Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Monday 6 January 2020

A Visit to a Motte and Bailey Castle



D and I were trying to think of somewhere to visit last Saturday and when I suggested Henley in Arden he mentioned there was a motte and bailey at nearby Beaudesert which we had never explored.

I managed to get a car parking space on Henley High Street so we left the car there and walked the few hundred yards to Beaudesert.


St John the Baptist in Henley with the strangely positioned town clock!



Beaudesert is separated from Henley by the River Alne.



St Nicholas, Beaudesert. This is a church that has been on my list to visit for ages and I did go inside later in the day but I will write about the church in a separate post.



Beaudesert is an older settlement than Henley and is a small village at the base of "The Mount" on which the de Montforts built a motte and bailey after the Norman Conquest. The Mount consists of 41 acres of Scheduled Ancient Monument which include the site of Beaudesert Castle and its fishponds together with a 100 acres of woodland and pasture. The motte and bailey castle was built on a natural ridge by Thurstan de Montford and the word Beaudesert means "beautiful wasteland" The castle was owned by the de Montforts from 1100 to 1500 but by the 1530's the castle was in ruins. The original castle, which may have been built on the site of an ancient British fort, would have been a wooden structure gradually replaced by stone and surrounded by a defensive curtain wall.

The earthworks that can still be seen today include a deep moat which surrounded the whole structure and separate ditches around the keep and inner bailey. None of the buildings remain except possibly for one stone which we failed to find. Explorations by a Channel 4 Time Team in 2001 revealed that the castle may not have had a stone keep as was once believed but they did find traces of a large hall and solar. The site is presently on the Historic England Heritage At Risk Register and a Steering Committee has been established and a management agreement made with Historic England to try and improve and protect the site.


We found the Heart of England Way which leads up onto The Mount. The first part of the ascent was somewhat steep and the main path (not visible in the photo) was very muddy and slippery so we walked up on the grass at the side of the path.


Looking back towards St Nicholas



First part of the climb was over!






Views towards Henley and the surrounding countryside.





Timothy was glad he was being carried and not getting his paws muddy!




The rest of the walk to the top was a gentle incline apart from a few steep muddy parts at the two ditches.





This photo taken from the Outer Bailey - the dividing ditch between the outer bailey and the inner bailey is marked by the bushes/hedge.











One of the defensive ditches between the inner bailey and keep.


Views from the top (the Keep)








The next photos show part of the ditch around the keep - as you can see you can continue the walk but to be honest there was that much mud which we had found really slippery we decided we had gone far enough. It would certainly be an interesting place to walk perhaps in the summer.




The Return Journey





We walked back towards Henley - these are the Jubilee Gardens










Time for lunch at the Nags Head where we had a good meal last year. This time we had cheese and pickle sandwiches and chips.






Christmas wreaths on Henley doors.






After lunch we walked to the Local Heritage Centre which has an excellent museum as we were keen to see the model of the motte and bailey there but sadly it is closed in the winter.



I'll write about St Nicholas in a separate post in a few days.



All photos taken by me with the Pansonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.

I've found D's camera card but there don't seem to be any photos of Beaudesert on it. He may have deleted them or more worryingly his camera card has been playing up recently and photos keep disappearing. I've told him to format it or buy a new one. Just hope it isn't a fault with the Canon!


Reference: Website www.henley-in-arden.org/castle

10 comments:

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

I think we have one locally at Laxton

Rustic Pumpkin said...

That is a strangely placed clock! Looking at the window on the tower, though, maybe it would be positioned too low to be seen otherwise. You had quite a climb so earned your yummy looking lunch. Why do I always seem to read last thing at night and get hungry? Yes, only one thing worse than small bears with muddy paws and that's muddy paws gone through sand.

Ragged Robin said...

Simon Douglas Thompson - Thanks Simon. They can be rather interesting. Have found another in Warks which is on the list for when it is less muddy!

Rustic Pumpkin - Thank you. I think we may have discussed this clock before - the present one replaced an older one
from memory. Sorry for making you hungry! Yes sandy paws are worse :)

Pam said...

The views are lovely and it looks like another sunny day, you wouldn't think we were in the middle of winter!

Rosie said...

Looks like you had good weather for your visit. I can imagine how slippy and muddy it was but you wouldn't have had those wonderful views if the day was gloomy like today. Lunch looks good although I'm intrigued with the sticks holding the bread together, I've never seen that before. Look forward to your post about the church:)

Ragged Robin said...

Pam - Thanks - yes it was a lovely day and very mild. Only the mud betrayed it was winter! :)

Rosie - Thank you. Mud was awful on slopes on the main path. I also discovered that thanks to my knees and age it affected me far more than in the past and I was slithering all over the place! Can't believe when ground like that or uneven I am feeling doddery!!! :( Sticks were a type of cocktail stick I think - perhaps just to hold sandwiches together while they were being carried to the table? Hope you enjoy the church post - some lovely stained glass by Morris and Co :)

Rohrerbot said...

What a lovely walk and visit:) Happy New Year to you! Wishing you a wonderful start to your adventures. I'll have a piece of carrot cake in your honor. :)

Ragged Robin said...

Rohrerbot - Thanks Chris and wishing you both and your family a Happy New Year too :) I will join you in that piece of carrot cake :)

CherryPie said...

The views are lovely, you will have to go back for the rest of the walk when it is less muddy.

Ragged Robin said...

CherryPie - Thank you and yes it would be lovely in summer and with less mud could walk further :)