Site Event/Activity record ECH4211 - Castle Hill Motte, Malpas, Cheshire; Archaeological Watching Brief.

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in 2004 at Castle Hill Motte, Malpas, which is a scheduled ancient monument. The motte exists as a grassy mound, which appears to have had its ditch and bailey built over by a tarmac road which leads around its east and north side and the churchyard which forms its south and west boundary. The fabric of the motte was disturbed in the early nineteenth century by the addition of two access paths to the top of the mound and levelling of the top of the motte, where a storage well had been sunk circa 1820, as part of the piped water system installed in the town. The improvements included the cutting of mature trees on top of the motte to ground level, infilling the holly hedging at the base of the motte, replanting additional bushes, resetting of sandstone steps, resurfacing of a pathway and addition of a wooden handrail. The works were monitored and the reddish-brown sandy subsoil of the motte was revealed and, in the upper layer of this material, three fragments of glazed medieval tile were recovered, along with unglazed tile material and a single rim of medieval redware. (1)