Castlefacts³

Betw Hawkswood

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Ringwork), and also as a Questionable Siege Work

There are earthwork remains

Name	Betw Hawkswood
Alternative Names	Mouse Castle 2
Historic Country	Herefordshire
Modern Authority	Herefordshire
1974 Authority	Hereford and Worcester
Civil Parish	Clifford

Possible Medieval ring work or circular enclosure situated between Hawks Wood and Mouse Castle Wood. Field investigations in 1972 found it to comprise a single, continuous bank with a possible entrance on the south side. It had an overall diameter of 24m. The bank was between 6m to 8m in width, and between 0.5m to 1.5m in height externally south to north, and between 1m to 1.5m internally, north to south. The interior was level and marshy, and there was probably some silting up on the lower north side. The gap in the south side appeared to be an original entrance. All traces of a ditch, if ever one existed, had gone. (Hereford SMR)

Gatehouse Comments

Phillips writes 'to call it a ring-work would give it attributes that it may not deserve. The site is an enigma, a ring-bank of undetermined date or use.'.Shoesmith mentioned it as a possible siege work in the first edition of Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (1996) but makes no such suggestion in the revised edition.This small site seems most unlikely as a castle of itself. It may be some form of outwork to Mouse Castle or a siege work or something else entirely.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)

104940

County Historic Environment Record

htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/her-search/monuments-search/search/monument?smr_no=1231

OS Map Grid Reference	SO248427
Latitude	52.0779418945313
Longitude	-3.09802007675171
Eastings	324850
Northings	242740