Penwortham Castle Hill

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Peneworth

In the civil parish of Penwortham. In the historic county of Lancashire (Modern Authority of Lancashire, 1974 county of Lancashire).

Medieval motte and probable bailey surviving as earthworks. The castle was in existence by 1086 and fell into ruins after 1232. The mound is conical in form, slightly oval in plan with a diameter of 120ft at its longest base, and 25ft across the summit. There was no ditch between the mound and the bailey. A careful excavation in 1856 revealed a boulder pavement at a depth of 11ft below the summit. Finds overlying the pavement included a broken paddle, net sinkers, a prickspur, a spindle whorl, wooden pegs, iron nails and animal bones. These remains have been interpreted as the remains of a Saxon Hall, but may represent an earlier phase of the Motte's keep. Castle is mentioned in Domesday.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SD52442907

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 42566
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular '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, or elsewhere.

• Web site links
  • http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/archaeologyandheritage/archsites/arch18.asp
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern) p36
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p136 [slight]
    Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford)
    Crosby, A., 1988, Penwortham in the past (Preston: Carnegie Press) espec p27-33
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p247
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p274
    Gibson, Leslie Irving, 1977, Lancashire Castles and Towers (Dalesman Books)
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p276
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1969, Lancashire, 2. The rural north (Harmondsworth) p189
    Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p183-5
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Gardner, 1908, in Farrer, William and Brownbill, J. (eds), VCH Lancaster Vol2 p533-7
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p200
    Hardwick, C., 1857, History of the borough of Preston (Preston) p103-11
• Journal Articles
  • Harfield, C.G., 1991, 'A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book' English Historical Review Vol106 p371-392 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28199104%29106%3A419%3C371%3AAHOCRI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
    Higham, Mary, 1991, 'The Mottes of North Lancashire, Lonsdale and South Cumbria' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol91 p79-90 [reprinted in Crosby, A.G. (ed), 2007, Of names and places: selected writings of Mary Higham (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society and the Society for Name Studies) p81-91]
    Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' Archaeological Journal Vol143 p315
    Armitage, E., 1904 April, 'The Early Norman Castles of England' The English Historical Review Vol19 p209-245, 417-455 http://www.archive.org/stream/englishhistorica19londuoft
    Fishwick, H., 1901, The Old Castles of Lancashire.' Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Vol19 p75-6
    Thornber, W., 1856-7, 'The castle hill of Penwortham' Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Vol9 p61-76
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/durhameng.html#lancs17]