The Bourne Castle excavations of 1861

The archaeological dig of 1861 was not intended as a serious excavation of the site but rather as a sideshow or entertainment for delegates and visitors to the annual meeting of the Lincoln Diocesan Architectural Society.

The organisation represented many people with interests in their heritage and annual meetings were rotated to various towns around the county. In the summer of that year, Bourne was chosen as the host venue, due mainly to the enthusiasm and encouragement of one of its members, Robert Mason Mills, founder of the town’s aerated water business and a dedicated antiquarian who was deeply fascinated by the history of the locality.

On Monday 8th April 1861, the Rev Edward Trollope, the society’s honorary secretary who was organising the event, visited Bourne to make the preliminary arrangements and to select various sites for the members to visit. These included Bourne Abbey, the ruins of the Valli Dei (Vaudey) Cistercian Abbey in the grounds of Grimsthorpe Park, the temple of the Hospitaller Knights at Aslackby and the site of Bourne Castle. Unfortunately, the only remains of the latter were a few bumps and hillocks in the field off South Street and so it was arranged that a superficial dig would begin as an added attraction although it would appear that this would consist of nothing more than lifting off the surface soil in an attempt to reveal the foundations or any remaining stonework, if indeed it did exist.

The society could not afford detailed excavations and neither were they planned and it was intended that the search would take place only over a few days to coincide with the meeting which was fixed for Wednesday and Thursday, 5th and 6th June 1861.

By Saturday 11th May, a working committee had been appointed and was busy finalising the itinerary, the prospect of the castle excavations now exciting great interest because at that time its reputation as the home of Saxon kings Morcar, Oslac and Leofric, was well known although the more famous connection with Hereward the Wake was not popularised until five years later when Charles Kinglsey wrote his famous novel in 1866, basing his account on the romantic tales recounted in certain mediaeval chronicles, suggesting that he was the son of the Earl of Leofric and his wife Lady Godiva who owned the manor of Bourne and the castle in the Wellhead field which became known as Hereward's birthplace.

By this time, the itinerary for the visit was becoming extensive and more people were co-opted on to the organising committee which then formed two separate sub-committees, one to superintend the arrangements at the Town Hall from where the events would be directed, and the other to take over the management of the railway goods warehouse in South Street which the railway company had agreed could be converted for use as a museum and lecture hall and it was also within easy reach of the site of the proposed excavations. By this time, the programme for the two-day event had been provisionally drawn up and it was so varied and interesting that a large gathering was anticipated.

The local Rifle Corps was recruited to hold a parade through the town on the first day, Wednesday, and after marching to the Abbey Church for a service, everyone gathered at the castle site for a lecture on its history, although admission was by ticket only. There was a brass band to provide music and visitors later moved to the temporary museum to inspect the displays and hear lectures on various topics. There was a public tea that day and a dinner on the Thursday and as the organisers anticipated, the events on both days were crowded.

Excursions were arranged for visitors to see all of the important sites and historic buildings in Bourne and the surrounding villages using a succession of horse-drawn carriages leaving at regular intervals and all were busy throughout the two days. The tour on Wednesday took in the north of Bourne, including Dunsby, Dowsby, Sempringham, Billingborough, Horbling, Threekingham, Folkingham (where there was a stop of 20 minutes to inspect the remains of the Aslackby Preceptory), Rippingale, Haconby and Morton. On Thursday the route took visitors south though Thurlby, Baston, Langtoft, Market Deeping, Northborough, Peakirk, Crowland and Deeping St James.

Excavations on the castle site had begun on Monday 27th May and the only objective was to lay bare some of the foundations and it is therefore worth remembering that the team for this examination of an important archaeological site consisted of little more than a few men with shovels. When the event was over, the soil was replaced and a report on their progress drawn up. It said: “Nearly half the moat which surrounded the castle on the south side is still in existence. On the west side of the field, and close to the inner edge of the moat, the workmen discovered a substantially built wall, about four feet thick, which is supposed to have been the place where the drawbridge stood at the time the castle was occupied.”

