Styford (Bywell) [NZ 01556249] Mound. (1)

A large, artificial conical-shaped mound with a strong ditch surrounding on three sides. On the south there is a steep, natural slope to the river valley below. The mound is 5m high on the east, and the summit slopes slightly upwards to be 6.6m high on the west. The ditch is deepest and widest on the north where the approach is from higher ground. The whole earthwork has been mutilated by much quarrying. Rig and furrow ploughing runs up to the perimeter of the ditch. There is no apparent outer bank. Situated with a commanding view to east, south and west, the earthwork is defensive, and is quite characteristic of a motte. (2)

Description and published survey (25 inch) correct. (3)

Styford motte was built in the 12th century, and was the caput of the Bolbec family. (4)

Reference number: N10057

Henry I granted the lands here to Walter de Bolbec (d c.1133), which remained with his descendants until 1262. He may have founded the castle. This is one of the suggested sites of the castle of Tiefort, which was mentioned in 1216.

Gatehouse Gazeteer: 2445

Is there a faint outline of something in the flat field just N of the Styford Motte (NZ 0166 6273)? Very difficult to make this into anythying other than perhaps a possible plough-levelled enclosure, or lumpy, disturbed ground. It is visible on both dsm and dtm lidar. However, I have been unable to find any further evidence to support the observation such as crop-marks on available aerial photos or historic satellite imagery. The Historic England aerial mapping explorer is still blank in this area.

The trouble with this theory is the presence of even fainter and similar marks in the surrounding fields and nothing particularly representative of a deserted medieval village that we see elsewhere in Northumberland.

See K2P: N10068 

Wrathmell, S, 1975 is given as reference 6 and is quoted in the HER record as follows:

There is a similar 'disturbed' area visible on lidar between Styford Hall (built c.1800) and the old ford across the River Tyne within the emparked area (NZ 0200 6199). This could be the location of the buildings referred to on the 1708 and 1749 plans. Being close to the river, it would certainly have sufferered in the Great Flood of 1771.

Wrathmell could have been correct though in assuming that the early medieval deserted village was much higher above the river haughs, somewhere up near the motte.

There is little remaining medieval rig and furrow in either of the two locations although a small area can be seen on lidar running up to the NE edge of the ditch surrounding the motte.

Warden Castle ('Motte')

Location: NY 9119 6652

Should this be better described as a ringwork rather than a motte?

Elevation profiles from lidar (dtm, 1m) and 1m contours shows that the castle mound is raised by at most 2m.above the level of the hillside from which it has been separated by a cut ditch.

Description

The motte castle at Warden is a well preserved example of a monument type which is rare in Northumberland. Evidence relating to the nature and duration of its use will be preserved and hence the site will contribute to the study of the Norman Conquest of northern Britain.

The monument includes a Norman motte situated on the top of a natural hill commanding a prominent position above the confluence of the rivers North and South Tyne. The conical motte, which stands at a height of at least 3m, has been constructed upon a high promontory in order to utilize the steep natural defence on the north, east and south sides and it is only on the west side that artificial defences have been dug. These consist of a ditch, which isolates the motte from the rest of the promontory, varying in width from 2.5m to a maximum of 5m. The motte is flat-topped and oval in plan measuring 35m by 19m. A bank has been constructed along its western edge which now stands at a height of 0.5m. There is a causeway across the ditch in the south-western corner of the monument, the presumed site of an original entrance. The motte was constructed in this strategic position in order to dominate the passage of traffic across the rivers. (Scheduling Report)

"Measures 35 paces x 25 paces, cut off by a ditch from a sort of promontory, by the side of a deep fissure in the declivity." An oval Camp, immediately north of the Vicarage, at outpost from Warden Hill (NY 96 NW 17) to watch the fords of the river (MacLauchlan 1858).

"A track comes up from the road and passes the Camp as a hollow-way on the south, and there is also an entrance with a ramp up to it on the north side, but whether this last is modern or original cannot be said. On the west there is a ditch; on the east there is a very steep slope down to the level of the road." (Hedley 1923-4).

An earthwork situated in an excellent commanding position on a promontory, overlooking the confluence of two major rivers (North Tyne & South Tyne). The promontory has been isolated by the construction of a strong ditch across the neck, and heightened so that the level top now stands 2.0 m., above the level of the ground to the NW. A defensive bank has been erected south-east of the ditch, elsewhere defences are natural and precipitous. A probable original entrance is visible in the west face of the work, a causewayed entrance to the north is sharply cut and possibly later, there are no signs of internal occupation, the present nearest water supply is a well 70.0 m. to the NE., perambulation revealed no traces of out-works. The hollow-way, refd. to by Hedley, is a natural steep sided ravine.
From the construction and topographical situation the earthwork is adjudged to be a Motte.

