The Gatehouse website record for Swerford Castle

In the civil parish of Swerford. In the historic county of Oxfordshire (Modern Authority of Oxfordshire, 1974 county of Oxfordshire).

Earthwork remains of C12 motte and bailey castle and an associated enclosure. It survives as an extant earthwork monument at the centre of the village. Part of the bailey has been destroyed. It may have been used later as a windmill tump.
The motte survives as a small stone and earthen conical mound c.18m in diameter at its summit and c.30m across at its base. It stands c.4m above the original ground level. It has been slightly truncated to the S where it has been levelled into the ditch. The bailey to the S of the motte is roughly kidney-shaped. It encloses an area c.52m across from E-W and 47m from N-S surrounded by a stone rampart 5m across and up to 3m high and a substantial ditch 10m wide and c.5m deep. It survives around the entire circuit except for a short 20m long section in the SW corner which was destroyed in 1925 by an extension of the adjacent churchyard. A number of platforms within the bailey mark the location of stables, kitchens and store rooms which will have buried remains. The original entrance lies on the N side of the castle, facing the ford. It is situated between the motte and the bailey ditch and measures 8m across. To the NE of the motte lies a second, smaller, bailey on which two slight circular platforms stand. Both platforms, believed to be the locations of a dovecote and windmill, measure c.13m in diameter and 0.4m high. The bailey has no ditch as such but is formed by a raised platform of material cut out of the slope. It measures c.32m from N-S and 19m from E-W. Slight traces of ridge and furrow cultivation are visible in the NE corner of the field in which the castle lies. These represent agricultural activity around the site in the Middle Ages. To the SW there is also a slight hollow way running through the line of the ditch which is believed to date to the period after the castle fell out of use. Part excavations in 1938 and 1956 recovered a large quantity of pottery and some metal work. Much of the pottery was of the same type as that found at Ascott d'oyley castle, believed to have been built at a similar date by the same family. The pottery suggests a date for the castle's construction in the second half of the C12, perhaps linked to the unrest of the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda known the 'the Anarchy'. (Oxfordshire HER)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP37243117

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 335112
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 1151 '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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