South Moreton Castle was an 11th century castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 in the village of South Moreton

South Moreton

South Moreton is a village and civil parish in England about three miles east of Didcot. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire and from the former Wallingford Rural District to the new district of South Oxfordshire.-History:Moretune in the Domesday...

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The name can also refer to a nearby siege-castle, probably from the 12th century.

History

South Moreton Castle is a 11th century Norman motte and bailey design that overlooks Mill Brook in the village of South Moreton, lying close the village church. The motte is 50 m wide and 4 m high, surrounded by a 15 m wide ditch that may have originally been filled with water by the brook. The motte was damaged during the late Victorian period, and an 50 yard long embankment stretching away from the castle to the west may have been destroyed around this time. Local tradition states that some victims of the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

 in the 17th century were buried upon the motte. The castle is a scheduled monument.

Just to the north of the main South Moreton Castle is another fortification, probably dating from the civil war of the Anarchy

The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...

 in the 12th century. This castle includes a moated ditch 85m by 130m across, and is thought to be a siege-castle designed to contain the forces of the Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...

 at nearby Wallingford

Wallingford Castle

Wallingford Castle was a major medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire , adjacent to the River Thames...

. An alternative opinion is that this moat was in fact associated with the nearby manor house, and that the siege castle referred to in the 1140s was in fact the first castle overlooking Mill Brooke.