primarily devoted to farming, was a significant component of the rural
landscape in most areas of medieval England, much as it is today. Villages
provided some services to the local community as well as acting as the focus
of ecclesiastical, and often manorial, authority within each medieval parish.
Although the sites of many of these villages have been occupied continuously
down to the present day, many have declined considerably in size and are now
occupied by farmsteads or hamlets. This decline may have taken place
gradually throughout the lifetime of the village or more rapidly, particularly
during the 14th and 15th centuries when many other villages were wholly
deserted. The reasons for diminishing size were varied but often reflected
declining economic viability or population fluctuations as a result of
widespread epidemics such as the Black Death. As a consequence of their
decline, the larger part of these villages are frequently undisturbed by later
occupation and contain well-preserved archaeological deposits. Over 3000
shrunken medieval villages are recorded nationally. Because they are a common
and long-lived monument type in most parts of England, they provide important
information on the diversity of medieval settlement patterns and farming
economy between the regions and through time.
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-bailey castles acted as
garrison forts during offensive military operations, as strongholds, and, in
many cases, as aristocratic residences and the centre 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 or motte-and-bailey castles are recorded nationally with examples
known from most regions. As such, and 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 superceded by other types of castle.
Pirton is one of the most important historic sites in Hertfordshire with its
well-preserved village and castle earthworks. It is made more unusual by the
fact that it is an example of a `planted' medieval village which was
carefully aligned in relation to the earlier motte and bailey.
Details
The monument consists of the earthworks of the castle motte Toot Hill, and
the surrounding earthworks of the castle bailey. The site also includes the
remains of the shrunken medieval village known as The Bury which lies to the
south of the bailey. The castle was established on an oval motte about 90m x
60m in the early 12th century alongside the church of St Mary and is
surrounded by a ditch. Adjacent to the motte lies the remains of the ditched
enclosure of the bailey in which earthworks still define the sites of
holloways, tracks and building platforms. The southern edge of the bailey is
defined by a shallow ditch 160m long running east from the south-west corner
of Toot Hill; the northern edge is believed to cross part of the area around
St. Mary's Church and north of the motte.
To the south of the motte and bailey castle lies the remains of the part of
the medieval village of Pirton, known as The Bury, and carefully planned in
respect of the Castle. The centre of the modern village now lies further
north. A deep well-defined roadway runs east to west across the site of the
village and from this the remains of roads and tracks run north and south.
Platforms indicate the location of houses and buildings of the village and
some buildings survived here until earlier this century. Ditches and banks
show the position of land boundaries, and drains and small ponds can be
seen.
All made up roadways and pathways on the site are excluded from the scheduling
but the ground below them is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