Warden Church (150.0 m. to the S.E.) is indicative of Saxon & Norman occupation in this area. (See NY 96 NW 13 & 40) Similar earthworks of this nature have been encountered in this county at Wooler (NT 92 NE 59) and Lowick Low Stead (NU 03 NW 4) (F1 FDC 3.5.56). (PastScape)

Comments

Sometimes described as partial ringwork. The strategic position, overlooking fords should be noted but it dhould also be noted the parish church is of Saxon origin and, therefore, it is likely the Norman castle is sited on the site of a Saxon manorial site.

Gatehouse Gazeteer: 2866

Keys to the Past: N8559

Scheduled Monument: 1011417

"English historian, Davison, theorized in 1967 that ringwork castles, rather than mottes, were the key castles used by the Normans in the conquest of England, and Arbuthnot states that this theory has been confirmed by archaeological and historical evidence and is now widely accepted (Arbuthnot 2010:35; Davison 1969;19-24)."

When is a ringwork a ringwork? Identifying the ringwork castles of County Wexford with a view to reconsidering Irish ringwork classification. Grace Dennis-Toone (2019). Thesis.

Historic England (2018). Earthwork and Timber Castles: Introductions to Heritage Assets. Swindon. Historic England.

Location: NY 8611 7678 

Wark-on-Tyne. Northumberland Extensive Urban Survey. Northumberland County Council and English Heritage (2009).

Mote Hill or Wark Castle.

The settlement [of Wark] lies around a ‘T’ junction formed by the B6320 - which runs along the west bank of the river between Chollerford, four miles to the south and Bellingham five miles to the north - and a minor road which runs up the east side of the river before crossing at Wark. The presence of this crossing, initially a ford, must have been a major influence on the site of any settlement, as would have been a prominent plateau, Mote Hill, just to the south of the crossing, a naturally defensible position and one which seems to have been enhanced during the 12th century as an earthwork castle.

Mote Hill was formed at this period [recession of last Ice Age] as a drumlin and is made up of contorted bands of gravels and sands. Terraces have been formed along the valley above flat haughlands.

A notable omission amongst any records is specific reference to a castle on Mote Hill.

Mote Hill, a relatively flat-topped plateau with steep edges to all sides, lies immediately to the south of the village of Wark and the bridging point of the river. The Warks Burn runs into the North Tyne a little to the south of the hill, a confluence which may have provided the name of the feature ‘mote’ is Anglo Saxon for a meeting place, possibly of the waters.

Mote Hill Farm, mostly of 18th and 19th century date but with one building in its ranges dating to the 17th century (see Appendix 3 for Event no 320) covers the north-west quarter of the plateau and succeeds a post-medieval manor house constructed by Francis Radcliffe in the 1660s and 1670s.

The hill, and specifically the area around the farm, is thought to be the location of a motte and bailey castle, or at least a motte, possibly constructed as the seat of Prince Henry of Scotland who was created Earl of Northumberland in 1139 and presumably utilised as a defensive work during the time Wark was within the Liberty of Tynedale after 1157, although of the medieval references to defensive works at Wark, none specifically mention Mote Hill. Two modern published accounts describe earthworks on Motte Hill surviving around the mid-20th century; Dodds mentions ‘parts of an outer rampart still to be traced in short sections on the north and south’ (Dodds 1940, 37) amplified by Hunter-Blair who ...two fragments of banks are still visible, one on the north side against the wall surrounding the stockyard, and the other at the south-east corner of the hill-top and also mentioned that ‘the ditch between motte and bailey can...be traced as a shallow depression crossing the farmyard’ (Hunter Blair 1944, 141-2). None of the earthworks or depressions described is necessarily associated with a motte or a motte and bailey. The elusive nature of the earthworks is reinforced by the absence of any rendition of them on the series of 25” to One Mile Ordnance Survey maps, the surveyors for which were normally so assiduous inrecording earthworks.

A general assessment of the site by Ryder in 2002 concluded that the evidence for the castle was not certain (event No ???). Archaeological evaluation prior to conversion of the farm ranges on the hill to residential use (Event No 13254), and an archaeological watching brief (Event No 13612) during these redevelopments between 2003-2005 also failed to locate any earthwork build up or artefactual evidence to confirm the interpretation of the site. It is possible that the motte has now been completely levelled, or that it lies elsewhere on the plateau. Terraces on the south slope of the hill could possibly be of some age.