The committee decided that this was insufficient and so they commissioned a more extensive and imaginative report on what they had found, suggesting that the remains of two circular towers had been uncovered, a short distance to the west of the earthen mound that can still be seen in the Wellhead Gardens. The report said that the walls of these towers were at least three feet thick and the distance between them 16 feet 6 inches and that the towers formed the gatehouse to the inner bailey, or courtyard, in which stood the keep on the mound of earth. The dig also revealed timbers in a sunken chamber near the gatehouse and these were thought to be part of the leverage for raising the drawbridge over the moat that surrounded the inner bailey. Opposite the gatehouse, below the soil, were the remains of a wall that may have served as the support of the drawbridge when let down and if this was correct, then the moat would have been 44 feet wide at this point. 

To complete their reconstruction of the castle, the archaeologists of 1861 suggested that an outer bailey covered an area of about eight acres and was bounded by St Peter's Pool and the course of the Bourne Eau, right round from the pool to what is now South Street, and so a second or outer moat was created. The keep was therefore protected, on the south by a single moat running close beside it, and on the other three sides by two moats, one fairly close by and the other at some distance, the latter being in fact the river itself. All of these features have been mentioned by previous historians but none verified by archaeological evidence.

One further fact was noted in 1861: that certain stones that were built into the end of a nearby barn were the exterior parts of crossbow slits that had once been part of the castle walls. These stones can still be seen today in what is now the Shippon Barn that stands close to the footpath across the Wellhead Gardens but their provenance is suspect, the stone, particularly in the so-called crossbow slits, having little appearance of the age required to fit this theory.

A plan of the castle by James Fowler, based on a drawing by a local enthusiast, Robert Parker of Morton, has subsequently been used by local historians as proof that a castle existed at this point but the reconstruction of the layout of the entire building appears to have been inspired by the 1861 excavations. The conclusions were also given some credence when members of the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Architectural Society visited Bourne in 1889. Shortly before their arrival, some of the remains, purportedly the gatehouse, had been laid bare for their inspection and the outline of a round tower was discernible and it was presumed that the other tower had also existed, as was stated in 1861, but the timbers for raising the drawbridge had apparently been lost.

No other evidence is available as to the existence of a castle in Bourne. The site in the Wellhead Gardens is now a scheduled ancient monument but there have been suggestions in recent years that further excavations should be carried out in an attempt to throw more light on the origins of the castle and to lay to rest the various myths and legends that surround it. Whatever is found could then be developed as a tourist attraction and educational resource but the trustees of the Bourne United Charities which owns the land have refused such permission and are opposed to any further excavations.

A long dry spell during the summer of 2005 revealed evidence of human occupation on the parkland where a combination of close mowing and a lack of rain produced a large number of circular patches of bare earth where the grass had died through lack of moisture, clearly showing the outline of a large building or buildings that once stood on the spot. A second set of patches also appeared to the west and these were thought to indicate another important structure.

There was a similar occurrence during drought conditions in August 1990 but the latest manifestation was far more detailed and welcomed as an indication of the exact location of Bourne Castle. In the middle of it all stood a silver birch, planted 30 years ago but still stunted in growth because it had never reached the maturity of other trees in the vicinity that were planted at the same time, perhaps indicating low soil levels on top of stone that had caused the grass to die off in patches while the surrounding area remained green.

It is a romantic idea to believe that the signs revealed by the dry weather could be evidence of the castle but it is part of Bourne’s history and that is how the discoveries will most probably be regarded. Cyril Holdcroft, who lives nearby in South Street, was in no doubt about their provenance and optimistic that they were evidence of the existence of a castle. “The patches indicate where the towers were situated and this is exciting because until now it was not known exactly where it was located,” he said.

Mr Holdcroft, aged 84, a retired cabin services director with British Airways who has lived in Bourne since 1939, was convinced that a detailed aerial survey followed by an archaeological dig would produce firm evidence of the stone walls of the castle, parts of it, perhaps the top sections of the battlements, so close to the surface that the grass had dried up and died during long spells without rain. This theory was fanciful because it is doubtful if a castle with high walls would sink so low into the earth and even if it did, the patches would be square rather than round and so a more rational explanation is post holes from the houses and other buildings of the community that once lived here.

The existence of a castle in Bourne is however deeply embedded in the perception of the public who love their heroes and legends, even if their origins are in doubt. The 1970 opinion of local historian J D Birkbeck therefore still stands: "Until fresh information about the origins of Bourne Castle is forthcoming, many questions will have to remain unanswered."

WRITTEN AUGUST 2005

See also Bourne Castle - fact or fiction

The Lincoln Diocesan Architectural Society meeting of 1861

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