Dodlestone Castle
Also known as, or recorded in historical
documents as; Dodleston; Doddleston
In the civil parish of Dodlestone.
In the historic county of Cheshire (Modern Authority of Cheshire, 1974 county of Cheshire).
Small Motte & bailey castle immediately west of the churchyard. Motte stands in east half of bailey. Flat top is c.13m across. Motte is c.3.3m high surrounded by a ditch c.2.3m deep. No trace of building foundations. Bailey consists of a bank and ditch. Best preserved in east where ditch has an average width of c.6-7m and bank is 3m high. Also outer bank 1.5m high. No trace of entrance across bailey or to Motte. Ditch of motte & bailey obliterated in north by building of a rectory and its garden. Site mutilated by a fence running west-east across the site, garden activity mutilating north-east slopes of motte and fencing and make-up of gardens for three new houses along south and west bailey ditch. In 1086 the manor of Dodleston was held by Osberne Fitz Tezzon. It was the site of the seat of the Boydells and later passed to the Redishes. Within the site was erected a later mansion which was the property of the Manleys of Lache. This was probably the HQ of Sir William Brereton during the siege of Chester and is now taken down. Site includes flat-topped Motte, slightly damaged on N side, c.13m diameter at summit and 3.3m high. It is surrounded by a ditch on all sides except N, ditch is c.2.3m deep x 7m wide and is mainly dry. Bailey is bounded by a bank & outer ditch, bank c.7m wide by 1.5m high. Ditch remains waterlogged in South and is 6-7m wide & 3m deep. It is partially infilled on East side. A dry outlet channel 2.5m wide and 33m long issues from the SE corner of the outer ditch. (Cheshire HER)
This site is a scheduled
monument protected by law.
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ36146087
This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is
67014
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly
Sites and Monuments Record) number is 1978/2 '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
- Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern) p10
Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern) p17
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p17 [slight]
Cullen, P.W. and Hordern, R., 1986, Castles of Cheshire (Crossbow Books) p10
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p67
Ridgway, Maurice Hill, 1958, 'Medieval Castles' in Sylvester, D. and Nulty, G. (eds), The Historical Atlas of Cheshire (Cheshire Community Council) p24-5
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England (New York: Macmillan) Vol2 p170-1 http://www.archive.org/stream/castlesofengland02mack#page/170/mode/1up
Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol2 p170
Ormerod, G., 1882 [2edn], History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol2 p847
Hanshall, J.H., 1817-23, The History of the County Palatine of Chester p305-6
- Journal Articles
- King, D.J.C., 1973, ‘Dodleston Castle' The 120th annual meeting in Wrexham and district, 1973, CAA p15
Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol112 p77-124
Harrison, W., 1907, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Vol25 p151
Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol46 p197-217 esp201 http://www.archive.org/stream/archaeologicaljo46brit#page/197/mode/1up
- Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents
- This section is far from complete and the secondary
sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p138
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. All the sources
given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder
and permission obtained from them before use of the information
on this site for commercial purposes. I do
not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by
John Kenyon for the Council
for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link. |
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. |
¤¤¤¤¤