Speculation that Mote Hill may have been a focus for a prehistoric settlement is as yet unproven.

Keys to the Past: N7746

Gatehouse Gazeteer: 2875

Geograph - Dally Castle

Dally Castle, Tarset, Northumberland.

Location: NY 7748 8438

Contour models from lidar

Shown below are contours created in QGIS at 1m interval from the dtm lidar, overlaid on the multi-hillshaded dsm lidar.

Below that are two profiles created by the profile tool in QGIS.

The first, in the direction NW-SE, shows the deep ditch dug across the ridge cutting off the site of the castle from the ridge to the west. It seems to suggest that material from the ditch was used to increase the height of the castle mound.

The second profile from NE-SW across the castle mound shows the ditch with outer rampart on the N side of the castle and the steep slope to the S into the flat haugh-land above the Chirdon Burn..

The remains of a fortified house, later remodelled as a tower house, of medieval date, situated on the summit of a ridge within a meander of the Chirdon Burn. The upstanding remains are Listed Grade I. The site of the fortified house has been isolated by the digging of a substantial ditch, 25m wide and a maximum of 4.5m deep, across the north western part of the ridge, and by a less substantial ditch
across the south eastern side. Natural protection is afforded on the north east and south western sides by steep slopes. The fortified house, which is situated between the two ditches, is visible as a rectangular structure measuring 20.9m north west to south east by 11.8m north east to south west, with walls of regular sandstone blocks 1.8m thick. This building is thought to be early 13th century in date and its basic plan is an upper floor hall house above a columned basement.

Each of the long side walls had three regularly spaced arrow loops, or narrow windows, and each of the end walls had one loop placed centrally. All of the windows were blocked soon after building and in the south west corner of the
house two of the windows have been obscured by an internal cupboard and a fireplace. The most westerly window in the south wall was subsequently replaced by a larger window, still clearly visible.

In the later 13th and 14th century the house was remodelled into a tower house and a number of features were added; these include a square tower at the north west corner, a tower at the north east corner, a pair of butresses on the north wall and a small tower at the south west corner. It is also thought that an entire storey was added.

A pair of buttresses added to the south wall of the house are thought to be an even later addition. The original entrance to the house is thought to have lain in the eastern end of the south wall, although there i s now only a gap in the masonry.

The foundations of a rectangular building, orientated east to west and measuring 9m by 6.4m, are located 10m east of the house. The building is thought to be the remains of an associated chapel. Further to the east of the house, on the eastern side of the smaller ditch, there are further slight foundations of a small building 3m square.

Dally Castle is believed to be the building erected by David Linsey in his manor of Chirdon, referred to in a document of 1237 as the `house with remarkably thick walls in the form of a tower'. The manor was confiscated on two occasions in 1289 and 1296. On the second occasion it was granted to John de Swinburne, reverting to the Crown on his death in 1326 when it was described as ‘the site of a manor burnt by the Scots'.

The fortified house is not mentioned in the 1415 or the 1541 lists of Border strongholds but it is known that by 1604 it was held of the Crown and occupied by the Dodds family. The condition of the house deteriorated; by the 18th century it was roofless and in the early 19th century little stonework was visible.

The building underwent limited excavation in 1888 when a series of columns forming part of the basement were removed. The work also uncovered a helmet and part of a sword. After substantial consolidation in the late 20th century, the walls are visible standing to a maximum height of 1.8m. Further columns and other architectural fragments were also uncovered and remain at the site. [NHLE].

Scheduled Monument List Entry Number: 1018537

Listed Building (Grade I): 1044856

Keys to the Past: N7045

Tarset Archive Group: Dally Castle A0284

Gatehouse - Dally Castle

Wikipedia - Dally Castle

Tarset Castle, Northumberland.

Site of 13th Century fortified house known as Tarset Castle.

Location: NY 7883 8549

The remains of the castle are situated upon a steep-sided promontory which points westwards and which commands the valley of the Tarset Burn to the north, and the valley of the River North Tyne to the west, south and east. The promontory is cut off from the rising ground to the east by a broad deep ditch, 22m wide, and of an average depth of 5m. The southern end of this ditch has been destroyed by the construction of a railway cutting.

Upon the east side of the site, are foundations of a building, of which the south end and north east corner are exposed, and stand to a maximum height of 1.5m. The rest of the site has been subjected to ravaging for stone and is covered with pits and spoil heaps, now turf covered.

