Hailes Castle, Stanway
Has been described as a Possible Timber Castle (Ringwork)
There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains
| Name | Hailes Castle, Stanway |
| Alternative Names | Hayles |
| Historic Country | Gloucestershire |
| Modern Authority | Gloucestershire |
| 1974 Authority | Gloucestershire |
| Civil Parish | Stanway |
The abbey at Hailes was one of the last Cistercian houses to be founded in England, and became a great centre of pilgrimage. The remains of the abbey survive well and are known from partial excavations and survey over the years to retain further information about the abbey and the lives of its inhabitants. Unusual is the overlap between the abbey and the earlier ringwork, a class of monument whose dates of construction generally range from 1066 to the 12th century. Most ringworks were roughly circular areas enclosed by an earthwork bank and external ditch. They were usually constructed to serve as defended settlements, although some have been interpreted as military strongholds. Although now levelled, probably by a combination of landscaping works in the 17th century and recent cultivation, aerial photographic evidence demonstrates that buried features will survive.
The monument includes the known extent of St Mary's Abbey, a Cistercian abbey, the west range of which was converted into a country house in the 17th century, and the earlier Hailes Castle, a ringwork whose extent was partly incorporated into the abbey's inner precinct. The site lies adjacent to a tributary of the River Isbourne on the lower slopes of a north west facing combe in the Cotswolds. Little is known of the ringwork to the north of the abbey, although the site is known both from earthworks, recorded on early editions of Ordnance Survey maps, and now from aerial photographs. (Scheduling Report)
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 Reference | SP051301 |
| Latitude | 51.9700584411621 |
| Longitude | -1.92673003673553 |
| Eastings | 405100 |
| Northings | 230100 |
