Castlefacts³

Ayleford Cern Hill

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Ringwork)

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains

Name	Ayleford Cern Hill
Alternative Names
Historic Country	Gloucestershire
Modern Authority	Gloucestershire
1974 Authority	Gloucestershire
Civil Parish	Newnham

Upon the tree covered summit of a grassy knoll in an angle in the valley of the Soudley Brook at Two Bridges, are slight but clear remains of a probable ring motte. The defensive situation is excellent with steep slopes dipping away from the edges of the work to the valley below except to a ridge to the east. The earthen bank measures overall 17.6 metres east to west by 15.5 metres north to south. It averages 6.5 metres in width and 0.2 metres in height, except on the east where it rises 0.7 metres on sloping ground. In the north-east side is a slight lowering of the bank suggestive of an entrance (Field Investigators Comments F1 ASP 30-AUG-84). (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

Marked as 'motte' on modern OS map but not marked on earlier OS maps. Not noted by D.J.C. King. On the edge of the Forest of Dean in an area of dispersed settlement. Tree covered and earthworks not clear on air photograph. Not now near a farmstead but not entirely improbably as a small manor centre although the fine and recent VCH (Currie, C.R.J. and Herbert, N.M., 1996, VCH Gloucester Vol. 5 Parish of Awre. There does not seem to be any dating evidence. On the bases of a lack of historical evidence to support this as a manorial site, the apparent similarity to prehistoric earthworks and the lack of dating evidence St Briavels Stow Green considers this as an unlikely castle site.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

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

111597

County Historic Environment Record

www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=16126&resourceID=108

OS Map Grid Reference	SO665088
Latitude	51.7773094177246
Longitude	-2.48679995536804
Eastings	366510
Northings	208850