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Barford St Michael

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Bereford

In the civil parish of Barford St John And St Michael.
In the historic county of Oxfordshire.
Modern Authority of Oxfordshire.
1974 county of Oxfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP43273260
Latitude 51.99087° Longitude -1.37141°

Barford St Michael has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a probable Masonry Castle.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Said to be castle here. It has been suggested that the unusual church tower started out as a C11 watch tower and the church is built on the site of a small Norman Castle. The church is built on a mound.

Barford St. Michael, 2 miles from Deddington, had formerly a small castle which stood close to the church. (Mackenzie)

Tradition recorded in 1823 that there was a castle in Barford, and related report of discovery of foundations of 'massive walls' in the churchyard; remains unsubstantiated (VCH).
3 evaluation trenches were excavated by OAU prior to extension of churchyard. Site is north of C12th parish church which stands on man-made mound. Massive walls were found which may be related to the tradition of castle here. Evaluation revealed vestigial ridge and furrow and substantial wall footing (0.9m wide, only 1 course high) running N-S; unglazed medieval pottery and ploughsoil also found (Med. Arch.). (Oxfordshire HER)

Three evaluation trenches were excavated by M. Roberts of the Oxford Archaeological Unit on behalf of Barford St Michael and St John Parish Council in respect of an application for planning permission to extend the churchyard. The site was N. of the 12th-century parish church which stands on a man·made mound. 'Massive walls' were found in the churchyard in 1823 which may be related to the tradition of a castle at Harford St Michael.
The site lies on the W. side of the ridge on which Harford St Michael is built. Most of the site is flat but the slope increases to the N. and W. There was vestigial, but visible, ridge-and-furrow on the site. Trenching revealed a substantial wall footing (0.9 m wide but only one course high) running N.-S., with unglazed medieval pottery, and overlain by ploughsoils which arc probably from the medieval ridge-and-furrow cultivation. (Med. Arch.)

Did the mound upon which the church stands start out as a motte? Or is the church built on a old barrow with an adjacent manor house? The suggestion the church tower was a 'watch tower' is probably fanciful but the possibility of an early stone castle here should not be dismissed (c.f. Radcot). The large moat of a successor manor house is just west of the castle site a may represent a much remodelled bailey enclosure.

Gatehouse thanks Colin Cohen for information about Barford Castle.
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Sources of information, references and further reading

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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.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
This record last updated on Friday, May 3, 2013
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