Arlesey Village Defence

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Etonbury

In the civil parish of Arlesey. In the historic county of Bedfordshire (Modern Authority of Bedfordshire, 1974 county of Bedfordshire).

According to King has embanked defences, a burgus enclosure of the castle of Etonbury (qv). Presumably this is the same as "Etonbury - a defensive earthwork which has been interpreted as a possible Danish harbour or homestead moat" recorded in PastScape.
Difficult to interpret and now damaged earthworks are probably manorial earthworks and may include some village defenses, although these may be flood defences and water management earthworks. The parish church is not within the earthworks and it seems unlikely that the whole village was enclosed, although the manor house and some other houses may have been.
See Etonbury Castle for fuller bibliography

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TL192379

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 362431
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 395 '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
  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p259
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p4,8
    Dyer, J.F., 1972, 'Earthworks of the Danelaw Frontier' in Fowler, P.J. (ed), 1972, Archaeology and the landscape: essays for L V Grinsell p222-36