A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 
digging for ferrets on the north side of the ditch dividing the two chief 
wards. Large fragments of coarse badly burned pottery came out of the 
river scarp of the inner ward quite lately. 
In the absence of all evidence of any stone buildings, and as there is 
no mention in the inquisitions of any castle here, in spite of Leland’s 
“vestigia castelli,’ it seems clear that this was a stronghold entirely of 
earth and timber.’ Domesday shows that ‘ Ulmar of Etone,’ or Wolfmar, 
had his chief seat here before the conquest. Certain unusual features in 
this earthwork, and the absence of masonry, may suggest a pre-conquest 
origin. 
(2) Oprett.—The Lysons write: ‘At Odell, a mansion-house has 
been erected on the site of the castle, the ancient seat of the Barons Wahull, 
which was a ruin in Leland’s time.’ The house which has incorporated 
the earlier remains stands on a high mound, but as this has been much 
modified in recent times its original form cannot be clearly made out. 
There is a fine stretch of a great rampart proceeding in a straight line 
from the north of the mound, within which are the grounds, and out- 
side the high road on the site of the ditch, of which the outer edge can 
still be traced. To the north, about 80 yards away, stands the church, 
and round it the roads appear to occupy the lines of entrenchment which 
connected it with the mound. The site slopes away rapidly to the south, 
towards the mill on the Ouse. This also appears to have been inside 
the original enciente. Odell Castle was the head of the important barony 
of ‘ Wahull’ (Odell). 
(3) SanpyeE Prace.—Here too the house stands on a fine mound, 
of which it is difficult, owing to changes due to the laying out of 
the grounds, to ascertain the original shape. On the west boundary of 
the property there appear to be the remains of former enclosing lines, 
tending towards remains of fishponds near the Ivel, which has here been 
widened. ‘The church stands quite close on the north-east, and the mill 
on the river to the south-west. 
(4) ‘Joun or Gaunr’s Hit,’ Surron Parx.—This deserted 
mound, on which stand great elms, one of them girthing 144 feet, is of 
quite different form from 
ee any previously described 
senile, Y previously described 
s ”, : 
JOHN OF GAUNTS HILL, = wn GY % t is oval in plan, measur 
Z ing 180 feet by 115 feet 
S 
aes 
S 
ow a : : 
‘SUTTON PARK ay a 2 across its diameters. The 
ww 4 — =: 
dence ae eeee S % ‘= 3 ground slopes from east to 
wwe aww 1 ~ . 
3 joo 200300 my ww = West towards a small tribu- 
G \) 
Manyyw tary of the Ivel, so that 
the eastern section of the 
surrounding ditch is much more marked than the western. At its 
widest the ditch measures 48 feet across by 10 feet in depth, and 
the mound rises out of it to a height of 16 feet. The surface of 
1 It must have been the head of the barony of Beauchamp ‘ of Eaton.’—J.H.R. 
300 
