South Cerney Castle was a 12th-century Anglo-Norman castle, situated just north of the village of the same name.
The castle was probably built by Miles of Gloucester, the Earl of Hereford, in the late 1130s, during the civil war known as the Anarchy, although the site could have dated back to the Norman invasion of 1066. The castle was described by contemporary chroniclers as small, and probably comprised of timber and earthwork defences. South Cerney lay along the River Churn and was regarded as a strategically useful location.
In 1139, King Stephen attacked and took the castle during his campaign to try and reclaim the south-west of England from the Empress Matilda and her supporters, including Miles. The castle is not mentioned again, although amateur archaeological excavations at the site in the 1930s suggested that it may have been reused it the 16th or 17th centuries.
Only earthworks remain today, which are protected under UK law as a Scheduled Monument.
Bibliography
- Walker, David. (1992) “Gloucestershire Castles”, in Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, Volume 109, pp.5-23.
Attribution
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