Kimberworth Motte

Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Motte)

There are earthwork remains

NameKimberworth Motte
Alternative NamesMasbrough
Historic CountryYorkshire
Modern AuthorityRotherham
1974 AuthoritySouth Yorkshire
Civil ParishRotherham

A motte and bailey at Kimberworth, identified by B.H. St. J. O'Neil, and scheduled as an ancient monument. A large, well-defined mound slightly "stepped" at the western end. The feature has not the appearance of a conventional motte & bailey, but is possibly the remains of a castle mound with an outer courtyard. (PastScape)

Kimberworth motte and bailey castle consists of an elliptical motte, orientated east-west and measuring c.40m x 15m, and a small section of bailey surviving to the south between the motte and the modern houses. Traces of the ditch surrounding the motte are also discernible to the north and west, but further remains of the bailey are now obscured by housing development. Situated on a natural rise above the River Rother, it was one of several in the region to command the Rother valley and may have dominated the manor of Kimberworth since before the Norman Conquest. After the Conquest, the manor was part of the Honour of Tickhill and held by Roger de Busli and his descendants until the mid or late thirteenth century. Some time prior to this, the site was abandoned in favour of the moated manor house, 250m downslope to the south, where an extensive complex of thirteenth century and later buildings have been recently excavated. (Scheduling Report)

Gatehouse Comments

Surrounded by buildings and not accessible. There is no evidence of a bailey on site or on 1st edn. OS map but the mound top covers a good area. The adjacent Rotherham suburb of Masbrough has a name meaning 'boundary fortress'. Sneyd suggests this may actually refer to an earlier 'fortress' on the site of Kimberworth, which does lie on the Roman Rig earthwork. Certainly it is entirely possible that there was an earlier fortification, of Saxon date, at Kimberworth even if Masbrough refers to something else (and it may well be a reference to the Roman Rig - which is a possibly a boundary marker - itself.).

- Philip Davis

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 ReferenceSK405935
Latitude53.4368209838867
Longitude-1.39120995998383
Eastings440540
Northings393510
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink
Photo by Philip Davis. All Rights Reserved

() above

Latitude 53° 26' 12.4" Longitude -1° 23' 28.31"

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Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.

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Books

  • Hey, David, 2003, Medieval South Yorkshire (Landmark Publishing) p. 73
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 52
  • Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p. 20
  • Sneyd, Steve, 1995, The Devil's Logbook Castles and Fortified Sites around South Yorkshire (Hilltop Press) p. 13, 14
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 530
  • Smith, A.H., 1961, The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Part 1: Lower and Upper Strafforth and Staincross Wapentakes (English Place-name Society 30.1) p.
  • Hey, D., 1979, The Making of South Yorkshire (Ashbourne: Moorland) p. 44-45
  • Pevsner, N., 1959, Buildings of England: Yorkshire: West Riding (London, Penguin) p. 285

Journals

  • Birch, J., 1981, 'The castles and fortified houses of South Yorkshire' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 137 p. 374-6

Other

  • Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk Yorkshire Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 71 online copy
  • Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk Yorkshire Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 81 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 Yorkshire (London: English Heritage) p. 92 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 Yorkshire (London: English Heritage) p. 96 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 117 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 109 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 112 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 121 online copy
  • Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online
  • Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 728-9 online copy