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Ridgmont; The Round House

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Rugemont Castle; Rugemunt; Brogborough Park Farm; Segenhoe

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SP97033846
Latitude 52.03610° Longitude -0.58729°

Ridgmont; The Round House has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
Description

The much mutilated earthwork remains of an early medieval ringwork are interpreted as the site of Rugemont Castle. Much of the site has been destroyed by the construction of the Round House in C19 (PastScape)

To the east of Brogborough Park Farm well-defined earthworks consisting of mound, fosse and outworks mark the site of RUGEMONT CASTLE. This castle was the stronghold of the de Greys and their predecessors the Wahulls in this parish, but no mention of it has been found before C12. In 1276 Walter Beywin is described as holding 7 selions 'above the castle of Rugemont.' Extents of Brogborough Manor, to which it appears to have been attached, contain no mention of it, though it may have been the 'capital messuage' found in earlier accounts of the manor. Cromwell is said to have slept at Brogborough during the Civil War and to have made use of the entrenchments to repulse an attack of the Royalist troops." (VCH Vol. 3)

Identified with Segenhoe mentioned in late C12.

Has been very damaged and has been dismissed as a quarry but is scheduled as a ringwork. An alternative site for the recorded Rugemunt Castle is Castle Hill but this has been dismissed as it was on common land. Although now a seemingly isolated site it may have been the focus for the now lost manor of Brogborough (a place-name that may be suggestive of an pre-Conquest fortified site)
Links to mapping and other online resources
Data >
PastScape   County HER   Scheduling        
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Sources of information, references and further reading

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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.
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This record last updated on Friday, May 3, 2013
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