Fast Search

You are Here: Home / Ryton motte

Tyne and Wear HER(141): Ryton motte - Details

Back to Search Results


141


Gateshead


Ryton motte


Ryton


NZ16SE


Defence


Castle


Motte


Medieval


C11?


Earthwork


The motte is a well-defined, flat-topped mound on the north side of Ryton church, within the churchyard. It measures 30 m across the base, 8 m across the top and is 4 m high. The ground falls away sharply to the north, but on the south side of the motte there are the remains of a ditch, c. 12 m wide across the top, and 2 m wide across the bottom which is c. 1.6 m below the level of the ground to the south. If a bailey ever existed then it presumably lies under the churchyard, church and even the one-time rectory. There are traces of a very narrow trench across the top of the mound, possibly the remains of an excavation into what was presumed until comparatively recently to be a Bronze Age tumulus. It is now accepted, and protected, as a motte. SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENT


1511


6488


NZ15116488



<< HER 141 >> W. Hutchinson, 1787, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham II, p. 437 W. Greenwell, 1877, British Barrows p. 442 W. Bourn, 1896, History of the Parish of Ryton p. 29 W. Page, ed. 1905, Victoria County History of Durham, Vol. 1, p. 208 R. Young, 1980, An Inventory of Barrows in Co. Durham, Transactions Architectectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, New Series, Vol. 5, p. 10 no. 47 N. Pevsner & E. Williamson, 1983, Buildings of England: Co. Durham, p. 393 R. Miket, 1984, The Prehistory of Tyne and Wear, p. 23 R. Young, 1980, An Inventory of Barrows in Co. Durham, Transactions Architectural & Archaeological Society Durham & Northumberland, New Series, Vol. 5, p. 10

Back to Search Results