Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Ringwork with attached semi-circular bailey on the flat tableland of the Downs. Originally part of a holding of Bishop Odo of Bayeux and on its forfeiture passed to the Aubervilles. Eventually it came into the hands of Nicholas de Criol in the 13th century.The circular ringwork is roughly half complete, the northern half of the earthworks being levelled with the expansion of the farmhouse and yard. The surviving ditch and bank are well defined with the bank about 10ft high above the fill of the ditch. Within the southern half is a shapeless low mass of flintwork with the suggestion of an internal angle. This is the only visible fragment of an early masonry structure. The farmhouse appears to be a truncated three-storey house of the late-17th century. To the south-east of the ringwork, the earthworks of the bailey survive well with the rampart up 5ft high internally. There is an entrance on the eastern side and the parish church lies outside the enclosure to the north-east. Further east and lower down the slope is a man-made scarp which might belong to an outer enclosure which might have included the church

Monument Types

• MOTTE AND BAILEY (MOTTE AND BAILEY, Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• WELL (WELL, Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Full description

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[TQ 84576164] Castle [NR] (site of) [NAT] Well [NR] (1) Stockbury Castle: a Motte and bailey with possible outer bailey now occupied by the house and outbuildings of Church Farm. (2) The motte has been levelled and only about half of its ditch survives, but the ditch of the crescent-shaped inner bailey remains almost intact. A sunk road leading to a now disused gravel pit possibly represents the ditch of an outer bailey (1). Plan (2). (3) Stockbury Castle, the remains of a Motte and bailey as described, and in poor condition. There is no evidence for there having been an outer bailey. The well, circular and believed to be flint lined and very deep, and has a cover over it. Published 25" survey revised. (4) Stockbury Castle (133). (5) Additional bibliography. (6-7)

STOCKBURY CASTLE

Local Authority Parish
02 03
Maidstone District Council Stockbury

100 Km square NGR Qualifier
04 05 06
TQ 8460 6163 FCE


SMR No. SAM No LB No.
07 08 09
TQ 86 SW 10 KE 133 -
25482

Type Component Form
10 11 12
Castle Double ringwork earthwork with some masonry

History
13
Ringwork with attached semi-circular bailey on the flat tableland of the Downs.

Originally part of a holding of Bishop Odo of Bayeux and on its forfeiture passed to the Aubervilles. Eventually it came into the hands of Nicholas de Criol in the 13th century.

Harold Sands, Some Kentish Castles (1907) VCH i pp.421-2


Description
14
The circular ringwork is roughly half complete, the northern half of the earthworks being levelled with the expansion of the farmhouse and yard. The surviving ditch and bank are well defined with the bank about 10ft high above the fill of the ditch. Within the southern half is a shapeless low mass of flintwork with the suggestion of an internal angle. This is the only visible fragment of an early masonry structure. The farmhouse appears to be a truncated three-storey house of the late-17th century. To the south-east of the ringwork, the earthworks of the bailey survive well with the rampart up 5ft high internally. There is an entrance on the eastern side and the parish church lies outside the enclosure to the north-east. Further east and lower down the slope is a man-made scarp which might belong to an outer enclosure which might have included the church.


Importance
15
This is the third of a grouping of earthwork castles north-east of Maidstone and within adjacent parishes. Thurnham and Binbury Castles are the other two. Stockbury has the parish church in close proximity. This is a very visible complex.

Historic importance - D

Extent of structural survival - C


Condition
16
The ringwork is much divided by fences and hedges associated with the farmhouse and yard but the surviving segment of the earthworks is well preserved. An old orchard occupies the bailey.

Condition of surviving remains - D


Ownership (or tenancy)
17
Not known


Use(s) of the site
18
Farmyard and orchard


Statutory protection
19
Scheduled Ancient Monument


Nature conservation interests
20
SNCI - adjoins: Stockbury Wood
AONB - Kent Downs


Public access to the site
21
No public access but permission to visit is usually given. Most of the site is visible from the road and the churchyard.


Relationship to other sites
22
The relationship to Binbury and Thurnham Castles has already been mentioned.


Potential as part of an economic regeneration package
23
Only within an agricultural or horticultural context.


Interpretational potential as an educational resource
24
The association of church and castle is well demonstrated. This landscape feature is sometimes appreciated by topographical artists.


Tourism potential
25
*
As a lesser but accessible site by car there is some potential here but it would depend on the collaboration of the owner and tenant.


Potential for other beneficial reuse
26
None


Constraints
27
Risk of archaeological damage should the orchard be replanted.(9)

From the National Heritage List for England:

Details

The monument includes the earthworks and interior of a Norman ringwork, along with its two baileys or outer wards, situated on a chalk hill which forms part of the Kent Downs. The ringwork itself lies to the north west and is a roughly circular, raised, level area c.56m in diameter, which originally contained the main, residential buildings. These are no longer visible as standing features, but will survive as buried foundations beneath the modern farm buildings and the ground which surrounds them. The ringwork is enclosed by a dry, v-shaped ditch c.10m wide and around 2m deep, surviving as an earthwork to the south west and south east, with a causeway allowing access to the interior on its south eastern side. The profile of the ditch has become partially distorted by a small, modern quarry on its south western side and by modern rubbish dumping. To the south east of the ringwork is a semicircular, inner bailey in which the ancillary buildings, such as stables, workshops and soldiers' accommodation, would have been sited. This level area is defined by a bank 0.5m high and 0.4m wide, bounded by a dry ditch up to 14m wide and around 3m deep, although it has become partially infilled in places over the years. To the south east is a larger, outer bailey enclosed by a slightly curving ditch c.3m wide and 1m deep. This has been partially disturbed at its south western end by a small, modern chalk quarry. The ditch has a slight, inner bank c.0.2m high. The modern farmhouse, its associated outbuildings, those farm buildings situated within the protected area, and all modern walls and fences which cross the monument are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.

Reasons for Designation

Ringworks are medieval fortifications built and occupied from the late Anglo-Saxon period to the later 12th century. They comprised a small defended area containing buildings which was surrounded or partly surrounded by a substantial ditch and a bank surmounted by a timber palisade or, rarely, a stone wall. Occasionally a more lightly defended embanked enclosure, the bailey, adjoined the ringwork. Ringworks acted as strongholds for military operations and in some cases as defended aristocratic or manorial settlements. They are rare nationally with only 200 recorded examples and less than 60 with baileys. As such, and as one of a limited number and very restricted range of Anglo-Saxon and Norman fortifications, ringworks are of particular significance to our understanding of the period.

Despite some damage caused by the construction of modern buildings and structures, by subsequent quarrying and dumping, and by tree roots, the ringwork and baileys at Stockbury survive as visually impressive earthworks and in buried form, and will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed and used. (10)

<1> OS 25" (OS Card Reference). SKE48250.

<2> Memo of Old Kent 1907 194-5 (ed P H Ditchfield) (OS Card Reference). SKE46871.

<3> VCH Kent 1 1908 421-2 plan (I C Could) (OS Card Reference). SKE50887.

<4> F1 ASP 10-JUL-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42034.

<5> DOE (IAM) AMs Eng 2 1978 112 (OS Card Reference). SKE40688.

<6> Bldgs of Eng-NE & E Kent 1983 469 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38120.

<7> Some Kentish Castles (P H Ditchfield G Clinch) 1907 45-6 (H Sands) (OS Card Reference). SKE49503.

<8> Field report for monument TQ 86 SW 10 - July, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4623.

<9> Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders, 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage (Unpublished document). SKE6956.

<10> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

Sources and further reading

Related thematic articles

• Kent's Castles (Thematic Essay)