Barkhale Camp (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Barkshale Wood

In the civil parish of Arundel.
In the historic county of Sussex.
Modern Authority of West Sussex.
1974 county of West Sussex.
Medieval County of Sussex (Rape of Arundel).

OS Map Grid Reference: SU98021238
Latitude 50.90473° Longitude -0.61358°

Barkhale Camp has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The monument in Barkhale Wood, formerly interpreted as the site of a Norman motte castle, includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow and its surrounding quarry ditch. That the barrow has been modified in the early medieval or medieval period to form a moot mound is signified by the broad, shallow depression in the top of the mound. (West Sussex HER)

The barrow in Barkhale Wood which was converted to form the moot belongs to the most numerous type of round barrow and dates from the Late Neolithic or Bronze Age period. Bowl barrows covered burials of individuals or small groups, and can contribute to an understanding of the beliefs and social organisation of early prehistoric communities. The adaptation of the barrow illustrates one way in which prominent places in the landscape were adopted for moots. The barrow retains considerable potential despite its later reuse.
The monument in Barkhale Wood, formerly interpreted as the site of a Norman motte castle, includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow and its surrounding quarry ditch. That the barrow has been modified in the early medieval or medieval period to form a moot mound is signified by the broad, shallow depression in the top of the mound. The barrow mound is circular in plan and measures some 23m in diameter. It stands 2.2m above the level of the surrounding ground. The surrounding ditch is visible only on the south and south-east sides, having been largely infilled by eroded soil from the mound and by leaf litter. Where it is visible, the ditch measures some 2.5m across. The shallow, bowl-shaped depression in the interior was created when the barrow was adapted for use as a moot. This depression is 0.4m deep and 10m in diameter. The Barkhale Wood barrow appears to have been chosen for conversion into a moot mound as it lies at the junction between the parishes of Bignor, Bury, Houghton and Madehurst, the parishes over which the moot court had jurisdiction. The position of the parish boundaries may in fact, have been influenced by the location of the earlier barrow. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1012263, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 12843
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 249611.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MWS3509.

Books
- Guy, John, 1984, Castles in Sussex (Phillimore) p. 136
Periodical Articles
- Grinsell, L.V., 1934, Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 75 p. 248 no. 12
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- K. Watson, Sep. 1996, Plan of the 'moot mound' near Barkhale. Copy in WSCC Source Material.

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
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