Castlefacts³

West Hall Motte, Kingwater

Has been described as a Possible Timber Castle (Motte)

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains

Name	West Hall Motte, Kingwater
Alternative Names	Tin Castle
Historic Country	Cumberland
Modern Authority	Cumbria
1974 Authority	Cumbria
Civil Parish	Kingwater

West Hall NY 568 677 Motte

Identified as a Motte in c. 1978 by M Jackson and visited by Tom Clare c. 1984.

No record of any excavation. (Perriam and Robinson 1998)

Gatehouse Comments

Earthwork recognised as a motte in late 1970's. By village and church and overlooking river crossing. Reportedly identified by M Jackson in 1978 but does not appear in his Castles of Cumbria book of 1990.Located at NY56756768 in the Cumbria online mapping HER. Nothing obvious on air photo and presumably under the trees on the east side of the beck at the given map reference. This is not the steepsided ridge-end on the other (west) side of the village, although it should be noted that hill would dominate this site. The location is not improbable for a motte, near a small settlement, a river crossing and later high status house but the visible physical evidence seems weak and Jackson's failure to mention this in his Castles of Cumbria may suggest a misidentification. Tin Castle is a house name in Kingwater but may well not be of any antiquity (Was this a C19 'mail order' hut with an ironic name? Tin tabernacles are the best known of these but other prefabricated galvanized corrugated iron buildings were manufactured).

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)

1389813

County Historic Environment Record

maps.cumbria.gov.uk/eggp/eggp.aspx?dept=Environment&scriptname=1%20Historic%20Environment

OS Map Grid Reference	NY567677
Latitude	55.0020294189453
Longitude	-2.67758011817932
Eastings	356770
Northings	567700