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Federation of Old Cornwall Societies
Registered Charity No. 247283 |
The comprehensive gazetteer of the medieval fortifications and castles of CornwallWith thanks to Philip Davis
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Federation of Old Cornwall Societies
Registered Charity No. 247283 |
The comprehensive gazetteer of the medieval fortifications and castles of CornwallWith thanks to Philip Davis
|
|
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Eastleigh BerrysAlso known as, or recorded in historical documents as; East Leigh Berrys In the
civil parish of Launcells. Remains of a possible unfinished motte and two baileys. There are three enclosures. The first enclosure, on the north east is the largest and is about 0.3 hectares in extent. It is surrounded by a flattened bank 7m wide and 0.7m high, with an outer ditch 8m wide and 0.3m deep. The central enclosure is 0.14 hectares in extent. It has a bank 5m wide and 0.4m high. This second enclosure and the third seem to have been constructed as a whole. The south west enclosure is roughly circular and 50m in diameter It has a flattened dome profile up to 1.7m high. There is an outer ditch 8m wide and 0.5m deep. It is possible the castle was never completed or thoroughly slighted.This site
has been described as a Timber Castle.These are the earthwork and
timber castles of the motte and bailey or ringwork form which where
the vast majority of castles of the early conquest period, of the
Marches in the 11th and 12th centuries and of the period during the
reign of Stephen known as the Anarchy. They were generally fairly
short lived, although some such castles survived for centuries, with
the timber buildings and defences being replaced on occasions
sometimes in timber and sometimes in Masonry (Alderton Castle in
Northamptonshire was shown in a Time Team excavation to have been
built about 1070 and to still have been having high status visitors in
the C15-a fine piece of enamels horse harness being found in the
gatehouse). Some of the smaller low mottes may have been adapted into
moated manor houses, whilst others where abandoned and replaced by
manor houses of a more comfortable and domestic nature. Timber castles
varied greatly in size with some being massive constructions clearly
deserving the term castle, whilst other were small mounds of minor
knights and had a similar size, function and social status as the
later pele towers. These small mottes are called 'castle' but this
could be considered a rather loose use of the term.
This site
is a scheduled
monument protected by law. The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SS24450673
Sources of information, references and further reading
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"Cuntelleugh an brewyon us gesys na vo kellys travyth"
(Gather up the fragments that are left that nothing be lost.)
The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies is a Registered Charity No. 247283
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