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Monument Types

• MOTTE? (Late Anglo Saxon to Early Medieval - 850 AD to 1349 AD)

Summary

In 1798 Nichols recorded the mound here, which was excavated twice in the C19th. It is thought to be the motte of a castle though excavations apparently found Roman remains. According to Nichols it was 12 yards high and the diameter of the top was 16 yards.

Additional Information

Scheduled Monument description:
The motte at Kibworth Harcourt is situated within the village, 40m east of the main Leicester Road. The monument comprises a flat-topped, irregularly shaped mound surrounded by a ditch. The mound measures approximately 35m in its largest dimension and up to 4m high from the bottom of the surrounding ditch. The top is an irregularly shaped area measuring a maximum of 22m. A dry ditch up to 2m deep and 8m wide surrounds the mound with the exception of the north side where it has been partly filled. An entrance causeway 6m wide is situated on the south-west side. Two large depressions on the north and south sides of the mound are the result of 19th-century excavations. Some stonework within the mound was recorded at the time of these investigations.

The site was visited in the 1980 by PL and 1982 by APC and found to be well preserved, under grass. There were no signs of a ditch.

<1> Nichols J, The History and Antiquities of Leicestershire, Vol 2 pt 2 (1798), p639 (Bibliographic reference). SLE7.

Nichols (1798) records a large mount about 40 yards south of the village of Kibworth Harcourt. It has a single ditch 122 yards in circumference. The height of the slope is 12 yards, the diameter of the flat surface on top is 16 yards. About 40 yards north-west of the moat is the appearance of an old ditch running about 55 yards north-east and south-west, the slope of which is but 3 or 4 yards.

<2> Gentleman's Magazine, Vol 7 pt 1 (1837), p641 (Journal). SLE3155.

In or around 1837 a mound (probably this one but just possibly 69SE Z) was excavated. The section was 1. rich soil; 2. still clay (4 feet thick); 3. burnt layer - thin but wide; 4. in the centre a pavement of large pebbles - burnt with burnt bones and pottery; 5. clay; 6. burnt layer and two pavements 7 yards apart, one in the centre and one on the west (both burnt); 7. natural. Each layer 'assumes an arch on approaching the outside' and, therefore, there must first have been a bank marking out the site.

<3> Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, 1870, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, Volume 2, Vol 2 (1869), p244-5 (Journal). SLE4983.

In 1863 the mound was again excavated, this time by Leics Archaeol Soc, again may be 69SE Z. A cutting 8 or 9' deep was made, At 5' was a layer of black soil (with ashes and burnt wood, bones, teeth and one or two pieces of Roman pottery. On same (?) level a pavement of large stones about 4' x 2', a bone bodkin and an iron candlestick. At 8-9' a regular layer of black soil - natural? (This according to an anonymous newspaper report). Trollope says the pottery was Samian ware.

<4> 1977-8, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, Volume 53, Vol 53 (1978), p38 (Journal). SLE5951.

Cantor (1978) considered it to be a Norman motte.

<5> Elkin, Kathleen (ed), 2015, Medieval Leicestershire: Recent Research on the Medieval Archaeology of Leicestershire, p138, "Medieval fortified sites of Leics & Rutland", Richard Knox (Bibliographic reference). SLE5149.

"A large, flat topped mound, known as 'The Munt', lies just south of the village. It is 4m high and up to 35m wide with a flat top 25m across. A single ditch up to 2m deep and 8m wide surrounds it, with an entrance causeway to the south-west. No evidence of a bailey survives.
"There are records of excavations revealing stone work in an unspecified mound in Kibworth in c.1837 and 1863, and English Heritage attribute the large depressions on the north and south sides of the mound to this, but Creighton (1997, 29) thinks it is likely to have been a windmill mound close by that was actually excavated. Wood (2010, 119-20) believes that Nichols' description (1798, 639) provides fair certainty that a castle existed here with similar dimensions to Hallaton and Gilmorton."

<6> Hartley, RF, 2018, The medieval earthworks of south and south-east Leicestershire, p80 (Bibliographic reference). SLE5736.

"South of the High Street of Kibworth Harcourt (where markets were held until the 18th century) is a low flat-topped mound (a), with the summit area about 25m in diameter, surrounded by a ditch (b). This may have been a Norman motte or defensive strongpoint, although the site is not strategically chosen, being overlooked from the west side. However the context of the site was altered in the late 18th century by the construction of the turnpike road, bypassing the village centre. There are indications of ridge and furrow immediately south of the mound. A relatively recent ditch and fence (c) cut through it to form the southern boundary of the present field."

Sources

Associated Finds

None recorded

Designations

• Conservation Area: Kibworth Harcourt
• Scheduled Monument 1012568: MOTTE IN HALL FIELD

Associated Images

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