Locking Head Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

On a small knoll called Carberry Hill, south of Locking Head Farm and about one kilometre north of Locking church, survive the earthworks of a Norman earth-and-timber fortification: a castle motte associated with a bailey. The site, now under pasture, overlooks the former marshlands that stretch towards Weston-super-Mare. The motte, an artificial mound some twenty metres in diameter, was surrounded by a ditch that has since been filled in, still discernible as a slight depression and in crop growth. To the north, the bailey is enclosed on the west by a bank with an accompanying ditch, the other sides taking advantage of the natural slopes. Excavations carried out in 1902–1903 yielded 12th-century pottery, a late 15th-century coin and a small dry-stone structure on top of the mound. Protected as a Scheduled Monument, the site is regarded by Historic England as a remarkably well-preserved example of its type. It stands near another motte, Castle Batch at Worle, and bears witness to the network of castles along this coastal fringe of Somerset. It lies on private land.