Ilton Castle, Malborough

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Hilton; Yedilton

In the civil parish of Malborough. In the historic county of Devon (Modern Authority of Devon, 1974 county of Devon).

The earthwork remains of a deserted medieval settlement, a quadrangular castle, an associated garden and two fishponds. The western part of the settlement contains the earthworks of at least 13 small rectangular buildings. The eastern part lies on the north side of the valley and includes at least 3 small buildings and a hollow way. Cultivation terraces lie along the north and south sides of the site and several 18th century watermeadow leats cut across the earthworks, with a pond attached to one of them. The castle was documented in 1335 and stood on a terrace towards the east end of the site. A description of 1780, made when the walls were demolished, states that it was sub-rectangular with square corner towers. The earthwork terraces of an extensive formal garden lie to the east, west and north of the castle. 2 large fishponds once lay south of the castle site. One survives as an earthwork but the other is now buried beneath a modern farmstead. These ponds were used as an ornamental lake. (PastScape–ref. Scheduled Monument Notification)
License to crenellate granted to John Cheureston in 1335.
The local farmer reported very little stone turned up on ploughing when the site was investigated in 1987 (PastScape–Field Investigators Comments-F1 MJF 27-JAN-87) suggesting the castle has been very effectively demolished and the stone totally quarried away. This may also suggest the castle was not particularly thick walled. By 1335 square towers are, supposedly, a feature of northern enclosure castles, with southern castles having round towers but this site shows the dangers of such assumption based on a relatively few surviving castles.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX72564042

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 444537
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular '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, or elsewhere.

• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p695
    Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p136-43
    Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p87 [slight]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p120
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p411
    Lysons, D. and S., 1822, Magna Britannia Vol6 Devon p329 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=406]
• Journal Articles
  • Higham, R.A., 1988, 'Devon Castles: an annotated list' Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society Vol46 p142-9
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1334-38) p167
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p115
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p222 http://www.archive.org/stream/itineraryofjohnl01lelauoft#page/222/mode/1up
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • EH Scheduling amendment, 06-MAR-2002