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

Mexborough Castle Hill

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Mexbrough

In the civil parish of Mexborough.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of Doncaster.
1974 county of South Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire West Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK484999
Latitude 53.49358° Longitude -1.27087°

Mexborough Castle Hill has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a probable Masonry Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

a circular bailey, c.25m in diameter, with a peripheral motte, c.8m high and c.5m across at the top. The bailey is surrounded by substantial banks rising c.2m above the present inner ground level and c.5m above the outer ditch. Entrance to the bailey is via a defensive approach on the north west side that survives as an earthwork between the bailey rampart and the motte. A similar but smaller feature can be seen on the south side. Situated on the north bank of the River Don, the site commands the ancient ford at Strafforth Sands. In the 11th century it was a manor of Roger de Busli, lord of Tickhill. Writing in the 17th century, Dodsworth mentions "Mexborough, where hath once been a castle", suggesting the stone visible in the top of the motte is part of the foundations of a stone tower. (Scheduling Report)

Medieval motte and bailey castle, damaged by landscape gardening. The truncated motte is 52 feet high above the ditch and the bailey is surrounded by a bank 6 feet in height. The ditch surrounding the motte and bailey is 50 feet wide. Although mutilated most of these features were present during field investigation in 1965 and are visible as earthworks on air photographs. (PastScape)
Comments

The modern town of Mexborough gives little hint of the medieval layout. The parish church, now well east from the modern town centre was actual on the west of the medieval village with the castle some distance from the village. A footbridge across the river Don marks the approximate site of a ford/ferry crossing but another ford was sited more directly beneath the castle. The castle is not on the highest land (The adjacent primary school is on higher land) but on the false crest of river escarpment making the site visible from the old road and the River Don coming from Conisborough (The old road does seem to have followed the line of the modern A6023, along the crest top, and not run closer to the river below the castle as previously stated in this Gatehouse record). However, the castle is not well visible nor has particularly good views of the land to the north or the river to the west and its view of and from the parish church and village centre is not impressive, being partly shielded.
One of these fords may have been the ford of Strafforth Sands from which the large Wapentake of Strafford took its name, although that may also have been the ford below Conisborough (or indeed the ford may have moved over time according to the changes in the course and flow of the Don). The building of a large canal and the general reduction in river flows because of water extraction mean the modern river Don, whilst still sizeable, is but a shadow of the medieval river which was certainly navigable to Mexborough and probably (with some haulage over shallows) all the way to Sheffield. It has been suggested it may even have been tidal as far as Mexborough. Regardless fording points will have been few and of great importance for policing, administration, taxation and national defence (the practice of Danish 'Viking' raiding and invasion fleets sailing well up tidal rivers ended in 1066 but the threat continued into the C12 - although it is difficult to see, in regards to the Don, how any such fleet would have got past Doncaster).
Mexborough is located towards the north eastern end of the northern branch of the dyke known as the Roman Ridge or Roman Rig. The other end of this north branch is marked by the motte at Kimberworth. This dyke is now considered to be a pre-Roman Conquest boundary possibly with some use as a defensive dyke during the Roman conquest (see Brigantes Nation mainly based on Boldrini, Nicholas, 1999, 'Creating space: a re-examination of the Roman Ridge' Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society Vol. 20 pp. 24–30) however it may have had some reuse in the early Saxon period, certainly as a visual boundary marker. It is, therefore, possible that either or both mottes are based on Saxon sites built to mark this boundary in some way (The residence of a thegn charged with training and mustering the local fyrd? While the organisation of the late Saxon Wessex fyrd is quite well known that of earlier Northumbria and Mercia is less well understood).
The large Domesday manor of Mechesburg reduced in value from £6 in 1066 to £2 in 1086. It had been held by Ulfkil Brother of Algar and Wulfheah Although Ulfkil still held some Nottinghamshire manors in 1086 Mexborough was part of the large holdings of Roger de Busli and specifically part of his honour of Tickhill. However it is quite unlikely Roger resided at Mexborough which was, presumably, the residence of a knight, or two, in his service. There is some suggestion from the later tenurial history that there were actually two holdings in the manor as there seem to have been pre-Conquest. 'Roger of Montbegon, with his corpse, gave all his lands in Mexburgh, as well in demesnes as what was held by the freeholders, as by his villans; with the medieties of the Church' (Dugdale). Roger de Montbeggon died 1226. Presumably Roger came to have a holding in Mexborough via his mother Maud, a daughter of Adam fitz Swain (the founder of Monk Bretton Priory) but this might suggest the manor was being administered by a bailiff rather than a tenant with any hereditary rights.
The later medieval manor house of Mexborough was beside the church, although, if there were two parts to the manor, it may be the site of an earlier manor house.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
PastScape   County HER   Scheduling        
Maps >
Streetmap   NLS maps   Where's the path   Old-Maps      
Data/Maps > 
Magic   V. O. B.   Geology   LiDAR   Open Domesday  
Air Photos > 
Bing Maps   Google Maps   Getmapping   ZoomEarth      
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 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.
Help is acknowledged.
This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:20:07

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