Edburton motte and bailey castle, Fulking Escarpment

Record ID:  121304 / MNA127357
Record type:  Monument
Protected Status: Scheduled Monument
NT Property:  Fulking Escarpment; London and South East
Civil Parish:  Fulking; Mid Sussex; West Sussex
Grid Reference:  TQ 2376 1097
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Summary

Motte and bailey surrounded by a ditch. The motte is 30m in diameter and 2m high, with internal later depression and is completely surrounded by a ditch 6m wide and 1m deep, with a low bank 0.6m high beyond. The motte is flanked to the N by two smaller mounds. A horse-shoe shaped ditch joins onto the motte ditch on the north-west and north-east corners.

Identification Images (4)

Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey castle © National TrustEdburton motte and bailey castle, Fulking Escarpment © National TrustEdburton motte and bailey castle, Fulking Escarpment © National TrustEdburton motte and bailey castle, Fulking Escarpment © National Trust
Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey castle © National TrustEdburton motte and bailey castle, Fulking Escarpment © National TrustEdburton motte and bailey castle, Fulking Escarpment © National TrustEdburton motte and bailey castle, Fulking Escarpment © National Trust

Most Recent Monitoring

None Recorded

Monument Types

  • MOTTE AND BAILEY (Saxon - 410 AD to 1065 AD)

Description

The monument includes the earthworks and interior area of a motte and bailey castle believed to date from the immediate post-Conquest period, soon after October 1066.
On the south side of the monument is a circular mound - the motte - 30m in diameter and 2m above the general ground level at its crest. The centre of the motte is scarred by a depression resulting from mistaken barrow digging in the 19th century, but much of the motte survives intact. It is completely surrounded by a ditch some 6m wide and still nearly 1m deep, and beyond the ditch around the southern half is a low bank 0.6m high which has been truncated slightly by ploughing on the southern extremity. The motte is flanked to the N by two smaller mounds.

A horse-shoe shaped ditch joins onto the motte ditch on the north-west and north-east corners. This ditch, again some 6m wide but deeper than the motte ditch (up to 1.5 to 1.8m deep) defines the bailey area. On the inner edge is a strong earthen bank up to 1.2m above the interior level and therefore up to 3m above the bottom of the ditch. This bank, in places 14m across, is breached to both east and west, and the ditch is correspondingly causewayed to allow entry into the bailey. On the outer edge is a second bank, this one slighter and diminishing to nothing around the northern side where additional defence is made unnecessary by the steep slope of the scarp slope. The low bank which extends southwards from the eastern edge of the monument is a later land division and is not included in the scheduling. Archaeological Comments - Site:121304*0 This castle was constructed on the border between two rapes - Bramber and Lewes. Rapes were introduced by the Saxons and modified by the Normans as a means of dividing Sussex up administratively. Bramber rape was a new one at the time of the Normans. Two of his earls held the lordships of the rapes here. This castle has large views both to north and south. It is likely to have been important at least in the early post-Conquest years as a display of power and the 'new order' of the Normans. Such castles acted as garrison forts during offensive military operations, as strongholds, and in may cases, as aristocratic residences and the centre of local or royal administration. Sussex was relatively easily quelled and therefore its use is more likely to have been administrative and residential than as a fort or stronghold. Nevertheless the two earls were on opposite sides when the barons tried to overthrow the kingdom and so this castle may have had some defence role then.

References

  • --- SZL12359 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 10 of 12. NONE. 36.

  • --- SZL13448 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton Hill Castle site. NONE. 12.

  • --- SZL14099 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 2 of 12. NONE. 28.

  • --- SZL16033 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking - View north from below Edburton motte and bailey. 11.

  • --- SZL170 - Monograph: J Guy. 1984. Castles in Sussex.

  • --- SZL19537 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey western edge of ditch around bailey at northern corner. Two of t. 2M. 10.

  • --- SZL19783 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey western edge of ditch around motte. 2.

  • --- SZL22012 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 9 of 12. NONE. 35.

  • --- SZL25487 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 6 of 12. NONE. 32.

  • --- SZL26147 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey western edge of ditch around motte. 3.

  • --- SZL26148 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey eastern edge of ditch around bailey and view over Weald. 2M. 4.

  • --- SZL28953 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 8 of 12. NONE. 34.

  • --- SZL31031 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey western edge of ditch around bailey showing mound inside bailey . 2M. 8.

  • --- SZL32466 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 7 of 12. NONE. 33.

  • --- SZL37046 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey western edge of ditch around motte where it appears to circumven. 2M. 6.

  • --- SZL38279 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey western edge of ditch around bailey at northern corner. One of t. 2M. 9.

  • --- SZL38970 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 3 of 12. NONE. 29.

  • --- SZL38971 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 4 of 12. NONE. 30.

  • --- SZL40953 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 1 of 12. NONE. 27.

  • --- SZL41877 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 11 of 12. NONE. 37.

  • --- SZL45781 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking - Edburton motte and bailey western edge of ditch around bailey showing mound inside bailey . 2M. 7.

  • --- SZL47080 - Photograph - colour: Joy Ede. 01/01/1996. Fulking Escarpment - Edburton motte and bailey - Panorama - 5 of 12. NONE. 31.

  • --- SZL8062 - Monograph: L F Salzmann. 1940. The Victoria History of the County of Sussex (Rape of Lewes). 7.

  • ---XY SNA69144 - Digital Image: Environment Agency. 2020. LIDAR Composite DTM 2020 - 1m. 1M. [Mapped features: #185111 Ditch, Motte and bailey surrounded by a ditch. The motte is 30m in diameter and 2m high, with internal later depression and is completely surrounded by a ditch 6m wide and 1m deep, with a low bank 0.6m high beyond, ; #185112 Bank, Motte and bailey surrounded by a ditch. The motte is 30m in diameter and 2m high, with internal later depression and is completely surrounded by a ditch 6m wide and 1m deep, with a low bank 0.6m high beyond, ]

Designations

Other Statuses and References

  • Environmentally Sensitive Area
  • National Monuments Record Reference: TQ21SW1/399342
  • National Park (South Downs)
  • Site of Special Scientific Interest (Biological)

Associated Events

  • ENA2060 - Field Survey, Archaeological and Land use history survey Fulking Escarpment
  • ENA10556 - Remote Sensing, Changing Chalk: Downs from Above. Aerial Survey of the South Downs north of Brighton

Associated Finds

None Recorded

Related Records

None Recorded