Whittington Tump

En un regard

Le château en bref

Whittington Tump, also known as Crookbarrow Hill, is a largely natural mound rising about three kilometres south-east of Worcester, in the parish of Whittington. Standing some twenty metres above the Severn valley and topped by a solitary tree, it has become a familiar landmark for drivers on the M5 motorway, which passes less than 150 metres away. Historic England has protected it as a scheduled monument since 1923, under the title of a motte castle associated with a moated site and medieval agricultural remains. Medieval builders steepened the slope at the top of this mound and threw out the spoil to form an oval platform measuring about 75 by 40 metres; a terrace below the summit suggests a palisade or a wall-walk, and rectangular hollows betray former buildings. At the foot of the mound, a moated enclosure about 45 metres across corresponds to the manor of Crookbarrow, recorded as early as 1314. The mound long fed the legends of antiquarians, who saw in it a giant burial mound or the tomb of Caratacus, without any archaeological basis. The site is private, set amid farmland.