INTERESTING FIND

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 73, 23 September 1930, Page 7

INTERESTING FIND

LYDNEY "CASTLE"

NORMAN REMAINS

Lydney Park, Lord Bledisloe's Gloucestershire home, has recently revealed to archaeologists a small castle dating from about the end of the twelfth ecn« tury. No mention of this castle its* been found in any historical document, and as the remains of the walls • were completely covered by the grassgrown banks of their own debris, its existence had not been suspected. Th« ' site was regarded locally as that of ,- ', a small camp, associated with the extensive remains of a prehistoric camp and Roman buildings on the adjoining hill. But excavations by Dr. B. Mortimer Wheeler, F.S.A., Director of th« London Museum, who is also superintendent of excavations for the Society of Antiquaries and the chief British \'. authority on Roman antiquities, revealed a small late-Norman castle of' » , transitional type comparatively unknown in medieval architecture.

"On the whole," says Dr. Wheeler in a letter to Lord Bledisloe, "the walls were well preserved;: only here and there had they been removed by stonerobbers or tree roots. The relics found during the work, though not' particularly striking, are of interest scientifically, by reason of their association with an approximately datable structure;" He adds in his letter that, upon completion of the excavation, which took place since Lord Bledisloe came to New Zealand as "Governor-General, the whole site was restored to its former appearance. Previous excavations on the adjoining site had revealed a pre-Koman hilltown, a Koman iron-mine and temple, and post-Eoman earthworks, but the - new discovery was something quite different The walls of'Hhe newly discovered castle were found to be. almost complete on plan and to survive to. * • maximum height of 10 feet The buildings consisted of a small rectangular keep, measuring internally 30ft by 23ft, with walls 13ft thick at the baie. There was an inner court surrounded by, a thick curtain-wall, springing from the sides of the keep and incorporating a gate-tower and a small angle-tower, together with a solid projection—perhaps the base of a former stair-turret or garderobe-tower. Added to this was an outer court, defended partly by the natural escarpment and partly by an earthen bank and / rock-cut' ditch. The whole area of the two courts was found to be comparatively small, less thanan acre in extent.

In plan the castle belongs essentially to the ordinary Norman type, ths masonry being mostly of one.date. Excavation revealed a remarkable oven, entirely paved with Roman hypocaust bricks and tesserae, brought doubtless, from the Eoman settlement on the adjacent hill. Belies found included keys, a, pike-head, and much property. In the absence of any definite reference to a castle at Lydney, its owner and purpose must remain a mystery, dr. Wheeler says that it is tempting to associate the castle : with, the ironmines in the forest, and suggests thatwhoever built Lydney Castle did so.to ensure control of forges set up in,tht forest.