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Buckton Castle

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Vorlage:Infobox Historic building

Buckton Castle is a medieval ringwork in the manor of Tintwistle near Carrbrook, Stalybridge, England.[1][2] It is listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument due to its proximity to the Buckton Vale Quarry and is the oldest surviving building in the Tame valley.[3] The castle is oval, with a Vorlage:Convert wide stone curtain wall, surrounded by a ditch Vorlage:Convert wide and Vorlage:Convert deep. Buckton Castle was probably constructed in the late 12th century; it is recorded as lying derelict by 1360. The small number of finds retrieved during archaeological investigation of the site indicates that Buckton Castle may not have been completed. Later uses of the site included a beacon for the Pilgrimage of Grace in the 16th century, and an anti-aircraft decoy site in World War II. During the 18th century, the castle was of interest to treasure hunters following rumours of the presence of buried treasure. The castle is overgrown with heather and peat, and there are no above ground ruins.

Location

Buckton Castle is situated about Vorlage:Convert above sea level on Buckton Hill, a steep sandstone ridge (Vorlage:Gbmapping). To the south is the valley of the Carr Brook, and to the west is the valley of the River Tame. Buckton Vale Quarry is close to the east of the castle. Stalybridge is about Vorlage:Convert south-east of the site.[4] The castle's positioning may have been to allow it to guard the Tame Valley.[5]

History

Excavation of the stone curtain wall carried out by UMAU on 24 July 2007

Buckton Castle was probably built by William de Neville, lord of Longdendale, in the late 12th century;[3] which would make it contemporaneous with other castles in Greater Manchester such as Dunham, Manchester, Stockport, and Ullerwood.[6] While de Neville is the most likely person to have built the castle, it is possible that it was built for the Earls of Chester in the late 12th century, before Longdendale was given to de Neville.[7] Although it is common for castles to be built first in timber and then rebuilt from stone, Buckton Castle was a stone structure from the start.[8] It was probably the centre of lordship of Longdendale, as it is the only castle within its boundaries;[9] however, a dearth of artefacts from the site indicates that construction may never have been completed.[10]

The earliest documented evidence dating the castle was in 1360 stating "there is one ruined castle called Buckeden and of no value";[11] At the time, the lordship of Longdendale was the property of Edward, the Black Prince, and the castle lay derelict.[12] That the castle had fallen out of use by this period is consistent with the use of other castles in the Greater Manchester area; by the 13th century, apart from at Dunham Castle, there was no indication of activity in castles in Greater Manchester. During the 16th century, the site was used as a beacon during the Pilgrimage of Grace.[6]

A view of the defensive ditch surrounding the castle

The castle has been the subject of antiquarian studies since the 18th century. It was originally thought to have been the site of an Iron Age hill fort. The site has been damaged by the random insertion of trenches by treasure hunters since the early 18th century.[4] Quarrying in the nearby Buckton Vale Quarry threatened to encroach onto the site and led to the castle’s protection as a Scheduled Ancient Monument on 9 July 1924.[4] During the Second World War, the site was used as an anti-aircraft decoy site; however it was disused by 1943 as it was no longer needed.[13]

Excavations on the castle have been performed by the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit (UMAU) since 1996 for Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.[4] The excavations initially were to repair fill in some of the holes made by treasure hunters and included test-pits, but in 2007 the unit began larger excavation to investigate the site and determine its use and a date for its construction. The final season of the excavation will be in 2009.[14] Trenches revealed the castle had a stone wall and a gateway with a tower, although internal buildings were not found. The first dating evidence was found in 2008, underneath the collapsed gateway; it consisted of some animal bones and shards of locally produced 12th–13th century pottery.[15] The site is overgrown with heather and peat.[16]

Layout

This plan was drawn by George Ormerod in 1817; it shows the shape of the castle, with orientation. He did not include any internal features.

