History

Beaumont Castle was a possible motte and bailey or ringwork

Ringwork

A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles minus the motte...

 castle built in the village of Mixbury

Mixbury

Mixbury is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about southeast of Brackley in Northamptonshire.-Manor:The toponym is derived from the Old English mixen-burgh, meaning "fortification near dung-heap". "Burgh" refers to Beaumont Castle, which was built about 1100...

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England. The castle was probably built by Roger d'Ivry

Roger d'Ivry

Roger d'Ivry or d'Ivri was an 11th century nobleman from Ivry-la-Bataille in Normandy. He took part in William of Normandy's conquest of England in 1066 and founded the Abbey of Notre-Dame-d'Ivry in 1071...

 following the Norman invasion of England. The castle was probably called Beaumont because it occupied a natural promontory overlooking a local stream. The castle was abandoned before 1216. Private excavations between 1954-5 by two brothers from London allegedly revealed a dungeon and an underground passage, although this discovery is disputed by scholars.