The motte and bailey - Historic England scheduled monument ref 1007973
Adjacent to the churchyard is a scheduled monument and the following details are taken from Historic England's listing for the site:
Motte and bailey castles are medieval fortifications introduced into Britain by the Normans. They comprised a large conical mound of earth or rubble, the motte, surmounted by a palisade and a stone or timber tower. Motte and bailey castles generally occupied strategic positions dominating their immediate locality. As one of a restricted range of recognised early post-Conquest monuments, they are particularly important for the study of Norman Britain and the development of the feudal system.
They consist of wide ditches, often or seasonally water-filled, partly or completely enclosing one or more islands of dry ground on which stood domestic or religious buildings. In some cases the islands were used for horticulture. The majority of moated sites served as prestigious aristocratic and seigneurial residences with the provision of the moat intended as a status symbol rather than a practical military defence. The peak period during which moated sites were built was between about 1250 and 1350.
This complex monument , adjacent to All Saints Church, Aughton, demonstrates continued occupation through the medieval period. Although this monument has been altered by the construction of a number of buildings, notably Aughton Hall and All Saint's Church and by garden works, it survives well as earthworks, and the motte mound remains undisturbed by later development. The complex will retain evidence of the structures which stood on the motte and the island of the moat and within the bailey. It will also contribute to an understanding of the relationship between the motte and bailey castle and the moat, and between these monuments and the church.
The monument is a medieval complex on the eastern bank of the River Derwent. It includes a motte and bailey castle, additional earthen banks and ditches, fishponds, and a moated site situated immediately to the east of the castle bailey. A medieval church, set in a churchyard, lies to the south of the motte; it is believed to have been a component of the medieval complex. The round earthen mound, the motte of the medieval earthwork castle, which is 35m in diameter, rises above an earthen platform 50m long, north-south, and 35m wide, east-west, which is defined by a moat. This moat is up to 10m wide and 2m deep. The motte mound does not occupy the whole platform, the northern end of which has a fishpond dug into it. The silted pond is 23m long, east- west, 8m wide, north-south, and 0.5m deep. Immediately external and running parallel to the moat's western arm are two earthen banks and a heavily silted ditch. The parallel banks are between 0.3m and 0.5m high; both are 3m wide. The ditch, which is external to the banks, is 3m wide and 0.15m deep. The north end of both the banks and ditch have been truncated by the planting of a hedge, to the south they have been obscured by the grave yard.
Further moat-like ditches situated to both north and south of the motte and bailey provide extra protection for the site. The southern ditch is 10m wide and 2m deep. This ditch originally ran through the area now occupied by the churchyard to link up with the ditch immediately external to the moat around the motte's western arm. Where it has been incorporated in the churchyard it has been in-filled. The northern ditch may also have connected with this western ditch but the relationship here is unclear since the northern ditch has been in-filled and remains visible only on aerial photographs. The moated site lies 250m east of All Saints' Church. It includes a sub-rectangular island about 40m square which is defined by a moat. The northern and western arms of the moat are largely dry and in-filled.
The above photograph shows the church during the annual floods. The motte and bailey enclosure can be seen in the bottom right of the photograph. It is understood that the church was built in the South east corner of the bailey.
The River Derwent can be seen to the top of the picture and it is understood the Vikings travelled along the River to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 1066.
Photograph courtesy of Adrian Pinchbeck.