The castle is oval, measuring Vorlage:Convert across the minor axis and Vorlage:Convert along the major. It is surrounded by a Vorlage:Convert wide and Vorlage:Convert deep ditch dug into the sandstone. The entrance to the ringwork is to the northwest of the site. Near the entrance are the possible remains of a stone tower. On the south-facing side of the site are the remains of a stone curtain wall Vorlage:Convert thick.[17] Excavations in 1996 by the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit have shown that what was thought to be the bailey was in fact of recent origin and did not date back to the medieval period.[3][18] The north-west gateway was protected by a stone tower Vorlage:Convert, with Vorlage:Convert thick walls; the wall thickness suggests the tower was probably two storeys high.[19]

The interior of the castle is artificially raised Vorlage:Convert above ground level.[3] Ringworks were an uncommon form of fortification in medieval England, with the majority of castles being motte-and-baileys, as demonstrated by the fact that Buckton Castle was one of only three ringworks in the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire.[20] Buckton may be a ringwork because the local soil was too thin to build a motte.[20] According to a 1360 survey of property in Longdendale, Buckton Castle may have had a hall and a chapel.[6] In the 18th century, antiquarian Thomas Percival recorded a well within the castle and walls of buildings inside the castle still standing to a height of Vorlage:Convert. However, these features were no longer obvious when George Ormerod wrote about the castle in 1817,[21] and have not been discovered by archaeological excavations.[8]

See also

References

Notes

Vorlage:Reflist

Bibliography

Vorlage:Refbegin

  • Cathcart King and Alcock: Ringworks of England and Wales. Chateau Gaillard, 1969.
  • Neil Faulkner and Lisa Westcott (eds): Buckton Castle. In: Current Archaeology. Nr. 225. Lamb House, November 2008, S. 32–37 (archaeology.co.uk).
  • James Forde-Johnston: The Iron Age Hillforts of Lancashire and Cheshire. Trans Lancashire Cheshire Antiq. Society 72, 1962.
  • Brian Grimsditch, Mike Nevell, and Norman Redhead: Buckton Castle: An Archaeological Evaluation of a Medieval Ringwork – an Interim Report. University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 2007.
  • Mike Nevell: Lands and Lordships in Tameside. Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council with the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 1998, ISBN 1-871324-18-1.
  • Mike Nevell and John Walker: Tameside in Transition. Tameside Metropolitan Borough with University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 1999, ISBN 1-871324-24-6.

Vorlage:Refend

  1. ↑ The site was thought to be an Iron Age hill fort prior to Forde-Johnston’s study of the hill forts of Lancashire and Cheshire. The castle is inconsistent with other known hill forts.Forde-Johnston (1962), pp. 11–12.
  2. ↑ King & Alcock (1969), p. 117.
  3. ↑ a b c d Nevell (1998), pp. 60–61, 63.
  4. ↑ a b c d Grimsditch, Nevell, & Redhead (2007), p. 5.
  5. ↑ Grimsditch, Nevell, & Redhead (2007), p. 7.
  6. ↑ a b c Grimsditch, Nevell, & Redhead (2007), p. 8.
  7. ↑ Faulkner & Westcott (2008), p. 33.
  8. ↑ a b Faulkner & Westcott (2008), p. 35.
  9. ↑ Nevell and Walker (1999), p. 95.
  10. ↑ Faulkner & Westcott (2008), p. 37.
  11. ↑ P. Booth, M. Harrop & S. Harrop: The Extent of Longdendale, 1360. Cheshire Sheaf, 5th series, #83.
  12. ↑ Faulkner & Westcott (2008), p. 32.
  13. ↑ Grimsditch, Nevell, & Redhead (2007), p. 14.
  14. ↑ Faulkner & Westcott (2008), pp. 34–35.
  15. ↑ Faulkner & Westcott (2008), pp. 36–37.
  16. ↑ Lost castle solves riddle of Buckton Moor. Manchester University, 21. Juli 2008, abgerufen am 1. März 2009.
  17. ↑ Grimsditch, Nevell, & Redhead (2007), p. 16.
  18. ↑ Buckton Castle investigation history. Pastscape.org.uk, abgerufen am 21. Februar 2008.
  19. ↑ Faulkner & Westcott (2008), p. 36.
  20. ↑ a b Grimsditch, Nevell, & Redhead (2007), p. 10.
  21. ↑ Grimsditch, Nevell, & Redhead (2007), p. 12.
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