Monument record MDO4833 - Platform, possibly the site of a former manor house, Stourton Caundle

Earthworks which are reputedly the site of a castle, but more likely to be the site of a manor house. In 1970 the monument was described as square platform about 45 yards by 45 yards and six inches high, with indeterminate scarps and mounds nearby. Medieval pottery has been found on the site.

(19) FISH POND AND LEAT (713149), in the bottom of a small steep-sided valley 330 yds. S.W. of the church, lie immediately S of (18). The L-shaped pond, now dry, is 100 yds. long, 30 yds wide and up to 10ft. deep. At the E. or down-stream end are the abutments of a former dam. S. of the pond and cut into the valley side is a water channel or leat, 3 ft. to 5 ft. wide and up to 2 1/2 ft. deep. <2-3>

The site is represented by a 45.0m. square platform vaguely discernible at ST 71251500 (A). The position is not defensive, and the building was probably a fortified manor house, common in the 13th to 14th century. Some fragments of gritty black Medieval ware and animal bones were found in a small digging into the side of the pond 50.0m. south of the site.

The rectangular fishpond centred at ST 71251496 was probably fed at the west end and a pierced bank of earth at the extreme south east corner probably incorporated a sluice and outflow. The site suggests that the fishpond was also a mill-pond but no building structure was found.

Centred at ST 71201500 (b) is a small grass covered area of scarped elongated platforms, well above the pond level and with a south aspect. this is probably evidence of Medieval depopulation. <4>

The L-shaped fishpond has been recently reformed into two separate ponds with a total length of about 180.0m, and the former dam abutments have been destroyed.

ST 71141492 to ST 71381595. The leat (depicted on OS 25"), has been utilised to supply the new ponds, resulting in the terminal 200.0m of the original water-channel becoming defunct. <5>

ST 7131151500 Site of (NAT) Castle (NR). <6>

Listed as a possible castle by Cathcart King. <7>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1890 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 71301500) Castle

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 18-19 (Monograph). SDO146.

<3> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 2155-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17685.

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 22-JUL-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Barrett, G, Various, Field Investigators Comments GB, F2 GB 16-AUG-78 (Unpublished document). SDO17369.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 scale, 1927 (Map). SWX1197.

<7> Cathcart-King, D J, 1983, Castellarium anglicanum: an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands, 130 (Monograph). SDO16340.

<8> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 269 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(18) Platform (713150), on the N. side of a small valley 300 yds. S.W. of the church, is said to be the remains of a 'castle' (Hutchins III, 667). Nothing survives except a few indeterminate scarps and mounds, and a platform 45 yds. square and about ½ ft. high. There is no evidence of a mediaeval castle; the remains more probably represent a former manor house, perhaps with turrets, as shown on a plan in Wilts. Record Office (Stourhead papers, 929). Mediaeval pottery has been found on the site (O.S. records).'

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 202270 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 3:08PM