West Dean

Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Motte Ringwork)

There are earthwork remains

NameWest Dean
Alternative Names
Historic CountryWiltshire
Modern AuthorityWiltshire
1974 AuthorityWiltshire
Civil ParishWest Dean

The poorly preserved remains of a motte are situated on the wooded crest of a ridge 60m east of the site of the old parish church of St Mary. A circular mound measures 53m in diameter and rises a maximum of 2.9m above the bottom of a shallow ditch which surrounds it. Short stretches of this ditch on the north and south south west have been filled with debris but elsewhere it measures 12m wide and 0.8m deep. The top of the mound was deliberately levelled in C18 for use as a bowling green, which was approached from the south west via a causeway which measures circa 3m wide. (PastScape–ref. RCHME Field Investigation 20-MAR-1992 (CR Lewis))

An earthwork at West Dean (SU 257275), whilst undoubtedly originating as a medieval fortified site, has been modified radically as an ornamental feature within a formal garden setting. The present field monument comprises a circular entrenchment of c. 60m diameter with an interior raised little more than c. 2.5m. Given the large diameter of the earthwork, which argues against it originating as a motte, the most likely scenario is that the rampart of a ringwork has been flattened in the post-medieval period to form the raised bowling green recorded early in the nineteenth century (Master 1855, 242). The artificial reduction of a former rampart also seems likely given the dimensions of the surrounding ditch (c. 1.2m deep yet over 12m wide), which appears to have been substantially filled in. Immediately to the west, the flanks of the gentle ridge that the earthwork surmounts have been modified through the creation of a series of successive garden terraces. In part, these earthworks are almost certainly on the site of a bailey enclosure that formerly enclosed the parish church of St Mary's (RCHM 1987, 119-210), thus demonstrating the juxtaposition of a seat of secular power with a private ecclesiastical foundation. (Creighton 2000)

Gatehouse Comments

There does not appear to be a modern tenurial history. The large Domesday manor was held by Waleran 'the favored English huntsman of the Conqueror, and the ranger of the New Forest' and continued to be held by his descendants (Masters). Thus this is a castle built by a Saxon, although certainly after the Norman Conquest, although probably by modifying an existing thegnal complex.

- 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 ReferenceSU256274
Latitude51.0459213256836
Longitude-1.63504004478455
Eastings425680
Northings127460
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 103
  • RCHME, 1987, Churches of South-East Wiltshire (London: HMSO) p. 119
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 501
  • Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker)
  • Pugh, R.B. and Crittall, Elizabeth (eds), 1957, VCH Wiltshire Vol. 1 Part 1 p. 270
  • Williams-Freeman, J.P.,1915, An Introduction to Field Archaeology as Illustrated by Hampshire (London) p. 40

Journals

  • Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 93 p. 111 online copy
  • Master, G.S., 1855, 'Collections for a history of West Dean' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 22 p. 242 online copy