Pleshey Town Defences

Has been described as a Certain Urban Defence

There are earthwork remains

NamePleshey Town Defences
Alternative Names
Historic CountryEssex
Modern AuthorityEssex
1974 AuthorityEssex
Civil ParishPleshey

The town enclosure covers an area of about 16 hectares. It is bounded by a strong ditch circa 5.0 m deep by 15.0 m wide with the remains of the inner bank 11.0 m wide. Only two lengths of the inner bank survive, elsewhere it has been destroyed by digging. The original entrance to the town enclosure is marked by ground disturbance at TL 6672 1465 and is followed by the modern road over a former pond bay. (PastScape–ref. Field Investigators Comments–F1 PAS 30-OCT-75)

Gatehouse Comments

See Pleshey Castle for full bibliography.

- 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 ReferenceTL665145
Latitude51.8052597045898
Longitude0.417050004005432
Eastings566500
Northings214500
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

No photos available. If you can provide pictures please contact Castlefacts

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.

Calculate Print

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
  • Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 157 (mention)
  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 24, 39, 81, 261
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 38
  • Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 75-6 (plan)
  • 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. 146
  • Eddy, M.R. with Petchey, M.R. (eds), 1983, Historic Towns in Essex: An Archaeological Survey (Essex County Council) p. 74-6
  • Beresford, M.W. and St.Joseph, J.K.S., 1979 (2edn), Medieval England, an Aerial Survey (Cambridge: CUP) p. 222-3
  • Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 plan p. 66 download/view online
  • Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 138
  • Beresford, Maurice, 1967, New towns of the Middle Ages: town plantation in England, Wales and Gascony (London: Lutterworth Press) p. 435-6

Journals

  • Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  • Bond J., 2001, 'Earthen Castles, Outer Enclosures and the Earthworks at Ascott d'Oilly Castle, Oxfordshire' Oxoniensia Vol. 46 p. 65-6 (Appendix: Norman earthwork castles with failed towns in outer enclosures) online copy
  • Rahtz, 1960, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 4 p. 145-6 download copy