GATEHOUSE
The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
Home
The listings
Other Info
Books
Links
Downloads
Contact
 
Print Page 
 
Next Record 
Previous Record 
Back to list 

Penwortham Castle Hill

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Peneworth; Peneverdant

In the civil parish of Penwortham.
In the historic county of Lancashire.
Modern Authority of Lancashire.
1974 county of Lancashire.
Medieval County of Lancashire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SD52442907
Latitude 53.75581° Longitude -2.72279°

Penwortham Castle Hill has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Medieval motte and probable bailey surviving as earthworks. The castle was in existence by 1086 and fell into ruins after 1232. The mound is conical in form, slightly oval in plan with a diameter of 120ft at its longest base, and 25ft across the summit. There was no ditch between the mound and the bailey. A careful excavation in 1856 revealed a boulder pavement at a depth of 11ft below the summit. Finds overlying the pavement included a broken paddle, net sinkers, a prickspur, a spindle whorl, wooden pegs, iron nails and animal bones. These remains have been interpreted as the remains of a Saxon Hall, but may represent an earlier phase of the Motte's keep. The Motte mound may have been used as a moot in Norman times. (PastScape)

Stands at the end of a high promontory 70 yds NNW of Penwortham Church within the area of the extended graveyard. The mount is conical in form, slightly oval in plan with a diameter of 120 ft at its longest base, and 25 ft across the summit. No ditch now divides the mount from the plateau which evidently formed the bailey (but one is shown in illustration). It has been suggested that there was a second stockaded bailey on the lower plateau (? on the north side). Apart from general wear of the slopes, the east side of the mount has been eroded by the river.
A fairly careful excavation in 1856 revealed at a depth of 11 ft below the summit of the mount, the boulder pavement, timbers and wattling of what seems to have been a circular palisaded dwelling divided into several chambers, and erected on a low mount. A broken central oak post 5 ft high was still standing. Finds from a 2 ft 6 ins stratum of decayed vegetable matter overlying the pavement included a broken paddle, two lead net sinkers, a prickspur, spindle whorl, iron nails, wooden pegs and animal bones. A second pavement was laid 5 ft above this dwelling before the mound was subsequently raised at least a further 7 ft. The problem yet to be solved is whether the first mound with the remains upon it was the keep of the important little castle known to have been erected shortly prior to 1086. (PastScape ref. VCH)

Limited excavation at Castle Hill motte has revealed a lengthy period of occupation during which three construction phases were noted from the early medieval period until the mid 13th Century. The Norman motte was of strategic importance allowing control of movement along the Ribble valley and across an important ancient ford.
The monument at Penwortham consists of a medieval motte castle strategically situated on a natural mound overlooking an ancient ford across the River Ribble. The motte lies in St Mary's churchyard NE of the church and includes a tree and scrub covered conical earthen mound having diameters of c.36.5m at the base and 7.6m across the summit. This part of the graveyard is now disused. Traces of a shallow ditch - now packed with graves - c.2.5m wide x 0.5m deep separating the motte from a bailey on the SW side survive, but the bailey is now indistinct and its site has been considerably disturbed by construction of the church and burials in the churchyard. This bailey area is not, therefore, included in the scheduling. 19th century excavations found three phases of occupation at Castle Hill with the earliest remains considered to be of early medieval origin. Penwortham Castle was named in the Domesday Survey as existing in 1086 but appears to have been allowed to fall into ruins after 1232. (Scheduling Report)

Rex.E. tenutt PENEVERDANT. ... Modo.e ibi castellum (Domesday Book) King Edward held Peneuerdant. There (are) 2 carucates of land and they used to render 10 pence. Now there is a castle there, ... (VCH 1906)
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
PastScape   County HER   Scheduling        
Maps >
Streetmap   NLS maps   Where's the path   Old-Maps      
Data/Maps > 
Magic   V. O. B.   Geology   LiDAR   Open Domesday  
Air Photos > 
Bing Maps   Google Maps   Getmapping   ZoomEarth      
Photos >
CastleFacts   Geograph   Flickr   Panoramio      

Sources of information, references and further reading
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.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
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.
Help is acknowledged.
This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:21:30

Home | Books | Links | Fortifications and Castles | Other Information | Help | Downloads | Author Information | Contact
¤¤¤¤¤