Anstey Village Defences

Has been described as a Possible Urban Defence

There are earthwork remains

NameAnstey Village Defences
Alternative Names
Historic CountryHertfordshire
Modern AuthorityHertfordshire
1974 AuthorityHertfordshire
Civil ParishAnstey

Large motte and bailey with ditch of possible rectangular village enclosure to west; it is not clear whether this included or excluded the church immediately south of the castle (RCHM Herts, pp. 35, 37; Renn. pp. 90, 95; Brown. pp. 38-9) (Bond 2001)

A ditch running west from the motte and turning south beyond the church may indicate a village enclosure. (Renn 1971)

Gatehouse Comments

Probably considered with the castle earthworks by most sources including PastScape. This could also just be a field boundary but even if a village enclosure a ditch alone can not be considered defensive and probably a boundary marker and stock control feature.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceTL404329
Latitude51.9777717590332
Longitude0.0422499999403954
Eastings540400
Northings232900
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Oliver Creighton and Stephen Rippon, 2017, 'Conquest, colonisation and the countryside: archaeology and the mid-11th- to mid-12th-century rural landscape' in Dawn M Hadley and Christopher Dyer, The Archaeology of the 11th Century Continuities and Transformations (Routledge) p. 57-87
  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 79, 259
  • Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 222
  • Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 50, 90, 95
  • Renn, D.F., 1971, Medieval Castles in Hertfordshire (Chichester: Phillimore) p. 13
  • RCHME, 1910, An inventory of the historical monuments in Hertfordshire (London: HMSO) p. 35 online transcription, 37 (plan) [online copy > http://www.british-history.ac.uk/image.aspx?compid=123538&filename=fig4.jpg&pubid=1304]

Journals

  • Creighton, O.H., 2004, ''The Rich Man in his Castle, The Poor Man at His Gate': Castle Baileys and Settlement Patterns in Norman England' Cha^teau Gaillard Vol. 21 p. 25-36
  • Bond J., 2001, 'Earthen Castles, Outer Enclosures and the Earthworks at Ascott d'Oilly Castle, Oxfordshire' Oxoniensia Vol. 46 p. 67-8 (Appendix: Earthwork castles with attached village enclosures) online copy