The Gatehouse website record for Eastcotts Motte

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

Small medieval motte castle located 780m south east of Wood Farm, on the northern edge of Greensand Ridge overlooking Cardington, Bedford and the broad plain of the River Ouse. The castle stands on a broad terrace below the summit of the ridge, and was formed by the excavation of a wide ditch around a central mound, or motte, raised from the upcast soil. The motte, which is circular in plan, measures about 20m in diameter. It stands approximately 1.8m above the level of its surroundings and the surface has a slightly domed profile. The surrounding ditch measures approximately 4.5m in width and 1.4m in depth, and a low counterscarp bank surrounds the outer edge. The castle is thought to have been constructed in the late C11 or C12, either as part of the consolidation of the countryside after the Norman invasion, or as a matter of local defence during the period of sporadic civil war between Stephen and Matilda (1134-1148). (PastScape)
Scheduled as a motte, but was and is overgrown and has not been examined in detail.
The position is isolated from settlement but only 1km from Wootton church in what may have been a dispersed settlement. However, the position is unusual and the remains are not significant enough to have caught the attention of previous writers or Ordnance Survey map makers, which must make this a site that requires some further consideration.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TL01014423

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 362774
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 9263 '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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