A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



..■nnniiiiiinMnnuiL 



111 if! 



e — r^5 e*£ 



"S^OP-"! ill 



Barton Seacrave Castle. 



Barton Seagrave Castle {\\ miles S.E. of Kettering). — This castle is 

 apparently an earthwork built somewhat on the same principle as that at 



Braybrooke, which lies %\ miles north-west, 

 only Barton Seagrave was, judging by the 

 present remains, a much less powerful strong- 

 hold. It stands upon ground a few feet above 

 the river Ise, in a rough field, the two en- 

 closures being disconnected, and having now 

 no common outworks. There are no visible 

 traces of stonework, but unless this was 

 originally a stone fortress the defences would 

 have been poor indeed. The ditches, now 

 dry, were probably once filled with water; the 

 ditch surrounding the northern earthwork 

 might have been filled from a stream once 

 existing on the north-east, and there is still 

 a hollow which continues west towards the 

 stream. The southern earthwork has a low 

 place on the south-west, either the bed of a 

 small lake as part of the original plan, or 

 a modern excavation for farming purposes. In this latter case the mound on 

 its south-west, only 6 feet high, is an accidental heap ; in either case the 

 mound has not the appearance of age. The depressions in the centre of the 

 northern work were undoubtedly for the same object as the depression in one 

 of the rectangular platforms at Braybrooke. The form of the southern work 

 is in accordance with courtyards found at Braybrooke, and also at Brandon 

 Castle, near Rugby, in Warwickshire, but in these two places the space here 

 forming a lake was the site of a mound or keep. The pond between the two 

 enclosures has not the appearance of forming part of the original plan ; in 

 fact the enclosures themselves may be of different dates. The present hall 

 lies across the road on the north. The church is situated fV of a mile east. 



Braybrooke Castle (ai miles S.E. of Market Harborough). — This 

 is of an altogether 

 different type to 

 such mound and 

 court works as 

 Sibbertoft, 5 miles 

 west by south, and 

 Castle Dykes near 

 Daventry, but akin 

 to Brandon Castle^ 

 in Warwickshire. 

 Braybrooke Castle 

 stands by the side 

 of a stream some 

 3 I o feet above sea 

 level, the land within one mile north and south being 200 feet higher, 



[ammzumic^ 



5CALC nr rxt-j 









5:71(1 



Baa of La.ffe fiH^d »f 

 flood rif^tt fi'O/n tfit N.C. 



A\\>*few*<e- ^ Modern == ^'. f^jiy^y 



5-^ "•v\»^:.'> * *-*- 











siiif ;=rr::i:!iJ='-"S;:HS 



1"'",','.'.. 



..<•" 



!|HI 



m 



Braybrooke Castle. 



1 F.C.H. M'arw. i. 359 ; and see Downman's manuscript plan with full sections in the Guildhall 

 Librar)-, London. 



