The Gatehouse website record for Middleton Motte

In the civil parish of Middleton. In the historic county of Norfolk (Modern Authority of Norfolk, 1974 county of Norfolk).

Motte and bailey castle. The motte is 45m in diameter and 10m high with a platform on the top 9m across. It is encircled by a ditch 8m wide and 2,5m deep. The bailey adjouned the motte on the eastern side and was sub rectangular in shape, 58m by 36m. Overlying the bailey ditch on the south western side where it joins the motte is a latter pond. It is possible that the castle was built soon after the Norman conquest, fragments of pottery recovered during excavations show that it was occupied during the first half of C12. An excavation in 1987 revealed traces of Late Saxon occupation underneath the bailey. The excavation also showed that the castle lies within an earlier rectangular enclosure that may date to the Iron Age. Fragments of Late Saxon pottery and a medieval seal have been found on the site.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TF66071643

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 356233
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 3394 '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.

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

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