Listed Building record MDO9647 - Sturminster Newton Castle, The Bridge, Sturminster Newton

Ruins consisting of three stone walls, probably the southern end of a fourteenth-century manor house. Situated within an Iron Age hillfort.

(ST 78371341) Ditch (NR) (47) A so-called 'castle' at Sturminster Newton. Here not only is there a respectable documentary history of a manor house, as well as a standing 14th century structure, but there is also an impressive set of large earthworks including a bank and ditch cutting off a spur. Fieldwork has led to the interpretation of the site as a small prehistoric promontory fort, which was later used as a Medieval manorial site. <3> There is an irregular raised platform at A and a fairly strong bank with a fragment of a ditch to the north runs from B to C.<4> The remains of the house are HHR Grade II. <5> This probable Iron Age promontory fort at Sturminster Newton, subsequently adapted as a Medieval manorial site, is locally known as the 'Castle'; it is incorrectly described as 'Motte & Bailey' <6.1> and <6.2>. The earthworks and building remains are generally as described by R.C.H.M. <2>, but due to the erection of farm buildings within the site and its adaption as 'Castle Farm' working area, considerable erosion and obliteration of the ancillary earthworks is now taking place. However the impressive crescent-shaped bank and ditch demarcating the west side of the site is in a relatively good state of preservation. (See photograph). Structural remains of the 14th century manor house survive as three walls up to roof height, but are in a very friable condition, and partly ivy-covered. (See photographs). Fragments of Medieval and later pottery occur as surface finds. The bank noted by Authority 4 appears to be a lynchet field bank, and not contemporary or analogous with the principal earthworks to the east. Similar features are evident about 150.0m. westwards on a gentle valley slope, and are plainly of agricultural origin. Earthworks and ruin, partially visible on O.S. air photographs. <6.3>. Divorced Survey at 1:2500 on perm trace. <6> Sturminster Newton Castle. Grade II*. <7> Listed by Cathcart King. <8>

Record last edited

Feb 21 2022 8:30AM