Castlefacts³

Down Hall Motte

Has been described as a Possible Timber Castle (Motte)

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains

Name	Down Hall Motte
Alternative Names
Historic Country	Essex
Modern Authority	Essex
1974 Authority	Essex
Civil Parish	Hatfield Heath

A large oval-shaped mound, 31.5 metres long, 28.0 metres wide and 1.6 metres high, with outer ditch approx. 4.0 metres wide and 0.5m deep. The icehouse of the old hall was built into the N side of the mound but only the walls of the vault remain. Condition of feature, overgrown, correct as shown on Field Sheet. (Field Investigators Comments–F1 JET 14-MAR-50).

A mound, overgrown with trees and scrub, as described by F1. The ditch is visible around the NE arc, but there is no trace in the SW, adjacent to the drive, where refuse has been tipped. The purpose of the mound is not known. It may be an ornamental feature associated with the present Down Hall built 1868 or an earlier house on the same site built in the late 17th/early 18th century. However the possibility that it is a motte cannot be dismissed, though no bailey is apparent. (Field Investigators Comments–F2 NKB 14-SEP-71). (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

The location is next to a stately home but away from parish churches. However this was the site of a medieval manor. Any bailey there may have been, if this was a motte, would be likely to have been lost under later rebuilding.Recorded in PastScape as in Hatfield Broad Oak CP but appears to be in Hatfield Heath CP.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

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

373235

County Historic Environment Record

unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk/uep/custom_pages/monument_detail.asp?content_page_id=68&previous_page_id=48&monument_id=15686

OS Map Grid Reference	TL524129
Latitude	51.7951316833496
Longitude	0.208749994635582
Eastings	552410
Northings	212990