Castlefacts³

Hilborough Motte

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Motte)

There are no visible remains

Name	Hilborough Motte
Alternative Names	Hilburgh
Historic Country	Norfolk
Modern Authority	Norfolk
1974 Authority	Norfolk
Civil Parish	Hilborough

About 1730. 'In the Park of 24 acres northeast of the church'. 'A moated motte' (Martin) gives a sketch plan showing a mound with the river on the east, and a moat on the southwest and north. This does not seem to fit the Ordnance Survey maps. It does not seem to conform to the carrs east of the church and may be somewhere north of these along the river. (E. Rose (NAU) 28 August 1980). (Norfolk HER)

Gatehouse Comments

There are a large number of surviving barrows in the parish, but this site is close to the church and in the park of Hilborough Hall to which it could be a precursor. The tenurial history is not inconsistent with a small motte of mainly symbolic value and there must certainly have been a manor house of some form in the C11. The Park will have been landscaped in late C18 after the house was rebuilt in 1779 (a late medieval hall house survives, much altered as the Gardner's Cottage). Must be questionable on the grounds of an unsupported reference by an early modern writer who would not have a skilled appreciation of archaeological monuments but modern geophysics or air photography may yet show something.Given map reference is for the church.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

County Historic Environment Record

www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF16510

OS Map Grid Reference	TF825000
Latitude	52.567310333252
Longitude	0.692330002784729
Eastings	582050
Northings	300000