John of Gaunt’s Hill is a set of earthworks in Sutton, Bedfordshire, and was probably an 11th century motte and bailey castle.
History
The earthworks on John of Gaunt’s Hill comprise an oval mound, probably a castle motte, now 62 m by 35 m across, 3 m high, protected by a ditch up to 19 m across and 3 m deep. The motte lay within a rectangular enclosure or bailey, approximately 120 m by 70 m, originally surrounded by a bank and ditch, although only traces – visible through lidar scans – now survive.
The site is probably an 11th century motte and bailey castle, constructed by Alwin the Reeve, an Anglo-Saxon lord in the region who decided to support William the Conqueror after the Norman invasion of 1066 and remained in royal service. The castle would have been close to the centre of the village and the parish church.
In the late 14th century, the manor belonged to Henry, the son of John of Gaunt and the future Henry IV, from which the earthworks take their current name. In the 16th century, a manor house was built to the north of the site, and the earthworks may have been landscaped to form part of the gardens. 20th century agriculture caused further damage, and a golf green was built upon the motte in the 1960s, flattening the top.
The site is now protected under UK law as scheduled monument.