ancient barrow hill (legend)
The Mount (Motte), Barrow Green
Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number: 1012547
Date first listed: 11-Dec-1951
The Mount has been interpreted in the past as a burial mound but more recent observers have identified it as a Norman motte castle. The monument includes the whole of the steep-sided mound, which has a diameter of some 60m and stands 9m above the level of the surrounding land. The small, flat top is likely to have provided the site for a single building or tower and a palisade fence may have bounded this area. The motte is unusual in appearing not to have been surrounded by a ditch. Little is known of the history of the monument. The local name of Barrow Green may indicate a folk tradition that the site was a burial mound, but equally it might refer to the nearby rabbit-infested woods known as Coney Burrow. The nearby Barrow Green Court was built or rebuilt in the early 17th century, at which time the Mount may have been altered to provide views of the associated gardens as was fashionable at the time - a map of 1762 shows the Mount to have been at the end of a long avenue of trees.
Is it not possible a Norman fortification was placed on an ancient barrow!?
ancient barrow hill (legend)
The Mount (Motte), Barrow Green
Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number: 1012547
Date first listed: 11-Dec-1951
The Mount has been interpreted in the past as a burial mound but more recent observers have identified it as a Norman motte castle. The monument includes the whole of the steep-sided mound, which has a diameter of some 60m and stands 9m above the level of the surrounding land. The small, flat top is likely to have provided the site for a single building or tower and a palisade fence may have bounded this area. The motte is unusual in appearing not to have been surrounded by a ditch. Little is known of the history of the monument. The local name of Barrow Green may indicate a folk tradition that the site was a burial mound, but equally it might refer to the nearby rabbit-infested woods known as Coney Burrow. The nearby Barrow Green Court was built or rebuilt in the early 17th century, at which time the Mount may have been altered to provide views of the associated gardens as was fashionable at the time - a map of 1762 shows the Mount to have been at the end of a long avenue of trees.
Is it not possible a Norman fortification was placed on an ancient barrow!?