Great Barford; The Creakers

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Motte), and also as a Questionable Fortified Manor House

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains

NameGreat Barford; The Creakers
Alternative NamesRenhold 2
Historic CountryBedfordshire
Modern AuthorityBedfordshire
1974 AuthorityBedfordshire
Civil ParishGreat Barford

Earthwork motte and bailey standing on level ground consisting of a considerable moat with outer bank, round two sides of a central area. From here a mound, some 4 or 5ft high projects to the south. The inner work is protected on the north west by a strong bank and outer ditch forming two sides of a square and retaining angle. Both works may have formed complete enclosures originally. The manor was held by Sephen Crevequer in 1428. The present mansion is C18. (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

Petre includes this under his 'castle sites now discounted' gazetteer suggesting it as 'a manorial, moated site with some defensive features'. However, the earthworks have mainly been destroyed and this may have been a small castle. However, the manor was acquired by the Crevequer (or Crewker) family in the late C13 and the earthworks probably represent the earthworks of their manor as the tenurial history is not suggestive of an C11/C12 castle here.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceTL105530
Latitude52.1647186279297
Longitude-0.385589987039566
Eastings510550
Northings253050
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Petre, James Scott, 2012, The Castles of Bedfordshire (Lavenham: Lavenham Press for Shaun Tyas) p. 102-4 (discounted as castle)
  • Lowerre, A.G., 2005, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd: BAR British Series 385) p. 219
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 15
  • Brown, A.E. and Taylor, C.C., 1991, Moated sites in Northern Bedfordshire: Some surveys and wider implications (University of Leicester, Vaughan Paper 35) p. 21
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 6
  • Wadmore, Beauchamp, 1920, The Earthworks of Bedfordshire (Bedford) p. 161-3
  • Page, Wm (ed), 1912, 'Parishes: Great Barford' VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 3 p. 181-5 (manorial history only online transcription
  • Goddard, A.R., 1904, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Doubleday, H.Arthur and Page, Wm (eds), VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 1 p. 183-4, 302-3

Journals

  • Dyer, J.F., 1962-3, 'Bedfordshire Earthworks VIII, The Castles: Part One' Bedfordshire magazine Vol. 8 no. 63 p. 270

Other

  • Lowerre, A.G., 2004, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (PhD thesis: Boston College) p. 451-2