Swine Castle Hill
Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Motte), and also as a Certain Fortified Manor House
There are earthwork remains
| Name | Swine Castle Hill |
| Alternative Names | Bransholm; Brancholme; Bransholme; le Hermitage in Braunceholm |
| Historic Country | Yorkshire |
| Modern Authority | East Riding of Yorkshire |
| 1974 Authority | Humberside |
| Civil Parish | Wawne |
The monument is the remains of a medieval motte and comprises a steep-sided oval mound enclosed by an earthen bank, a dry moat and a counterscarp bank of up-cast earth. The mound is 150m in length NE-SW and up to 100m in breadth. At its highest point in the centre of the mound it is 5m high. It is immedately enclosed around its base by an earthen bank 0.5m high and 5m wide. The moat is up to 10m wide and 1m deep. The surrounding counterscarp bank is 1m high and 5m wide. The SW end of the monument has been truncated by the (now disused) railway line. In 1918 a trench was dug across the site by soldiers from a nearby training camp, supervised by Tom Shepherd, Curator of Hull Museum. This 110m long trench was orientated NW-SE and traversed the hill from its NE end. It survives as a silted feature 2m deep and 3m wide. The excavation recovered quantities of medieval pottery and the corner of a brick building which Shepherd considered to be of Elizabethan date. A hall is referred to at the site in a record of 1668 and the remains may be of the 'Mansion House' which gave the site its 18th-century name. The monument is thought to be the castle of Branceholme built by Sir John Saher before 1200. In 1353 John de Sutton was fined for crenellating a castle at the site. (EH Scheduling Report)
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 Reference | TA125343 |
| Latitude | 53.7933006286621 |
| Longitude | -0.292869985103607 |
| Eastings | 512550 |
| Northings | 434350 |
