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

Tempsford Town Defences

In the civil parish of Tempsford.
In the historic county of Bedfordshire.
Modern Authority of Bedfordshire.
1974 county of Bedfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL160529
Latitude 52.16329° Longitude -0.30281°

Tempsford Town Defences has been described as a Urban Defence but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

'There are no significant above-ground remains of former medieval town defences or gates at … Tempsford' (Creighton and Higham). Bond dates this as C10 and puts in his 'New Anglo-Saxon burghal forts of no later urban significance' list. Is this the same as Gannock's Castle? Turner writes "The fort is usually said to be Cannock's Castle.

The evidence that Tempsford was the site of the recorded Danish fortification of 921 is slight - Dyer considered that Beeston Berrys is a more likely site for the Danish fortress, although it is about 5 km. from Tempsford. - There seems to be no evidence whatsoever that Tempsford was an Anglo-saxon communal burghal site or the site of an urban defences of any sort at any time.
Links to mapping and other online resources

Data >
        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

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.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get.
This record last updated on Friday, May 3, 2013

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