Easthampstead Wooden Hill

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Motte)

There are no visible remains

NameEasthampstead Wooden Hill
Alternative NamesWoodenhill
Historic CountryBerkshire
Modern AuthorityBracknell Forest
1974 AuthorityBerkshire
Civil ParishBracknell

The monument consists of a large ditched bowl barrow situated at the top of a gentle north facing slope. The mound has an overall diameter of 26.6m and stands to a maximum height of 2m. The perimeter of the mound has been reduced by cultivation around its northern quarter so that today the barrow is ovoid in shape, with the longer axis orientated east to west. Surrounding the mound is a ditch 5m wide, from which material was quarried during the construction of the mound. This has become partly infilled over the years but survives as a low earthwork 0.7m deep around the north-east and south-east sectors of the barrow and as a buried feature elsewhere. (Scheduling Report).

A ditched mound (shown but not described, from 1868-1961 on the OS 6") at SU 8549 6656 is a large bowl barrow, The northern part of the barrow falls within a field, and has been entirely dug away. The remainder, in a forestry plantation, is in good condition. (PastScape ref. Field Investigators Comments F1 NVQ 12-MAR-63)

In 1969, a brief assessment of the mound, suggested that it might be a motte or a mound associated with hunting or game-watching (Saunders, 1969). (Berkshire Archaeology HER)

David Nash Ford writes of Wooden Hill " the site of what was always termed a "tumulus" until research revealed it to be the remains of the motte of a Norman castle."

Gatehouse Comments

Andrew Saunders brief assessment of this mound can hardly be called definitive research although his interpretation deserves consideration.

- Philip Davis

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSU854665
Latitude51.3916511535645
Longitude-0.77267998456955
Eastings485491
Northings166557
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

No photos available. If you can provide pictures please contact Castlefacts

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Journals

  • Copsey, H.W., 1963-4, 'A list of Barrows around the Berkshire-Surrey-Hampshire Boundary' Berkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 61 p. 22-3 online copy

Other

  • Saunders, A.D., 1969, Ditched mound west of Woodenhill Plantation (Unpublished document / SRM12846)