Talk:Tamworth Castle

Motte size...
As per the tag, the claim to be the "second largest motte" after that of Windsor Castle seems questionable - and the source isn't the strongest.


 * For Tamworth, the official local environmental record for the motte lists it as 16 m high, 80 m wide at the base, 46 m wide at the top. I've checked briefly through the literature, and can't find any other source suggesting that Tamworth is the second largest motte in England.
 * For Windsor, the motte is only 15 m high, according to the official history of the castle. I'm not aware of an officially published measurement for the width, but English Heritage maps suggest it is roughly 40-50 m wide at the base, 28 m in diameter at the top (its not quite circular). I've read almost all the modern literature on Windsor, and I've never heard of it being described as being the "largest motte in England".
 * Thetford, by contrast, is at least 22 m high (some sources give 24 m) and 100 m wide across the base. It is commonly cited in the literature as the second largest man-made mound in England (after Silbury Hill).

The maths for the Windsor motte being larger than Tamworth, let alone Thetford's, don't seem to add up, and I'm not convinced that the Borough Council has got it right. I think that they meant to say the "motte and keep" defences were the second tallest. That would make sense, as Windsor's shell keep (thanks to the 19th century rebuilding, which added an addition 9 m in height onto the original medieval stonework!), plus the motte, is indeed very tall, as is Tamworth shell keep and motte (the stonework is 12 m high in places).

Thoughts welcomed! Hchc2009 (talk) 16:54, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Rewrite 2017
The article as expanded in 2013 had become more focused on the owners of the castle and their history, rather than on the building itself, which is the article's true subject. The rewriting therefore tries to shift emphasis back that way and omit what is not relevant to it. There was also an opportunity to correct errors, such as the notion that the castle and its grounds are on the bank of the Tame rather than the Anker. Possibly it still needs to be made clearer that the Anglo-Saxon burh was an earthen wall and defensive ditch about the town as a whole rather than a fortified position.

In addition, since no-one has bothered to comment on the previous objection to a false claim in the lead, I have deleted the claim as unjustified. The rule on WP requires two references where the subject is contentious. Mzilikazi1939 (talk) 13:52, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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