Bury Mount: A Norman Motte-and-Bailey Fortification in Towcester
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- English, Norman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page8 sections
History
Bury Mount is the surviving earthwork of a Norman motte-and-bailey fortification in Towcester, United Kingdom, probably constructed during the Great Anarchy of 1135–1152. This civil war was fought between supporters of King Stephen and Empress Matilda over the English succession. The fortification was built during the period when the manor of Towcester passed from the Crown to the St Hilary family, and it occupied a strategic position within the Roman town.
A Norman stronghold
The motte controlled the junction of Watling Street, the route linking Dover, London, and Wroxeter, with the long-distance road from Southampton to Stamford, which passed through Winchester, Oxford, Brackley, and Northampton. Its position also helped oversee transport routes and river crossings. The elevated tower provided a stronghold and watchtower, while the wider castle served as a visible expression of lordly authority.
Bury Mount also supported the practical administration of the manor. The castle could house the lord’s bailiff, or reeve, and his household, accommodate the lord and his retinue during journeys, and provide a base for troops and cavalry during hostile periods. The bailey contained service buildings, storage areas, animal facilities, and accommodation for the constable and a small permanent garrison. A gate at the junction of the two lanes entering the bailey is recorded in the fifteenth century.
The manorial complex
In 1392, during the ownership of Reginald de Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthin, the castle site contained a functioning manorial complex. The hall housed the bailiff and important guests and served as the venue for the manorial court. By the late fifteenth century, the manor castle appears to have been vacated and replaced by a new manor house in Park Street. Part of that later building survives as Mint House.
Refortification and later use
During the winter of 1643–1644, Towcester became the winter headquarters of the Royalist cavalry under Prince Rupert, a prominent Royalist commander in the English Civil War. The town was refortified, and Bury Mount was adapted as an artillery platform for two cannon. The mound was probably slighted when the Royalists withdrew in spring 1644.
After the Civil War, the earthwork was used first as an orchard and later as a garden for a cottage at its foot. The cottages were eventually demolished. Restoration in 2008 included an access ramp, landscaping around the River Tove and its mill stream, and explanatory plaques. Between 2013 and 2016, the South Northamptonshire Council’s Moat Lane Regeneration Scheme brought new development and the Forum to the surrounding area, while older historic buildings and empty cottages were renovated. Bury Mount is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a nationally protected archaeological or historical site in England.
Remains
Bury Mount consists of a tall motte, a small bailey, and a large surrounding ditch. It stands in Moat Lane on the north-east side of the A5, beside Towcester Town Hall, near a church and the Forum Building, and east of the market square. The earthwork is associated with the River Tove and its mill stream. The mound may differ from the standard conical form commonly associated with motte castles, reflecting the varied shapes found among such earthworks.
The motte and bailey
A conventional motte-and-bailey castle combined a raised mound carrying a tower with an enclosed lower area for buildings, supplies, animals, and garrison activities. The summit at Bury Mount may have carried a palisade reached by a flying bridge or ladder, with a tall timber tower inside the defended enclosure. A 1392 description calls the site a “mound tower within a moat.” Since a wooden tower would have been unusual by that date, the wording may indicate a stone structure.
Shortly before 1824, a subterranean arched passage was found, possibly during the removal of part of the south-western mound for a building. The passage and the medieval description have prompted the possibility that the tower stood within the mound and was entered through a tunnel. A comparable arrangement existed at South Mimms in Hertfordshire, where a motte probably built around 1141 for the Earl of Essex contained a tower reached through a tunnel. If the same arrangement existed at Bury Mount, it would represent an unusual survival of this type of design.
The medieval manorial buildings
The manorial hall described in 1392 was aligned from north to south, with chambers at both ends. The southern chamber faced the gate and appears to have been the principal first-floor room, or solar, a private upper chamber for the lord or senior occupants. It had a stone-slated roof like the hall. The chamber at the other end had a thatched roof and may have housed the bailiff.
A detached kitchen stood beside a stable, with thatched roofs on both buildings. The complex also included two large barns positioned at a distance, an oxhouse with a stable and cart shed beneath one roof, a dovecote, and a sheepfold for 200 sheep. Together, these structures formed the working environment of the medieval manor, combining domestic accommodation, courtly space, storage, livestock management, and agricultural activity.
The artillery platform and later landscape
In 1643–1644, the summit was reshaped for two cannon when the mound became part of Towcester’s Royalist defenses. Later, the earthwork was incorporated into an orchard and then a cottage garden. The present form also reflects the 2008 restoration, including the access ramp and landscaping beside the river and mill stream.
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