Castle Hill ringwork Beck Street Welbourn

Image: © Jo and Steve Turner Taken: 24 Mar 2017

A Scheduled Ancient Monument; ringworks are medieval fortifications built and occupied from the late Anglo-Saxon period to the later 12th century. They are rare nationally with only 200 recorded examples. Referred to in a document of 1158 as being walled in stone, by 1374 the site was said to be waste and entirely without buildings. A survey of 1288 provides a picture of this manorial estate. There was a walled court surmounted by a small tower and with a ditch. In the court was a hall with two chambers, a kitchen, a brew house, a granary, a stable, an ox house, a cow shed, a sheep fold, trees and garden. A geophysical survey carried out in 1999 recorded the remains of a large tower residence, buttressed and built in limestone, on the west side of the site.

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