Chalgrave Castle was a Norman motte and bailey fortification built near Toddington in Bedfordshire. Constructed by the Loring family after 1066, by the end of the 12th century the family had moved to a new manor house further east. The castle fell out of domestic use, being used for agricultural purposes for a period. In the 20th century it was destroyed to make way for agricultural developments.
History
Chalgrave Castle was situated on a low ridge next to the Chalgrave manor church, and the two sites would have dominated the local skyline and the demesne lands of the manor of Chalgrave. There was no major settlement nearby, with the closest being Tebworth and Wingfield, although the site was probably a manorial centre prior to the Norman conquest of 1066. After the conquest, the castle was constructed on the site by the Loring family, who had owned the manor since the Anglo-Saxon period.
The castle was designed in a motte and bailey style. The motte lay to the north and by the 20th century was approximately 20 m in diameter, 1.2 m high, with a flat top. It was protected by a ditch up to 11 m wide and 0.5 m deep. The bailey was approximately 40 by 30 m across, and was protected by a ditch 10.5 m deep and a 0.2 m high bank. The defences and buildings appear to have been constructed from timber. The motte held a manor house, and the Lorings may have extended the motte to enable them to build a larger hall at the end of the 11th century.
By 1185, Roger Loring had granted the church and some associated land to Dunstable Priory, and it has been suggested that the family had begun to lose interest in the site around this time. Probably at the end of the 12th century, the family appears to have established a new manor house to the east, south of what is now Chalgrave Manor Farm. The castle was probably abandoned as a domestic dwelling as part of this process; later in the medieval period it was used for agricultural purposes, a new building was constructed on top of the motte which was slightly increased in height. By the modern period, however, the site appears to have been entirely abandoned.
Archaeological excavations took place in 1951, and amateur investigations occurred during the 1960s. The castle was excavated more fully in 1970 ahead of being destroyed to facilitate local agricultural use; nothing now remains of the site.
Bibliography
- Pinder, A. and B. Davison, B. (1988) “The excavation of a motte and bailey castle at Chalgrave, Bedfordshire, 1970,” Bedfordshire Archaeology Vol. 18 pp. 33-56.