The Gatehouse website record for Great Somerford; The Mound

Great Somerford; The Mound

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; The Mount

In the civil parish of Great Somerford. In the historic county of Wiltshire (Modern Authority of Wiltshire, 1974 county of Wiltshire).

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Siege Work.

This site was certainly a medieval fortification or palace.

Earthworks remains.

Fair sized low motte at river crossing, flat-topped and 3.4m high in which the remains of a ruined building, possibly a church, were excavated in 1811 and 1910. Creighton suggests the castle mound was built over an existing church to control the nearby ford and the present nearby church is a refoundation. This could make this a siege work, possibly one of the three known to have been raised in 1144 against Malmesbury Castle.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST96388310

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

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 212674
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is ST98SE454 '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.

Web site links

http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/smr/getsmr.php?id=5426

Books

Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern) p91
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p278 [slight]
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p499
Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p299
Pevsner, N. (Revised by Cherry, Bridget), 1975, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire (London, Penguin) p261
Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p313

Journal Articles

Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol93 p112-4
Goddard, E., 1930, 'The mount at Great Somerford' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol45 p88-9, 137-8 [weak excavation report]
Downman, E.A. and Goddard, E.H., 1919 'Plans of Wiltshire Earthworks' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol40
1896-8, Wiltshire notes and queries Vol2 p543

Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)

Sewell, R.C. (ed), 1846, Gesta Stephani, Regis Anglorum et Ducis Normannorum p59 http://books.google.com/books?id=MK8KAAAAYAAJ

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.

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