The Gatehouse website record for Oldcastle Castle Hill

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

Situated on a spur overlooking the deep valley of the Wych Brook. In 1882, Ormerod noted a number of small hills & on the summit of one were indications of the works of an ancient fortress. In July 1957, the felling of trees revealed an impressive earthwork, consisting of a small platform on the crest of the spur c.100ft x 36ft, with well-defined ditch systems along each end. At the SE end, overlooking the river are 3 short transverse ditches, each c.60ft long x 40ft wide & 16ft deep. At the NW end, the neck of the spur is cut by 2 ditches, the inner one being 60-70ft wide. This inner ditch was sectioned by a trench 14ft long x 3ft wide. The fill was clean, undifferentiated clay, 4.5ft deep to the bottom of the ditch. No finds. Trenching on the platform produced no finds, but there were indications of a layer of stone on the natural clay & a possible hearth. Possibly an outpost to the castle at Malpas. Motte castle in strategic position on a narrow promontory formed by a meander of the Wych brook on the England - Wales border. Site comprises Motte c.30m x 11m in a central position along the promontory. The Motte is protected by a well defined system of defensive features including 3 short traverse ditches to the SE river side of the Motte & and a further 2 banked ditches to the NW landward side. (Cheshire HER)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ46784414

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 68721
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 1667/1 '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.

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.