Monument record 4183/1/1 - Rockingham Castle Warren

Probable medieval/Post Medieval pillow mounds. The earthworks are situated in the southeast of the park, 300 metres southeast of the castle. The pillow mounds include three rectangular mounds, 0.5 metres high with flat or gently rounded tops, ranging in size from 30 metres by 5 metres to 24 metres by 9 metres. Two similar rectangular mounds are situated further to the north. Also present are two parallel mounds, 100 metres long and 7 metres wide and orientated northwest-southeast. There is some evidence that this area was a warren in the 17th century, probably in use between 1618 and 1644. By 1618 there was a shepherds house recorded in Rockingham which had been converted to a warrener's lodge. A warren 'in and about' the park is recorded in 1650 as having been destroyed in the Civil War while another source places it near to the castle.

{1}In the south-east of the park, 300m S.E. of the castle on level ground are a group of pillow mounds. There are three rectangular mounds, 0.5m high with flat or gently rounded tops, ranging in size from 30m by 5m to 24m by 9m. There is a similar rectangular mound further to the north on the edge of the spur, with another below it within the embanked close of a former house of the village of Rockingham. Also on top of the spur are tow mounds 100m long and 7m wide, parallel to each other and orientated N.W. – S.E. These overlie earlier ridge and furrow, with a headland to the south. There is evidence that this area was a rabbit warren in C17th.

{2} On level ground to the north of the Top and Bottom Moats is a group of 3 rectangular mounds. These range in size from 30m by 5m to 24m by 9m. There is also an oval mound 12m across at its maximumand a small circular mound 6m in diameter. All are about 0.7m high and have gently rounded tops.Other mounds are on a north-facing slope of the steep sided bluff to the east of the castle-a pillow mound 24m by 6m and 0.7m high, a more fragmentary pillow mound exists as well as a pair of long mounds 100m and 105m long and 0.6m high. They overlie ridge and furrow. These earthworks have much in common and a common purpose is suggested, but the map of 1615 shows that the piece of ground on which they stand was at the time cut in to by the S extension of the main street of the village, which ran through the defile to the E of the castle to emerge outside the main gate. In 1618 this road was stopped up by Edward Watson in order to enhance the privacy of the castle; After 1618 the area was thrown into one for the first time.
The earthworks themselves bear a great resemblance to the banks and pillow mounds elsewhere known to have formed rabbit warrens. The name of the N part of the area concerned at Rockingham – Peaseleys- is of no help but the 17th century documents do suggest that a warren existed near the castle. A particular of 1650 speaks of the warren “in and About” the castle. A particular of Sir Lewis Watson’s estate prepared for the Committee for Compounding gave the annual value of a “close about the castle and the warren” as £80. A document reciting the losses sustained by Watson at the hnds of the parliamentary garrison puts the cost of the destruction of the warren at £80. It is possible therefore that the earthworks represent a warren constructed after 1618 but destroyed during the Civil War.
Between and to the E of the long mounds on the top of the bluff are 11 ditched circular mounds 9m in diameter and 0.5m high; most of them carry a tree. These were in all probability thrown up for this purpose during landscaping at a relatively late date.

{3}There was no warren at Rockingham in 1615 but by 1618 there was a shepherds house recorded in Rockingham which had been converted to a warrener's lodge. A warren 'in and about' the park is recorded in 1650 as having been destroyed in the Civil War while another source places it near to the castle. It has therefore been suggested, from the presence of mounds to the south of the market place that have the appearance of pillow mounds, that the warren lay in this area.

{4}The pillow mounds are probably medieval in origin but were in use in the C17th.

<0> HYLTON T.; MASTERS P., 1998, Empingham to Hannington Anglian Water Pipeline, Northamptonshire Section, Archaeological Evaluation: Stage 1, (unchecked) (Report). SNN63049.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.126/Site 6 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77380.

<2> BROWN A.E.; TAYLOR C.C., 1974, The Earthworks of Rockingham and its Neighbourhood, p.71 (unchecked) (Article). SNN40063.

<3> FOARD G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Rockingham (Medieval and Post Medieval), (checked) (Digital archive). SNN100473.

<4> English Heritage, 1992, English Heritage Scheduling Notification, (part checked) (Report). SNN47128.

Record last edited

Feb 23 2022 4:13PM