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Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

HER Number:TR 23 NW 2
Type of record:Monument
Name:Castle Hill, Folkestone

Summary

This is referred to on some maps as ‘Caesar’s Camp’ and is on the edge of a Downland escarpment overlooking Folkestone. Its date of construction is uncertain but is considered to have been somewhere between the 1070s and the 1130s. There was another earlier Norman castle on the coast at Folkestone, close to a landing place. This became a casualty of coastal recession and no longer exists.

General Pitt-Rivers archaeologically excavated the castle in 1878. In addition to medieval deposits he found a Roman ridge tile, considered a stray find. Others have excavated the site since and in 1988-9 pottery dating from 2500-1800 BC was found. It has been suggested that the Norman castle adapted a pre-Roman occupation site, possibly with defensive characteristics. Defensive trenches were cut into the castle during the Second World War.

Grid Reference:TR 2140 3795
Map Sheet:TR23NW
Parish:FOLKESTONE, SHEPWAY, KENT

Monument Types

  • MOTTE (MOTTE Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • MOTTE (MOTTE Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Protected Status:Register of Scheduled Monuments (EH national number) 12826: Title not entered

Full description

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Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
---Photograph: PLAN OF CAESAR'S CAMP AT FOLKESTONE. OS55/F105/3. Black and White. Negative.
---Photograph: SECTIONS OF EXCAVATIONS AT CAESAR'S CAMP,FOLKESTONE. OS55/F105/4. Black and White. Negative.
---Photograph: OBJECTS FOUND AT CAESAR'S CAMP,FOLKESTONE. OS55/F105/5. Black and White. Negative.
---Photograph: CAESAR'S CAMP. DITCH OF OUTER BAILEY AT EAST, LOOKING SOUTH AT FOLKESTONE.. OS55/F110/8. Black and White. Negative.
---Photograph: 11/12TH CENT.(INCL. SUGARLOAF HILL? - TR 223 380) Types: MOTTE AND BAILEY. AO55/105/3. Black and White. Negative.
---Photograph: 11/12TH CENT.(INCL. SUGARLOAF HILL?) SEE ALSO AO55/105/3 Types: MOTTE AND BAILEY. BB74/04901. Black and White. Negative.
---Photograph: 11/12TH CENT.(INCL. SUGARLOAF HILL?) SEE ALSO AO55/105/3 Types: MOTTE AND BAILEY. BB75/02544. Colour. Negative.
---Unpublished document: RPS Clouston. 1994. Folkestone & Dover Water services: Bluehouse to Cherry Garden Trunk Main.
<1>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. OS 25" 1959
<2>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Arch 47 1883 429-65 plans illusts (A H L F Pitt-Rivers)
<3>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Victoria County History Kent 1 1908 415-18 plan (I C Gould)
<4>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Archaeol Cant 63 1950 147 (H F Bing)
<5>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. AM Eng & Wales 1961 59
<6>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. F1 FGA 06.05.64
<7>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. F2 NKB 10.10.73
<8>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Renn, DF, 1973. Norman Castles in Britain. (189-190)
<9>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Victoria County History 2 Kent 1926 236 (R C Fowler)
<10>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Monastican (ed J Caley) Anglicanum 4 674 (Dugdale)
<11>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Castellarium Anglicanum 1 1983 231 (D J Cathcart King)
<12>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. DOE(IAM) Record form 3 Nov 1986
<13>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Archaeol Cant 10 1896 xliv-xlviii (W J Jeaffreson)
<14>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. JBAA 1 3rd Series 1937 25-26 illus 33 (R W Murray)
<15>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Allcroft, A, 1908. Earthworks of England. (418 plan)
<16>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Brit Num J6 1909 187 (W J Andrew)
<17>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Bibliog Topg Brit 1 No 6 Pt 2 1780-1790 63
<18>Unpublished document: OS Card / NAR index entry. Hist & Topo Surv of the Co of Kent 3 1778-99 377 (E Hasted)
<19>Bibliographic reference: Field report for monument TR 23 NW 2 - May, 1964.
<20>Bibliographic reference: Field report for monument TR 23 NW 2 - October, 1973.
<21>Collection: REV. ALAN GIBSON.
<22>Miscellaneous Material: Not applicable. SMR Kent uncatalogued index entry. CAT Annual Review 1988-9

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