Crosby on Eden 'motte'

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Motte)

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains

NameCrosby on Eden 'motte'
Alternative Names
Historic CountryCumberland
Modern AuthorityCumbria
1974 AuthorityCumbria
Civil ParishStanwix Rural

The church was built in 1854 by RH Billings totally replacing a Medieval church on the same site. The present church has a two and half storey tower, a four bay nave and a single bay chancel. Supposedly built with stone from Hadrian's Wall. Jackson suggests that the church is built on the site of a motte, there being a distinct oval mound 2.0m high and a crescentic mound in the churchyard. The Norman font in the church, which suggests a contemporary church, suggests that the motte would have been on a nearby site. However, the church at Beaumont is built on a Norman motte, so the same could be the case here. (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

Whilst a motte is not impossible alternative mounds are also possible. It was deliberate policy of the early church to found churches near sites of pagan worship or value such as burial mounds and this location, on the Roman Stanegate is not impossible for a burial mound of Roman or early Saxon origin. Even in a culturally neutral site it is usual for churches to be built on local high spots and Cumbria has numerous glacial mounds. The evidence for this supposed motte is slight. Mounds in churchyards can also represent spoil, built up over time, from grave digging. The rather unusual situation at Beaumont has probably triggered a somewhat fanciful interpretation of this site.

- 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 ReferenceNY448595
Latitude54.9279289245605
Longitude-2.86287999153137
Eastings344800
Northings559590
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 97 (slight)
  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 83
  • Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carlisle: Carel Press) p. 50
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p. 113