Laughton en le Morthen Castle Hill

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Thurcroft Castle Hill; Castle Yard

In the civil parish of Thurcroft.
In the historic county of Yorkshire West Riding (Modern Authority of Rotherham, 1974 county of South Yorkshire).

Remains of a Motte and Bailey and the alleged site of an Anglo-Saxon hall of Edwin, Earl of Mercia, according to Domesday. Earthwork remains of a Medieval motte and bailey in a good state of preservation. The mound is 370ft in circumference and the ditch 5ft deep. The truncated top of the mound is flat and measures 27ft east to west and 30ft from north to south. The bailey is surrounded by a bank and ditch. The bank is 8ft high and 15ft wide, the ditch is 20ft wide and 6ft below the exterior level.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Earthworks remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SK51628821

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 318539

Books

Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p57
Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p20
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p305
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p520-21
Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield) p128
Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Yorkshire Vol2 p32-3
Smith, Wm. (ed), 1881, Old Yorkshire p6-8
Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol1 p24

Journal Articles

Birch, J., 1980, 'The castles and fortified houses of South Yorkshire' Archaeological Journal Vol137 p374-6
Birch, J., 1980, ‘Castle Yard or Thurcroft Castle Hill, Laughton-en-le-Morthen’ Archaeological Journal Vol137 p429-30
Addy, S.O., 1914-18, Hunter Archaeological Society Transactions Vol1 p357-9
Gould, I.C., 1904, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol10 p36-8
Stacye and Hills, 1874, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol30 p397-408
Clark, G.T., 1874, The Builder Vol32 p585-6

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

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations.

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.

Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with this site.

¤¤¤¤¤