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Monument Types

• HOUSE (Early Medieval to Late Medieval - 1279 AD to 1539 AD)
• MOAT (Early Medieval to Late Medieval - 1279 AD to 1539 AD)

Summary

In the 1980s earthworks of a moated site were surveyed. The house is mentioned in documents dating from the C14th and C15th, owned by Robert de Holand and William Hastings. When the moat was drained a large quantity of deer antlers was found.

Additional Information

Scheduled Monument description extract:
The monument at Bagworth is situated 1km north-east of the village and comprises a large moated site with a fishpond to the west and a second pond 250m to the south-east. The moated site measures 250 x 170m in overall dimensions, enclosing a rectangular island measuring 110 x 80m. The south, east and west ditches are on average 20m wide and 3-4m deep and are dry except for a north-south flowing stream in the eastern arm. The northern arm widens to 70m at the north-east corner of the island, where it continues northward for a further 50m. There are causeways in the north-west corner and the south; the latter considered to be the original entrance…
...Documentary records for the site begin in 1279 when Anthony le Bek held a park in Bagworth with two fishponds. In 1318 Robert de Holland was granted a licence to crenellate a house but by 1372 the house had fallen into decay and the ponds are again mentioned because they had not been repaired. In the 15th century the site was acquired by William Hastings together with the Leicestershire sites of Ashby and Kirby Muxloe. He had licence to empark, build and again crenellate but never completed the work. Another house was built on the site in the early 17th century, and fell into ruin during the Civil War. The present house was built from the ruins in 1769. A 19th century account recalls the moat being full of water and later a great many antlers being found in the soil of the ditch when a drain was laid. Excluded from the scheduling are all standing buildings, structures and tennis courts although the ground beneath them is included.

Mick Harding has visited the site and has an early brick found there. (PL 05/05/87)

Visited by RFH 21/07/87.

The field to the south contains a narrow hollow trackway heading for the causewayed entrance. (RPJ 24/05/91)

The railway company drained the moat and created a causeway. Large numbers of deer antlers were found during the drainage. (RK 11/07/96)

<1> Farnham, George & A Hamilton Thompson, 1930, Leicestershire Medieval Village Notes, p403-5 (Bibliographic reference). SLE5898.

The documentation is interesting. In 1373 Robert de Holand died seized of 'a capital messuage called "a castle" worth nothing beyond the outgoings, with ponds round the mansion worth nothing because they have not been repaired after a break'. In 1464 William Hastings acquires Bagworth and in the 1470s had licence to empark, build and crenellate, presumably on the existing site.

<2> 1977-8, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, Volume 53, Vol 53 (1978), p34 (Journal). SLE5951.

Cantor adds that Robert de Holand had licence to crenellate in 1318 and that a house was built there in the C17th which fell into ruins during the Civil War and another - the present - house built in 1769 to the north-west of the moat.

<3> Hartley R F, 2008, Medieval Earthworks of South-West Leicestershire (Hinckley & Bosworth), p3 & 6 (Bibliographic reference). SLE1014.

"Robert de Holland was granted licence to crenellate his dwelling place here in 1318, which implies that a substantial house existed at that time. By 1372 the "capital messuage called a castle" had fallen into decay, and the ponds around the mansion were out of use and in need of repair. In the late 15th century Lord Hastings intended to develop this house, together with Ashby and Kirby Muxloe castles, but there is no indication that he did so here before his arrest and execution. (Cantor LM, TLAHS Vol 53, p31). Nichols considered that the "fair and noble house… surrounded by a great moat…" was built by Sir Robert Banaster in 1616 (Nichols J, 1811, p989). The present farmhouse and garden is still surrounded by a very substantial rectangular moat (1), now drained (site visit 21st July 1987). The first edition OS map shows an ornamental pond just to the west of the moat (3)."

<4> Elkin, Kathleen (ed), 2015, Medieval Leicestershire: Recent Research on the Medieval Archaeology of Leicestershire, p130, "Medieval fortified sites of Leics & Rutland", Richard Knox (Bibliographic reference). SLE5149.

"Robert de Holand received licence to crenellate at Bagworth in 1318 (Cantor 1978, 34), but at his death in 1373 the site, referred to as a castle, is recorded as of no great value with the fishponds surrounding the mansion broken and therefore worthless. William, Lord Hastings received another licence to empark, build and crenellate at Bagworth in 1474 (Lyte 1927, 243). The surviving earthworks consist of a wide, sub-rectangular moat with a probable 19th century causewayed entrance. A triangular fishpond with an island lies to the west."

Sources

Associated Finds

• MAMMAL REMAINS (Medieval - 1067 AD to 1539 AD)

Designations

• Scheduled Monument 1010485: MOAT WITH FISHPONDS AT BAGWORTH

Associated Images

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