Kinderton Hall

In the civil parish of Middlewich. In the historic county of Cheshire (Modern Authority of Cheshire, 1974 county of Cheshire).

Medieval moat surviving as earthwork and site of Old Kinderton Hall demolished in C18. Alleged site of castle at Domesday. The moated island is slightly trapezoidal from 40 to 50m east to west by 50m north to south. Fishponds are visible. Formal garden earthworks are present. Rejected by King as garden mound and moat.
`The antient hall of Kinderton stood near the banks of the Dane, at the distance of two fields breadth from the site of the Roman works of [the supposed] Condate, which probably suggested a position for the Norman head of this barony. A part only of the moat is remaining, but it formerly inclosed a parallelogram of several acres, in the south-west angle of which is a large circular mound, which was most probably raised to support the keep tower.' (Ormerod)
The earthworks mentioned by Ormerod and Mackenzie are not the remains of a castle, but comprise a medieval moat (SJ 76 NW 6) and a prospect mound within a post medieval formal garden (SJ 76 NW 23). Contrary to Mackenzie, Domesday does not mention a castle at Kinderton. The confusion seems to have been caused by Kinderton's status as the head of a barony with the consequent expectation that there should be a baronial castle here. Although such a castle may once have existed, there is no surface trace of it in the vicinity of Kinderton Hall. (PastScape–Field Investigators Comments–Paul Everson/10-SEP-1986/RCHME)
This may well have been the site of a DMV and the development of Kinderton Hall, its gardens and the expansion of Middlewich make reading the medieval landscape impossible. There were significant river crossings here and the expectation of this being a castle site is not unreasonable, but without significant evidence the site must be questionable.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ70806702

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 932114; 74705; 932103
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 753/1/1 '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.

• Books
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p69 [reject]
    Dodgson, J.McN., 1970-1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire Vol2 p236-7
    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 p175 http://www.archive.org/stream/castlesofengland02mack#page/175/mode/1up
    Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England  (Wyman and Sons) Vol2 p175-6
    Ormerod, G., 1882 [2edn], History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol3 p201
    1860, History, Gazeteer and Directory of Cheshire (White, F. and Co) p510
    Gastrell, F., 1845, Notita Cestriensis Vol1 p249
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/shropseng.html#ches12]
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Vale Royal Borough Council: Ancient Monument No 13492 http://www2.valeroyal.gov.uk/internet/vr.nsf/AllByUniqueIdentifier/DOCB86FCDE77F9EC84D80256FA10038475C/$file/Monuments.pdf