Hayton Castle Hill
Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Ringwork Motte)
There are earthwork remains
| Name | Hayton Castle Hill |
| Alternative Names | Heton |
| Historic Country | Cumberland |
| Modern Authority | Cumbria |
| 1974 Authority | Cumbria |
| Civil Parish | Hayton |
A well-chosen site, artificially scarped and naturally defensive with double rampart and intervening fosse. On the south-west there is a broad terrace above the deep ravine. In 1863 there were "remains of a breast-work" on the top. (OS record refering Rome-Hall) The work, which falls in a private garden, is difficult to reconcile with Rome-Hall's description. Clearly there has never been a ditch, and basically it is a natural hillock artificially scarped into a mound 30m diameter, and raised by excavation of the top to give a form of ringwork. External heights average 3.5m in the west decreasing to between 2m and 2.5m in the east, although these may have been reduced in part by a terraced footpath around the base. The interior is now only slightly 'dished' as the result of landscape gardening, but around the northern arc the inner bank, although spread, still attains a height approaching 2m suggesting an original difference between internal and external ground levels of zero in the east varying to some 1.5 to 2m in the west. There are no indications of there having been a bailey. Topographically the work is situated at the southern end of a broad ridge, and has some natural defensive strength on the south and west sides, but Rome-Hall's "deep ravine" is an exaggeration. (PastScape–Field Investigators Comments F1 RE 23-MAR-72)
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 Reference | NY506578 |
| Latitude | 54.9127311706543 |
| Longitude | -2.77082991600037 |
| Eastings | 350680 |
| Northings | 557830 |
