Details

The monument includes the remains of a motte and bailey castle in a valley
bottom adjacent to the village of Brockton on the north side of Corve Dale. It
includes a well defined motte of rock and earth, roughly oval in plan with
dimensions of 25m north to south by 20m east to west and up to 2.1m above the
surrounding ground surface. A ditch averaging 8m wide and 1.5m deep surrounds
the eastern half of the motte. The western half of the ditch is now submerged
beneath a large pond which lies up to the motte margin. A bailey, which would
have protected the domestic buildings of the castle, is believed to have been
attached to the west side of the motte. This area is now submerged beneath the
water of a partly embanked pond some 60m east to west by 40m north to south
and is not included in the scheduling. There is a length of bank which curves
from the north side of the motte towards the north west for 60m. Although it
has been strengthened to act as a dam for the pond, its lower levels are
believed to represent the northern side of the bailey. This is included within
the scheduling.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Motte and bailey 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-bailey 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 and
bailey 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 or motte-and-bailey castles are recorded nationally,
with examples known from most regions. 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.

The motte at Brockton survives well and remains a good example of its class.
Although the area once occupied by the bailey is now largely submerged beneath
the waters of a pond, a length of the northern bailey bank survives well and,
despite some modification, remains a good sample of the original bailey
earthworks. Both the motte and the northern rampart will retain valuable
archaeological information relating to the construction and occupation of the
site. Environmental evidence pertaining to the landscape in which the monument
was constructed will survive sealed beneath the motte and the surviving
section of the bailey bank and in the ditch fill. Such motte castles provide
valuable information concerning the settlement pattern and social organisation
of the countryside during the medieval period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Record no 358,

Source: Historic England