Cadbury Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Cadebi; Cadanbyrig; castri de Cadebir; Camalet; Camelot; Camallate

In the civil parish of South Cadbury.
In the historic county of Somerset.
Modern Authority of Somerset.
1974 county of Somerset.
Medieval County of Somerset.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST628251
Latitude 51.02407° Longitude -2.53124°

Cadbury Castle has been described as a probable Urban Defence, and also as a Uncertain although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Ancient site use dating back to the Neolithic. Revived as fortress town by Ethelred II in 1009 but shortlived and abandoned in reign of Cnut. In July 1209, 40 marks were paid out of King John's household to Peter Descudamore and Godfrey of St Martin "towards the works of the Castle of Cadbury". No other reference to the Castle is known, but as Peter and Godfrey appear to have been connected with the SW counties it was presumably either Cadbury in Devonshire or one of the two (?four) places of the name in Somerset. King writes that site lost and possible not even in Somerset. This site has been thoroughly excavated but post-Conquest medieval finds do not seem to be reported. Uncertain if this is because such finds do not exist in significant amounts or because the report of them is lost from summary reports available. However it seems unlikely that there was significant post-Conquest occupation although some use of such a good defensive site, adjacent to the main medieval road (now the A303), during the actual Conquest of Somerset in 1067 must be a possibility, although Stuart Prior, who's PhD thesis was on this topic, does not mention Cadbury.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1011980, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 22904
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 199646.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 54555; 54807.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
  The Megalithic Portal
  South Cadbury Environs Project
Books
- Barrett, J., Freeman, P., Woodward, A., 2000, Cadbury Castle Somerset: The later prehistoric and early historic archaeology (English Heritage) Download via ADS
  Dunning, Robert, 1995, Somerset Castles (Somerset Books) p. 24-6
  Alcock, Leslie, 1995, Cadbury Castle, Somerset: the early medieval archaeology
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 445, 559
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 126-7
  Alcock, Leslie, 1972, 'By South Cadbury is that Camelot ...': The excavation of Cadbury Castle 1966-1970 (London: Thames and Hudson)
  Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p. 583
  Bothamley, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Somerset Vol. 2 p. 484
  
  There is a considerable larger bibliography of the site in regard to its Iron Age and early medieval history and archaeology.
Periodical Articles
- 2011, 'Did Famine Destroy 'Camelot'?' HeritageDaily online copy
  Evans, Dai Morgan, 2006, '"King Arthur" and Cadbury Castle, Somerset' Antiquaries Journal Vol. 86 p. 227-53
  Alcock, Leslie, 1980, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies Vol. 28 p. 656-718
  Radford, C.A.R., 1970, 'The later pre-Conquest boroughs and their defences' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 14 p. 96 download copy
  (Alcock), 1969, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 13 p. 239 online copy
  Brown, R. Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' The English Historical Review Vol. 74 p. 249-280 (Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 90-121) view online copy (subscription required)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Hardy, T.D. (ed), 1844, Rotuli de Liberate ac de Misis et Praestitis, regnante Johanne (Record Commission) p. 120-1 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 416-17
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 151 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk South West Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 201 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk South West Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 201 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 212 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 201 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 209 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 190 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 186 online copy (new entry)
  Davey, John Edward, 2004, The Roman to medieval transition in the environs of South Cadbury Castle, Somerset (PhD thesis University of Bristol) (available via EThOS)

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.
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