"The monument includes the remains of the fortified residence known as Tarset Castle, situated upon a steep sided promontory commanding the valley of the Tarset Burn to the north and the North Tyne to the west, south and east. Theprom ontory is surrounded by a substantial artificially dug ditch on the east and south sides 20m wide and on average 5m deep. The remaining two sides are bounded by steep banks which have the appearance of having been artificially scarped for added defence. The fortified house occupies the eastern half of the promontory and is largely visible as the grassed over remains of a rectangular structure, oriented north to south. Standing masonry is visible to a maximum height of 1.5m at the north east and the south east corners of the structure standing upon the uncovered remains of a stone plinth. This masonry is thought to represent two of the four square corner turrets known to exist at Tarset Castle. A sketch of the house in 1773 shows it to be a long narrow rectangular building with square turrets at each of the four corners surrounded by a stone wall of the same shape."

Scheduled Monument: 1015528 
Keys to the Past: N6995

Tarset Archive Group - Tarset Castle: A0004 
Tarset Archive Group - Tarset Castle Exhibition
Tarset Archive Group - Tarset Castle Heritage at Risk 

Gatehouse record: 2832

Carlton, R. J. (2004). Tarset and Greenhaugh, Northumberland; An Archaeological and Historical Study of Two Border Communities.
The Archaeological Practice, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Geograph (snippet): 25590

The castle’s history has traditionally been assumed to have begun in 1267 when a detailed licence to crenelate was issued to John Comyn but there is some evidence for an earlier foundation in 1244.

"The apparent problem posed by the apparently conflicting records is easily resolved if it is assumed that the earlier record refers to an earth and timber ‘ringwork’ castle probably constructed by Richard Comyn when the family first acquired the manor in the 12th century.

Ringworks, which simply comprise a massively ditched and embanked enclosure, are more common in North Tynedale and Redesdale than the better known type of motte-and-bailey castles, with both the Mote Hill at Wark and Warden Castle adopting this form. Even the earthwork castle at Elsdon - traditionally thought of as a motte-and-bailey - has been re-evaluated more recently and shown to be a ringwork and bailey."
R. Carlton (2004).

Not long after first posting this blog I chanced on this which really gets me wondering: The Myth of the Motte and Bailey Castle in Scotland by Simon Forder (2014).

The great thing about lidar is it enables us to create contours and examine profiles across a site. This helps us understand how the natural geomorphology was used in the selection of  a defensive site and the alterations made in its construction. Shown below are contours created in QGIS at 1m interval from the dtm lidar, overlaid on the multi-hillshaded dsm lidar.

Below that are two profiles created by the profile tool in QGIS in directions N-S and W-E across the castle mound and surrounding structures. The nearby farm buildings, disused railway cutting, viaduct, and roads remind us that modern changes to the landscape are often superimposed on what has gone before. The major landslip on the N slope, which rises 17m on the left bank of the Tarset Burn, is clearly visible in the lidar. It took place around 1862-1895 and remains unstable, placing the remains of Tarset Castle at further risk.

3D lidar landscape 3D model on sketchfab:
https://skfb.ly/pH6tI

This blog post was triggered by a post on the Lidar & Aerial Archaeology facebook group by John Rowley on 24th February 2026.

The post was regarding a feature of two neat concentric circles recorded from a crop-mark on Hepscott Manor farm, near Morpeth, Northumberland, from a 1958 aerial photograph by Historic England Aerial Mapping Explorer.

Historic Environment Record No: N11704
Historic England Monument No: NONE GIVEN
Date: NEOLITHIC\BRONZE AGE
Interpretation: HENGE\CIRCULAR ENCLOSURE
Seen as: CROPMARK
Source: HISTORIC ENGLAND ARCHIVE RAF/543/318 F22 360 08-JUL-1958

Keys to the Past: N11704
"A circular cropmark on an aerial photograph can be seen, but its date and function is unknown. However, the circular cropmark could also be a modern feature; only further investigation will throw some light on this site."

This record informs us that it was recorded by Historic England as part of the AERIAL INVESTIGATION AND MAPPING, South East Northumberland Extension Project.

Deegan, A. (2022). South East Northumberland Air Photo and Lidar Mapping Project. Leeds: Alison Deegan Air Photo Interpretation and Mapping.

The location of the circular enclosure is: NZ 2144 8315

Clearly HE had some doubt about its age and original purpose and seemed to me a sensible cautious interpretation.

The feature is not visible as an earthwork on LIDAR. However, examination of historic satellite imagery on Google Earth showed that the cropmarks were faintly visible in several years: December 2002, May 2018 and May 2020. The circles lie just east of an old field boundary (shown on early OS maps).

It just seems too neat to be anything prehistoric but if modern, what could it have been?

