Monument record 0105600000 - WESTON TURVILLE MANOR HOUSE GROUNDS

SHOWN ORIGINALLY BUILT C11. NATURE OF DITCH INFILL CONFIRMS DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE OF SLIGHTING OF DEFENCES 1173/74 (B12).
CHARTER ILLUSTRATING MILITARY ASPECT OF SMALL PRIVATE CASTLE IN CENTRAL ENGLAND (STENTON)(B4).
Renn found a fragment of Saxo-Norman pottery here and gave it to Aylesbury Museum. There are two references to a castle here in the 12th century. A motte (The Mount) and twin baileys, bounded on the NW side by the flood plain of a stream, and now lying within the garden of the Manor House and the adjacent permanent pasture fields.. CASTLE GUARD MENTIONED IN GRANT BY GEOFFREY DE TURVILLE (FL 1127-66) (B5).
Negative watching brief by KDK Archaeology in November 2023 during service trenching (B17).

A motte and bailey of medieval date is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as extant earthworks and was mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located next to the Manor House, Weston Turville, north of St Mary’s Church, and centred at SP 85939 10396. The motte is approximately 47m in diameter and is surrounded by a moat which continues around the site of the bailey. The bailey measure 66x81m and is on the south side of the motte. A further moat surrounds another area of land to the east of the bailey which measures approximately 91x64m which shows land use of an orchard on the Ordnance Survey Epoch 1 map and modern land use as lawn. The water supply for the moat is from a watercourse that curves around the west side of the earthworks. This starts at the foot of the Chilterns escarpment that has been dammed to form the Weston Turville Reservoir and is shown with watercress beds near its source on the Ordnance Survey Epoch 1 map. Modern aerial photographs show the area is wooded but the earthworks are clear on lidar visualisation. Further earthworks of possible plot boundaries, water meadows and ridge and furrow field systems can also be seen surrounding the site. (31-36).




The works apparently consisted of a motte with surrounding ditch and a bailey to the south of the motte; of a second bailey on the east, only a part of the ditch remains. (B37).
The motte is c 60.0m in diameter and 5.0m high, with a ditch 2.4m deep around the E arc. The area to the NW was probably protected by the flooded plain and no ditch would have been necessary. The S bailey, c 80.0m E-W x 70.0m N-S, is enclosed by a ditch, up to 1.8m deep and mutilated by landscape gardening, which fades into the flood plain at a point 50.0m SW of the motte. The E bailey, c 80.0m NE-SW x 50.0m transversely, is defended by a ditch, 2.0m maximum depth, with an inner bank, now 0.5m high, discernible along the SE side. The ditch is heavily mutilated by a hedge line to the NE. To the SE of the bailey are two banks 80.0m and 40.0m long respectively, and up to 1.5m high, and a ditch, 1.8m maximum depth. These probably represent the remains of additional defences. Published survey (25") revised (B38).
No change from report of 29.2.72. Surveyed on MSD at 1:2500 (B39).
An excavation in advance of construction of a swimming pool, was carried out on the motte ditch by Mr P Yeoman for HBMC and BCM. Two gullies predated construction of the motte. The ditch itself was cut to a depth of almost 2.0m and was waterlogged at the bottom. From the basal fill came two blocks of dressed masonry, presumably from an adjacent building. After a period of natural silting, dump infill occurred, possibly to be associated with the slighting of the castle recorded in 1173/4 (B40).
Listed by Cathcart King. The motte was dismantled on the orders of Henry II in 1173. There is reference to a castle at Weston Turville being licenced in 1334, but this may refer to the site at Manor Farm (B41).
According to historian Mr. P.C. Davis, as Manor Farm was the manor house for the sub manor of Hide it is impossible that it was the site of the licence to crenellate and deduces that the motte and bailey is the more likely site referred to by that licence (B42).

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence.