Kinton Motte (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Great Ness.
In the historic county of Shropshire.
Modern Authority of Shropshire.
1974 county of Shropshire.
Medieval County of Shropshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ37091946
Latitude 52.76923° Longitude -2.93380°

Kinton Motte has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

SJ 37091946. In the gardens immediately NNE of Castle Cottages, Kinton, is a mound, 32.0m in diameter and 2.0m high, the SE side of which has been cut away. Situated on a NW-SE ridge it is in a commanding position suitable for a motte. There is no evidence of a bailey. Found during field investigation (F1 MHB 19-APR-72). (PastScape)

An oval shaped motte at Kinton occupies a slightly elevated position with extensive views of the surrounding area. Its location is similar to that of the motte castle near Wilcot Hall just over 1km to the south east with which it may have been associated. The south eastern part of the motte at Kinton has been cut away and the ground level reduced to form a domestic garden. The portion of the mound that remains has also been considerably reduced in height by gardening, and now stands 1.5m high. Outbuildings for the adjacent cottages have been constructed into the southern part of the mound. From the Ordnance Survey mapped depiction it would appear that original dimensions of the mound were apx 30m by 35m across its base and hence would only have been large enough to support a watch tower. There is no visible indication of the surrounding ditch, but this will survive as a buried feature and is likely to be about 5m wide (Reid Malcolm L. 1999-Sep-07. MPP Non-Scheduling Alternative Action Report). (Shropshire HER)

Comments

Kinton was a township in the large Domesday manor of Nessham. Presumably the mound represents the holding of a sub-tenant owing some military service (The manor of Ness owed one and half knights fee). This would have been a small hall with farm buildings adjacent to the mound possible enclosed with a fence but otherwise undefended. The mound would have been surmounted by a tower the function of which would have been mainly symbolic. Although these are often described as 'watch towers' such a small manor would not have been able to afford the cost of maintaining a watchman and, as with many such mottes, in times of trouble the soldier associated with the mound would have been required to be elsewhere; It would though allow this sub-tenant to view his holdings and associated peasants at work in the fields.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 66476.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 01092.

Books
- Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p. 92-3
  Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 87 (slight)
  Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p. 31
  Eyton, R.W., 1860, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 10 p. 28- (tenurial history) online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Non-Scheduling Alternative Action Report Submission 29, ML Reid, 07-Sep-1999

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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.

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