Some research led me to post the following comment:

"Agree its quite hard to see on Google Earth but it does look overly neat for something prehistoric. There was a small airfield at Hepscott Manor used in 1933. Wonder if that could be associated?

HEPSCOTT MANOR: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day No.2 Tour' Period of operation: 28th July 1933
https://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/Hepscott-Manor

Thinking that it could have been a temporary marker of some kind for the 1933 air-show I thought, if that, it would have been carerfully measured for the event. Although not easy to measure precisely on the GE satellite images, some experiments suggest they may originally have been circles of 400 feet and 200 feet in diameter. If so, that could well support the idea that they were originally an aerial marker.

There is also nothing to suggest some kind of WW2 activity in the area such as a searchlight, anti-aircraft or radar installation on the Defence of Britain interactive map. 

Looking at old maps shows that the N-S field boundary along the SW edge of the outer circle was removed relatively recently. The older boundary which joined that and crossed the enclosure from SW-NE is shown on the 1st edition OS (c.1860) but appears to have been removed by the 2nd edition (c1900).

The images and notes shown below were copied from the UK Airfield Guide for Hescott Manor (originally provided by Michael T Holder).

An online exhibition at the RAF Museum provides much information about the life of Alan Cobham. See also this short clip on Pathe News which also has an clip of the Irish Aviation Day. There is also much more information about Cobham's Air Circus on A Fleeting Peace.

The National Aviation Day campaign, known as ‘Cobham’s Flying Circus’, toured Great Britain, Ireland and South Africa, between 1932 and 1937, giving many their first experience of flight.

Cobham’s Flying Circus toured between 1932 and 1935 taking 990,000 people on flights in his fleet of aeroplanes with over 3,000,000 people visiting the display.

Several events at the air-show may have needed a large marker visible from the air: flour bombing competition, helicopter landing, marker for the air race or parachute landing.

I am aware that this is a very speculative post. The measurement of the circles, although prone to some error, seems, along with their neat appearance, to support a modern origin. Whether it can really be linked to Cobham's Flying Circus I can't of course be sure. The relationship of the concentric circles to the now removed field boundaries is also uncertain in my opinion.

A prehistoric henge from the Neolithic. or double ditched enclosure from Bronze or Iron Ages, is always a nice find, but so in my mind is a physical link to the exciting world of the 1930 aerial extravaganza that was Cobham's Flying Circus.

Unless there is more investigation here, and even then, we'll probably never know which is true.

Iron Age hillfort & Roman Signal Station on Barcombe Hill above Vindolanda Roman Fort, Northumberland.

Location: NY 7830 6681

Keys to the Past: N6569

Scheduled Monument: 1018536

3D LiDAR landscape on Sketchfab: https://skfb.ly/pGKN9

Location: NZ 2788 7685

Low mound almost 100m diameter and approximately 1.5m high, sitting in what was the corner of a former field. Could be modern (coal workings?) or older. Nothing revealed by examination of old maps, historic satellite images, aerial photographs or on recently published Historic England Aerial Mapping Explorer.

The Coal Authority map indicates probable shallow coal mine workings in a boad area including the mound, but no pit shaft at its location.

The only thing identified on the Northumberland HER in the vicinity is an 'area of ridge and furrow east of the A189 near Cramlington' (N28438). This is shown as including the two fields located south of the boundary (S of the mound) and N of East Cramlington Farm.

Two blocks of medieval or post medieval ridge and furrow are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on historical air photos. The lidar imagery indicates that the earthworks survive. These features are arranged in two large blocks with east to west aligned furrows.

It is not readily apparent on current lidar.

Just for fun - some modern landscaping in recreational areas surrounding Newcastle Great Park. 

Blakehope, Otterburn, Northumberland.

The monument includes the remains of a Roman fort contained within the partial remains of a larger Roman temporary camp, situated on gently sloping ground adjacent to the Dere Street Roman road. The Roman fort is visible as a rectangular enclosure with rounded corners measuring approximately 128m by 119m and orientated NW to SE; it is defined by a single turf built rampart with an outer ditch visible as intermittent low earthworks. There are at least two recorded entrances. A small excavation within the Roman fort indicated it to be pre-Hadrianic in date. The fort is situated within a larger enclosure, interpreted as a Roman temporary camp. This enclosure is defined by a rampart with an internal and external ditch which are partially visible as slight earthworks on the W, N and NW sides. The temporary camp is cut by the Roman Road Dere Street indicating that the road is later than the camp.

Scheduled Monument:
https://historicengland.org.uk/.../the.../list-entry/1006507

Keys to the Past: N8278