Watch Hill Castle
Encyclopedia
Watch Hill Castle is an early medieval motte-and-bailey
Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...

 on the border of Bowdon
Bowdon, Greater Manchester
Bowdon is a suburban village and electoral ward in the Altrincham area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England.-History:...

 and Dunham Massey
Dunham Massey
Dunham Massey is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The parish includes the villages of Sinderland Green, Dunham Woodhouse and Dunham Town, along with Dunham Massey Park, formerly the home of the last Earl of Stamford and owned by the National Trust...

, England. It is the only Scheduled Ancient Monument
Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...

 in Trafford
Trafford
The Metropolitan Borough of Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 211,800, covers , and includes the towns of Altrincham, Partington, Sale, Stretford, and Urmston...

, and so is arguably the most important archaeological site in the borough. The castle is located north of the River Bollin
River Bollin
The River Bollin is a major tributary of the River Mersey in the north-west of England.It rises in Macclesfield Forest at the western end of the Peak District, and can be seen in spring form, from the Buxton to Macclesfield road. The stream then descends the through Macclesfield and Wilmslow where...

 and south of a deep ravine .

History

Substantial dating evidence has not been recovered from the site, but the form of the castle as a timber motte-and-bailey would date it to between the Norman Conquest and the 13th century. The lack of documentary evidence relating to the castle may be attributed to the short term nature of the timber construction; motte-and-baileys were quick to establish and would not necessarily have been used for long periods. A coin found on the site dating to the reign of Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

, 1154 to 1189, may indicate that the castle was built during this period. The castle most likely belonged to Hamo de Mascy
Hamon de Massey
The first Hamon de Massey was the owner of the manors of Agden, Baguley, Bowdon, Dunham, Hale and Little Bollington after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, taking over from the Saxon thegn Aelfward according to the Domesday Book....

 who was involved with the barons’rebellion against Henry II in 1173. The castle had fallen out of use by the 13th century.

Layout

What remains of the motte is conical, measuring 40 metres (131.2 ft) wide at the base and 17 metres (55.8 ft) at the top, 6 metres (19.7 ft) above the base. The motte is surrounded by a 5 metres (16.4 ft) wide and 3 metres (9.8 ft) deep ditch. The bailey covered a triangular area of approximately 2400 square metre (0.593052391236663 acre) and lay to the east of the motte. It would have been defended by an earthen bank and a palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...

; some of the rampart remains as high as 0.3 metre (0.984251968503937 ft) in some places. The north side of the bailey was doubly protected by the terrain sloping away steeply, and the south side was protected by the river.
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