Cole's Tump

Has been described as a Rejected Timber Castle (Motte)

There are earthwork remains

NameCole's Tump
Alternative NamesCondie Castle
Historic CountryHerefordshire
Modern AuthorityHerefordshire
1974 AuthorityHereford and Worcester
Civil ParishMuch Dewchurch

Cole's Tump - Natural mound in location that 'would have offered a superb strategic advantage for a motte, a fact which along with the name drew its attention' (Phillips)

Condie Castle SO465283 - A place name from the Tithe Award (Shoesmith ref. Sprackling and Lesser)

"Within living memory Condie Castle was an earthwork which children played in, with a ladder to get into it. It was dismantled at about the time the pillow mounds were ploughed under. Condie Castle is to the east of Coles Tump, just west of the trig point." (Barry Cooper, pers corr. 12-7-2011)

Gatehouse Comments

Recorded in Herefordshire SMR as natural mound and site of pillow mounds. No serious question of a medieval fortification here. The nearby presence of pillow mounds might just suggest a warreners lodge. Is 'condie' a dialect word for rabbit? cf. coney. Ironic use of the term castle to refer to a warren with a superficial form to a motte and bailey. Although 'Condie Castle' is a distinct from Coles Tump there is a possibility of some name transfer between these two mound. If medieval castles in the marches were built for pure military reasons then this certainly is a site that one would expect to be fortified, controlling a pass through hills. However, castles in marches were, most often, in military terms, residences for knights. What was required of a 'castle' was an attached manor that provided sufficient income to fund the military equipment of a knight. This is why generally castles are in villages surrounded by fields, not on isolated hilltops.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSO462282
Latitude51.9500007629395
Longitude-2.78237009048462
Eastings346290
Northings228220
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Shoesmith, Ron, 2009 (Rev edn.), Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press) p. 227
  • Phillips, Neil, 2005, Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250 (University of Wales) p. 165 Download from ADS
  • RCHME, 1931, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire Vol. 1: south-west p. 52 no. 12 online transcription

Journals

  • Sprackling, G. and Lesser, I., 1996, 'Field-Names as archaeological indicators of defensive sites' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Vol. 48.3 p. 475