Cockermouth Tute Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Cockermouth.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY12453077
Latitude 54.66447° Longitude -3.35884°

Cockermouth Tute Hill has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A little east of Cockermouth Castle is a supposed Tumulus called Tute Hill; there are however many natural mounds of gravel in the vicinity. (Not in Collingwoods Inventory of Cumberland. CW2 23 251) (Ward).
A steep sided flat-topped ditchless mound 2.8m. high now under pasture. It appears artificial but its proportions are smaller than the natural mounds in the vicinity, and suggest a windmill mound rather than a barrow. (Field Investigators Comments–F1 RL 18-APR-66).
Scheduled as Tute Hill motte; an oval earthern mound measuring approximately 18.7m east-west by 16.6m north-south and up to 3m high. It is strategically located on a plateau close to the confluence of the Rivers Cocker and Derwent and would have been constructed during the early/mid-12th century, but was quickly superseded by the present Cockermouth Castle (English Heritage SAM Amendment 10.5.95). (PastScape)

At the north end of the town is a tumulus, or artificial mount, called Toot Hill (Mannix and Whellan)

Tute Hill is a Scheduled Monument and is thought to have been constructed during the 12th century. Although it has been suggested that it may have been a motte, Winchester (pers. comm 2001) suggests that 'tute' means 'look-out'. (Extensive Urban Survey)

Comments

This Scheduling record is much more positive than Perriam & Robinson who write 'possible motte or windmill'. If this is the precursor to Cockermouth then it's history is given in the sources given for Cockermouth castle though all those sources presume that Cockermouth was built upon it's earthwork precursor. What happen between 1966, when considered a windmill mound, and 1995 when scheduled as a motte? On the edge of an area called Deer Orchard with other 'park' names close by suggesting this may be a deer park viewing mound. The real problem with the suggestion that this is a motte is what would be the reason for not using the castle site from the first?
Because of the scheduling report recorded in Gatehouse as 'possible' although rather more questionable than is usually for that category.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1013388, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 23798
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 9488.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 849.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 95
  Mannix and Whellan, 1847, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Cumberland (Beverley) p. 527 online copy
  Hutchinson, W., 1794, The History of the County of Cumberland (Carlisle) Vol. 2 p. 119 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Ward, J.C., 1878, 'Notes on Archaeological Remains in the Lake District' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 3 p. 246 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 2006, Extensive Urban Survey - Cumbria (Cumbria County Council) Download 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 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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