Sedgwick Castle is a ruined medieval

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

Nuthurst Nuthurst is a village and civil parish in the Horsham (district), Horsham district of West Sussex, England. The north of the parish borders Horsham town, with Nuthurst village south from the border. Within the parish is the estate and largely ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The castle dates to 1258 AD. The remains consist of wall fragments and earthworks. The site also includes two concentric ditches, ponds, and an outer enclosure. S. E. Winbolt led excavations at the castle in 1923 and 1924. Sedgwick Castle was established as a scheduled monument in 1933.

Description

The ruined medieval castle with a double concentric moat is located on the western edge of Sedgwick Park in Nuthurst, West Sussex. The inner moat is 70.0m in diameter and the outer moat is 140.0m in diameter. There are no structural remains besides ruined sections of mortared, coursed Horsham stone walls, which are in a poor and deteriorating condition. To the west in Rushetts Gill are two large ponds which were constructed in the 13th century.

History

The site was originally a medieval deer park in

St Leonard's Forest St Leonard's Forest is at the western end of the Wealden Forest Ridge which runs from Horsham to Tonbridge, and is part of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It lies on the ridge to the south of the A264 between Horsham and C ...

and was granted to the Le Savage family after the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. The family, who later became known as "Sauvage", used the site as hunting property for two centuries. John Maunsell (d. 1265) later acquired the property and added a keep and outer wall with surrounding moat in 1258. A manor house was added to the complex in 1498. The castle was in continuous use until the early 16th century, when it fell into disrepair. The castle was dismantled and stones from the ruined castle were used in the foundation of Sedgwick Lodge, built in 1600. Archaeologically investigations were conducted at the site in the mid-19th century and the early 20th century. During the first excavation in 1856, the Rev. Turner investigated the castle remains and produced a layout and description of the site. From 1923 to 1924, S.E. Winbolt excavated the area inside the fortified enclosure and the surrounding moats and later produced a summary on the history of the site and his findings. The site was established as a scheduled monument in 1933.

Description

History

References

Further reading