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Written by Steven Dowd
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Took a slow stroll round to Castle Hill today.
Improvements to the footpaths around castle hill have made access lots easier, do not need to wade through half as much mud n water to get there now. On arrival found some interesting details on the new noticeboard, and have copied the details below for your interest.
Click the read More link below for the details.
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In 1843 a group of local gentlemen, led by
the Rev. Edmund Sibson employed local miners to excavate shafts into the mound to find out more about this
mysterious feature
On finding a curved feature and artifacts such as a whetstone (used for sharpening tools),
pottery and an acorn, the Rev. Sibson concluded that the mound was a prehistoric burial mound.
Unfortunatly,
modern investigations suggest that these conclusions exceeded the evidence, possibly reflecting a lack of
archaeolgical sophistication compared with modern day methods.
The Rev. Sibsons prehistoric chamber was probably
formed through use of a timber framework during construction of the mound.
No exact date can be found for
construction of the castle but its likely to be between 1050 and 1300 AD, a period where several such sites were
established as the head of
administrative areas known as the Hundreds, and at a time when disputes between Barons
was common.
Abandonment of the site would probably have taken place before 1341 AD when Robert de Langton
obtained a license to fortify his manor house at Newton, probably on the site of the nearby Newton Hall, demolished
as recently as 1964.
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