Stapleford Castle

In the civil parish of Stapleford.
In the historic county of Wiltshire (Modern Authority of Wiltshire, 1974 county of Wiltshire).

Medieval ringwork and bailey castle, surviving as earthworks. The earthwork remains of a ringwork and associated features at Stapleford lie on gently sloping ground at the edge of the flood plain of the River Till. On the N and W, where the ground rises, the bank of the ringwork is 3.6m high internally and rises 6m above the bottom of the ditch. In the SE use was made of low-lying land for defence; the bank here is much slighter. The ditch, which for much of its course has an average depth of about 3.5m, is crossed on the SW by the causeway for the original entrance. Within the interior a number of scarps are visible, which presumably represent the remains of internal buildings, although subsequent disturbance means that no coherent pattern is visible. To the N and W of the ringwork are the remains of an angular enclosure bounded by a bank which measures up to 2m high and an associated external ditch up to 1.7m deep.

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

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SU068378

PastScape number; 214405

Books

Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern) p100
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p501
Pevsner, N. (Revised by Cherry, Bridget), 1975, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire (London, Penguin) p432
Offer, J. and Hoare, R.C., 1825, The Histroy of Modern Wiltshire Vol2 Hundred of Branch and Dole (London: Nichols and Nichols) p22

Journal Articles

Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol93 p111
King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol3 p90-127
Downman, E.A. and Goddard, E.H., 1919 'Plans of Wiltshire Earthworks' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol40
Goddard, E.H., 1913-14, 'List of prehistoric, Roman and pagan Saxon antiquities' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol38 p323

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.

¤¤¤¤¤

Stapleford Castle

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SU068378

Sources of information, references and further reading