Weston Turville; The Mount

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; West Turville; Weston Molyns; Manor House

In the civil parish of Weston Turville. In the historic county of Buckinghamshire (Modern Authority of Buckinghamshire, 1974 county of Buckinghamshire).

Motte and twin baileys. The works apparently consisted of a motte with surrounding ditch and a bailey to the south of the motte; of a second bailey on the east, only a part of the ditch remains. Renn found a fragment of Saxo-Norman pottery here and gave it to Aylesbury Museum. There are two references to a castle here in C12, one to its slighting in 1173-4. The motte is 60m in diameter and 5m high, with a ditch 2.4m deep around the east arc. The southern bailey is 80m by 70m and is enclosed by a ditch 1.8m deep. The eastern bailey is 80m by 50 and is defended by a ditch, 2m in maximum depth, with an inner bank, now 0.5m high. (PastScape)
Suggested as the site for the licence to crenellate granted in 1334 to John de Moleyns and his wife. An early C18 manor house sits in the bailey of the castle and this may well be the site of Molyns house. It is unlikely that the motte and bailey was refortified at this time.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 42897)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP859104

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 344448; 869875
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 0105600000 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Web site links
  • http://ubp.buckscc.gov.uk/ThemeDetails.aspx?UID=MBC3201
    http://ubp.buckscc.gov.uk/ResultsDetails.aspx?UID=MBC3206
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern) p37
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p10 [slight]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p28-29 [Called Manor House]
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p317
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p344
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1960, The buildings of England: Buckinghamshire (Harmondsworth) p282
    Page, Wm (ed), 1908, VCH Buckinghamshire Vol2 p324 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=62789
    Ditchfield, P.H. and Page, Wm (ed), 1906, VCH Berkshire Vol1 p316
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England (New York: Macmillan) Vol1 p148 http://www.archive.org/stream/castlesofengland01mack#page/148/mode/1up
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p410
• Journal Articles
  • 1989, South Midlands Archaeology Vol19 p14
    1988, South Midlands Archaeology Vol18 p27
    Hagerty, R.P., 1986, ‘The Turvilles and the castle of Weston Turville' Records of Buckinghamshire Vol28 p179-81
    Yeoman, P.A.St J., 1986, ‘Excavations at the motte, Weston Turville Manor, 1985' Records of Buckinghamshire Vol28 p169-78
    Yeoman, P.A., 1986, ‘Excavations at the Manor House, Weston Turville’ South Midlands Archaeology Vol16 p41-2
    Farley M., 1985, Records of Buckinghamshire Vol27 p132
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1330-34) p493