Cymbeline's Castle

Cymbeline's Castle

Cymbeline's Castle from Ellesborough Church Tower
Location
Location Great Kimble, Buckinghamshire
OS grid SP 83265 06350
Coordinates 51°45′00″N 0°47′44″W / 51.7499°N 0.7955°WCoordinates: 51°45′00″N 0°47′44″W / 51.7499°N 0.7955°W

Cymbeline's Castle, also known as Cymbeline's Mound and Belinus's Castle, is the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle in woods north of Great Kimble in Buckinghamshire, England. It is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.[1]

The motte is about 42 metres (138 ft) in diameter and encircled on three sides by a ditch, outside which lie two additional baileys. Within the baileys have been found pottery fragments of the 13th–15th centuries, and Iron Age and Romano-British fragments have been recovered to the east of the remains.[1] A short distance to the west are remains of another motte-and-bailey castle, along with a moated enclosure and a Roman villa.[2]

The name associates it with the ancient British king Cunobeline (Cymbeline), although this may be a Victorian invention.[1] (There is also a theory that the nearby villages of Great Kimble, Little Kimble and Kimble Wick are named after Cymbeline;[3] however, this has been discredited, as the etymology of Kimble is a description of the hill rather than a name.[4])

It is said that if one runs around this mound seven times, the devil will appear.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "List Entry Summary: Cymbeline's Castle". National Heritage List. English Heritage. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  2. ↑ "List Entry Summary: Motte and bailey castle, moated site and Roman villa immediately east of All Saint's Church". National Heritage List. English Heritage. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Kimble". visitoruk.com. 2005. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
  4. ↑ Hanks, Patrick; Flavia Hodges, A. D. Mills and Adrian Room (2002). The Oxford Names Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  5. ↑ Quinlan, Ray (2003), The Greater Ridgeway, pp. 150–151.