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Gringley on the Hill; Beacon Hill

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Beach Hill

In the civil parish of Gringley On The Hill.
In the historic county of Nottinghamshire.
Modern Authority of Nottinghamshire.
1974 county of Nottinghamshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK74179077
Latitude 53.40872° Longitude -0.88566°

Gringley on the Hill; Beacon Hill has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Beacon Hill Camp is on the north side of a natural hill. To the north an outer defence of erratic curves follows the natural line of the hill.

It was occupied in 1644 by Prince Rupert, when he relieved Newark Castle. (An obvious error - Beacon Hill at Newark). (PastScape ref. VCH)

A natural hill, possibly utilised as a beacon, and rendered defensive by scarping and the construction of a slight ditch; the artificial work is of a slight and inept nature and any occupation of the site must have been for a short period only. (PastScape ref. Field Investigators Comments–F1 FDC 26-NOV-62)

On the edge of the village and not an unlikely place for a manorial centre, although clearly not such a centre for any length of time. Accepted as a motte by King but scheduled as a 'other secular site'. Origin or use as a medieval timber castle seems unlikely and, whilst not the Beacon Hill of Prince Rupert may well be a Civil War beacon site slightly defended at that time.

Links to mapping and other online resources
Data >	PastScape		Scheduling
Maps >	OS getamap	Streetmap	Old-Maps	Where's the path
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	EarthTools
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	Flashearth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument number 1003241, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number nt18
English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 323195.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 86
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2
  Stevenson, W., 1906, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Nottinghamshire Vol. 1 p. 296 online copy

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 English Heritage, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. 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.
I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The information within this site is provided freely by me 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.

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This record last updated on Friday, May 3, 2013

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