Hartshill Castle

In the civil parish of Hartshill.
In the historic county of Warwickshire (Modern Authority of Warwickshire, 1974 county of Warwickshire).

Fortified manor house, probably built circa 1567. The remains of the house occupy the north east angle of a C12 motte enclosed by the remains of a circa 1330 wall. Remains of a C14 chapel are also within the walls. The motte is not quite circular, measuring some 50m by 45m at the base, and tapering to 10m in diameter at the top. it is 9m high and surrounded by a ditch. The ditch is 5m wide and 1.5m deep. There may have been two baileys. A polygonal curtain wall overlies one of the baileys. Recent excavations (2000) were apparently done without archaeological supervision!

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Fortified Manor House.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry footings remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 309189)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP32549433

PastScape number; 336263

Web site links

http://timetrail.warwickshire.gov.uk/detail.aspx?monuid=WA240
http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_midlands/140/hartshill.html

Books

Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p257
Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p49
Salter, Mike, 1992, Castles and Moated Mansions of Warwickshire (Malvern) p29-30
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p482
Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p239
Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
Pevsner, Nikolaus and Wedgwood, Alexandra, 1966, The buildings of England: Warwickshire p307
Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1947, VCH Warwickshire Vol4 p131
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)

Journal Articles

Wilson, M., 2006, 'Hartshill Castle and an issue of trust' The Archaeologist Vol60 p24-5
Chatwin, P.B., 1947-8, 'Castles in Warwickshire' Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society Vol67 p8-9
Chatwin, P.B., 1928, Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society Vol53 p206-10

Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)

Baker, H.D., 1987, Warwickshire Monument Evaluation and Presentation Project
Brown, G., 1997, A field investigation and survey at Hartshill Hayes

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.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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Hartshill Castle

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP32549433

Sources of information, references and further reading