Chisley Mount, Down End (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Chidley Mount; Bally Field; Downend

In the civil parish of Puriton.
In the historic county of Somerset.
Modern Authority of Somerset.
1974 county of Somerset.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST30924135
Latitude 51.1662° Longitude -2.9884°

Chisley Mount, Down End has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Earthwork remains of a Motte, and inner and outer baileys, on Chisley Mount or Chidley Mount (now called Bally Field). The earthworks consist of a motte and two baileys on its northern side. The motte has been formed by scarping the western end of a natural ridge where it terminates on low, level ground. Its eastern side, in private gardens, is poorly defined and several pits have been dug into the top. The single bank of the inner bailey, and the twin banks of the outer bailey, have been constructed on level ground, not by scarping the slope. There banks end abruptly on the west. Excavations in 1908 recovered Norman and later pottery and iron objects. (PastScape)

King writes these are slag heaps. Although not near Puriton Church could be a manorial centre with hamlet of Down End representing incipient township. Prior (2007) suggests that the castle utilises a D shaped earthwork of possible Viking origin. The site will have suffered particular erosion from river flooding and an somewhat unusual origin as a Viking work may also have produced an unusually form which may explain why this site was rejected by King. It does seem probably there was Norman development and use of this site.

(A great number of castle sites were said to be Danish camps in the C17-C19 on the bases on folklore. The early C20 work of Ella Armitage and others, mainly historical research but also some early archaeological work, showed mottes to be of Norman origin but this was soon generalised into all castles were of Norman origin with Danish and Saxon origin then being routinely dismissed as fable. The reality is castles are complex and varied in origin and use and any general theory will be incorrect. Philip Davis 16-4-2010)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument number 1019291, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 33714
English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 192333.
County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 11447.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Prior, S.J., 2007, 'Strategy, symbolism and the downright unusual: the archaeology of three Somerset castles' in M. Costen (ed), People and places: essays in honour of Mick Aston (Oxford: Oxbow Books) p. 76-89
  Prior, Stuart, 2006, A Few Well-Positioned Castles: The Norman Art of War (Tempus) p. 68-109
  Dunning, Robert, 1995, Somerset Castles (Somerset Books) p. 37
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 446 (reject)
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 288-9
  Beresford, Maurice, 1967, New towns of the Middle Ages: town plantation in England, Wales and Gascony (New York) p. 483-4
  Burrow, Edward J., 1924, Ancient Earthworks and Camps of Somerset (Cheltenham and London) p. 124-5
  Bothamley, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Somerset Vol. 2 p. 518-19
  Page, Wm. (ed), 1906, VCH Somerset Vol. 1 p. 360
Periodical Articles
- Chater, A.G., Albany, F., 1909, 'Excavations at Downend' Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol. 55 p. 162-174
  Dymock, C.W., 1877, 'Megalithic antiquities at Stanton Drew' Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol. 23 p. 35
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- BM Skinner mss 33716 folio 105 (C16 reference to castle bailey place name)
  Bodlian museum Aubrey mss 15 folio 122 (C16 reference to castle bailey place name)
  Elton, C.I. (ed), 1891, Custumaria of Glastonbury (Somerset Record Society 5) p. 4 online copy
  1884, The Great Roll of the Pipe for the fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1158- 1159. Now first printed from the original in the custody of the Right Hon. the Master of the Rolls (Pipe Roll Society Publications 1) p. 20 (Renn suggests this as the site for which Burgriht was paid.) online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Prior, S, 1999, 'An Earthwork Survey of a Motte and Bailey Castle at Downend, Puriton, Sedgemoor' (MA Course work)

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