Details

The Mount has been interpreted in the past as a burial mound but more recent
observers have identified it as a Norman motte castle. The monument includes
the whole of the steep-sided mound, which has a diameter of some 60m and
stands 9m above the level of the surrounding land. The small, flat top is
likely to have provided the site for a single building or tower and a palisade
fence may have bounded this area. The motte is unusual in appearing not to
have been surrounded by a ditch.
Little is known of the history of the monument. The local name of Barrow
Green may indicate a folk tradition that the site was a burial mound, but
equally it might refer to the nearby rabbit-infested woods known as Coney
Burrow. The nearby Barrow Green Court was built or rebuilt in the early 17th
century, at which time the Mount may have been altered to provide views of the
associated gardens as was fashionable at the time - a map of 1762 shows the
Mount to have been at the end of a long avenue of trees.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Motte castles are medieval fortifications introduced into Britain by the
Normans. They comprised a large conical mound of earth or rubble, the motte,
surmounted by a palisade and a stone or timber tower. In a majority of
examples an embanked enclosure containing additional buildings, the bailey,
adjoined the motte. Motte castles and motte-and-bai1ey castles acted as
garrison forts during offensive military operations, as strongholds, and, in
many cases, as aristocratic residences and as centres of local or royal
administration. Built in towns, villages and open countryside, motte castles
generally occupied strategic positions dominating their immediate locality
and, as a result, are the most visually impressive monuments of the early
post-Conquest period surviving in the modern landscape. Over 600 motte castles
and motte-and-bailey castles are recorded nationally, with examples known from
most regions. Some 100-150 examples do not have baileys and are classified as
motte castles. As one of a restricted range of recognised early post-Conquest
monuments, they are particularly important for the study of Norman Britain and
the development of the feudal system. Although many were occupied for only a
short period of time, motte castles continued to be built and occupied from
the 11th to the 13th centuries, after which they were superseded by other
types of castle.

Despite the remodelling of the motte which appears to have taken place in the
post-medieval period, the summit of the Mount survives and it is here that the
most important of the archaeological remains are considered likely to survive.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L, Barrows of Surrey, (1934)
Malden, H E, The Victoria History of the County of Surrey, (1912)
Other
Surrey Antiquity 1246,

Source: Historic England