Court Farm Motte, Grafton

In the civil parish of Grafton.
In the historic county of Herefordshire (Modern Authority of Herefordshire, 1974 county of Hereford and Worcester).

Cropmark in pasture of large circular feature, over corner of cropmark enclosure (D shaped?) with double ditch on SW side. In addition there are other ditches outside of this, relationship not clear. Is this a motte built into an earlier enclosure? As much of the earliest development of castle took place in the Herefordshire borders, this site is potentially very important. One of very few mottes in the county built into earlier features. The site was visited (Roger Stirling-Brown) after examining an aerial photograph of the site. (J. Pickering). The evidence on the ground shows an eroded mound and the shallow remains of ditch three quarters of the way round. There is also signs of a silted pool on the NW quarter. There is buried stone on the edge of the mound and in the former ditch area. Ploughing has disturbed a lot of stone. Two pieces of stone were noted with diagonal tooling marks. A possible double ditch exists on the SW side of the bailey.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Cropmarks/slight earthworks remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO494369

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 10467

• Web site links
  • http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/db.php?smr_no=10467
• Books
  • Shoesmith, Ron, 1996, Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press)
    
• Journal Articles
  • Halliwell, P.R. (ed), 1993, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol59 p15