Monument record 130/4/2 - Bailey (Morphed Aerial Archaeology Interpretation) checked

Earthwork: Non-destructive fieldwork

{1}Trench in area of bailey found no archaeological features;,

{2}Outer bailey lies on east side; 7m wide ditch identified by excavation may represent bailey ditch; ditch is considered to follow line of Hinton Rd to north & stream to south;

{3}The presence of a large pond adjacent to the Oxford Road and linked to the castle ditch by a water filled channel might suggest that an outer bailey lay between the inner bailey and the Oxford Road, but it is perhaps more likely that this was just a fish pond or even a mill pond . However even if this were the case it would appear that the ponds created around the castle, probably very extensive in the area on the south and north west, were an integral part of the defensive scheme.

The eastern bailey was defended on the east side by a substantial defensive ditch 7 metres wide, immediately outside the eastern wall of Castle Close. The steep rise in the ground immediately to the west may in part represent the remains if the rampart. The excavation trench which located the ditch was within the area of the small rectilinear enclosure occupied by the Pest House in 1830, which appears to define the width of the ditch. This would suggest that over much of its course the eastern boundary of Castle Close probably runs on or close to the inner edge of the castle ditch, although trenching approximately 10 metres north of Castle Lane suggests the ditch may have swung further to the west by this point. The sections revealed only one thin layer of silt at the base of the moat, containing a single sherd of late C12th/C13th date, while the remainder of the fill was primarily limestone rubble. No clear evidence of any stabilization phase was recognised and it is therefore suggested that the moat was probably backfilled with the material from the rampart soon after it went out of use. However, as it may have functioned in some way as a leet between the two fishponds, it may have continued to be scoured out after the castle went out of use. The bailey ditch must have remained a substantial feature in c.1280 because at that time a tenement in Castle Lane is described as lying adjacent to the castle moat. The absence of evidence for occupation from within the bailey is probably due to the small scale nature of the evaluation conducted within the bailey.

<1> 1992, CBA Group 9 Report for Oxford Archaeology Unit, 41-2 (unchecked) (Article). SNN43639.

<2> English Heritage, 1992, English Heritage Scheduling Notification, (part checked) (Report). SNN47128.

<3> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, Section 3.1.2.1 (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100499.

<4> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Photographs). SNN104822.

<5> OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGY UNIT, 1991, Brackley Castle Archaeological Evaluation 1991, (unchecked) (Report). SNN58290.

Record last edited

Jun 9 2011 4:38PM