Earthwork remains of a motte and bailey castle. The motte is sub-circular in plan with the south eastern side having been lost to erosion. To the north of the motte is a ditch extending from the south east to the north west with a possible causeway in the centre. Extending to the north east is another ditch. A bank to the west may be a post medieval field boundary utilising aspects of the earlier earthworks. Excavations in 1968 showed that this castle overlay a C12 ringwork, was modified in late C12/early C13 and was abandoned in mid-C13. Aldingham motte is 30ft high with a surrounding ditch 10ft deep on the south side and 8ft deep on the morth, varying from 15 to 20ft wide at the bottom. Some 40yds north of the mound there is a broad straight ditch 250ft long and 18ft wide at the bottom, extending at almost right angles to the sea cliff. (PastScape)

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Name	Aldingham Moat Hill
Alternative Names
Historic County	Lancashire North of the Sands
Civil Parish	Aldingham
Type	Timber Castle
Confidence	Certain
Remains	Earthworks
Listed	Not listed
Scheduled Ancient Monument	Yes
Ordnance Survey Reference	SD277698
Eastings	327780
Northing	469830
Images of England Reference
PastScape Reference	37622
Historic Environment Record	2613

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StreetMaps

Books

• Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS) p375
• Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p12
• Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p274 [slight]
• Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p61, 355
• Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carel Press) p27
• King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p244
• Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p176-7
• Gibson, Leslie Irving, 1977, Lancashire Castles and Towers (Dalesman Books)
• (Davison), 1969, Archaeological Excavation 1968 (HMSO) p24
• Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands p34-6, 142 [plan questionable]
• Cowper, 1908, in Farrer, Wm and Brownbill, J.(eds), VCH Lancaster Vol2 p556-8
• West, T., 1805, Antiquites of Furness p388-91

Journals

• Higham, Mary, 1991, 'The Mottes of North Lancashire, Lonsdale and South Cumbria' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol91 p79-90 [reprinted in Crosby, A.G. (ed), 2007, Of names and places: selected writings of Mary Higham (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society and the Society for Name Studies) p81-91]
• Davison, B.K., 1969, 'Aldingham - Motte' Current Archaeology Vol2 p23-4
• Wilson, D.M. and Hurst, D.G., 1969, Medieval Archaeology Vol13 p258-9 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
• Kelly, 1924, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol24 p260-5, 271-7
• Collingwood, 1909, The Antiquary Vol45 p252-8
• 1906, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol6 p320-1 [plan] http://www.archive.org/stream/transactionscum06collgoog#page/n374/mode/1up
• Cowper, H. Swainson, 1893, 'The ancient settlements, cemeteries, and earthworks of Furness' Archaeologia Vol53 p422-4
• Ferguson, 1888, 'Two Moated Mounds, Liddell and Aldingham' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol9 pt2 p404-11 http://www.archive.org/stream/transactionvol9no2cumb#page/404/mode/1up
• 1879-80, Proceedings of the Barrow Naturalists Club Vol3 p119-20