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Monument Types

• MOOT? (Late Anglo Saxon - 850 AD to 1066 AD)
• MOTTE AND BAILEY? (Saxo Norman - 850 AD to 1099 AD)

Summary

A conical mound surrounded by a rectangular earthwork enclosure. It may be a Norman castle. An alternative origin of the mound is a moot mound - one hundred of Rutland was called Alsthorpe Hundred and presumably met here.

Additional Information

Scheduled Monument description:
Alsthorpe deserted medieval village stands on relatively high ground to the east of the B668, mid-way between the villages of Burley and Cottesmore. The monument consists of a substantial mound, identified as a moot or meeting place, and the earthwork remains of the medieval village. Alstoe moot is a large irregularly-shaped mound, about 35m in diameter and 5m high. Surrounding the mound is a heavily silted ditch 8m wide and 1.5m deep. On the southern and western sides of the mound are two very pronounced straight ditches 8m wide and 1.5m deep which appear to mark the edges of adjacent enclosures. Adjacent to the mound are the deserted medieval village earthworks which include a series of house platforms and garden plots located on either side of a north-south running holloway. The outlines of rectangular buildings are still discernible on some of the platforms. Excavations of the moot and the straight ditches have shown them to be contemporary and of Saxon date. The site is also mentioned in the Domesday Book, and there is a documentary reference to a large 'green' ditch next to 'Altiechestouwe' in 1207. The village may have Saxon origins but was certainly occupied from the Norman period until its desertion in the 15th or 16th century.

The 'motte' is completely within the 'bailey' in an unlikely relationship for a castle, hence the suggestion that it may be a moot mound. One hundred of Rutland was called Alsthorpe Hundred and presumably met here. The pottery would be consistent with a late Saxon/early medieval use of the mound for this purpose. (PL 28/06/89)

There is good documentary evidence for a village at Alsthorpe.

<1> Elkin, Kathleen (ed), 2015, Medieval Leicestershire: Recent Research on the Medieval Archaeology of Leicestershire, p140, "Medieval fortified sites of Leics & Rutland", Richard Knox (Bibliographic reference). SLE5149.

"A vey conical mound, set within a rectilinear bank and ditched enclosure, adjoined to the east by what appear to be earthworks of the medieval village of Alsthorpe (Hartley 1983, 12). Excavations on the mound in 1936 revealed no post holes or structures, but a quantity of Stamford ware pottery was found (Dunning 1936, 396-411). Given the unusual form and configuration of the earthworks and the fact that the local hundred was called the Alsthorpe Hundred, and therefore probably met here, a late Saxon moot site is also a likely interpretation."

<2> Hartley R F, 1983, The Medieval Earthworks of Rutland, p11-12 (Bibliographic reference). SLE601.

"At Alstoe House is a field of well-preserved earthworks including a conical motte (1), surrounded by a waterlogged ditch and a series of rectlinear enclosures (2). The motte as it survives is about 5m high and 33m in diameter. During excavation (Dunning 1936) Stamford type pottery was recovered, tentatively dated to the early C12th."

<3> Page W (ed), 1908, The Victoria History of the County of Rutland Volume 1, Vol 1 (1908), p112 (Bibliographic reference). SLE912.

"In the field by the roadside north-east of Burley, and 3 miles north-east of Oakham, is a mount fortress; the summit, 16ft high, has a rounded top, and the base is surrounded by a fosse 3ft 4in deep and 9ft wide, except on the north, where it is 12ft broad. The mount is situated within the area of an oblong bailey, the circumvallation of which has largely gone though sufficient remains to leave no doubt as to its former plan. At the rounded north-western angle the fosse only is seen, and here it is 3ft deep and 8ft wide; the other parts are not so clearly defined except at the south-west where a portion of vallum remains from 1ft 9in to 2ft 3in in height, giving an escarpment of fully 5ft into the fosse, with a counterscarp of 3ft. A debased semicircular rampart on the eastern side indicates the former existence of a second bailey. A stream flows close to the north-east of the inclosure."

<4> Brown, AE, 1975, Archaeological sites and finds in Rutland (Bibliographic reference). SLE5999.

S of Alstoe House the earthworks are now ploughed but RAF verticals show hollow ways and more possible building foundations.

<5> Antiquaries Journal, Vol 16 (1936), p396-411 (Journal). SLE5.

In 1936 GC Dunning excavated at the site and produced a group of Stamford ware (which was known locally as Alstoe ware) and a whetstone. He identified the site as a Saxo-Norman motte and bailey castle but found no post holes or other structures.

<6> McK Clough, TH (ed), 2000, Rutland Record, No. 20, No. 20 (2000), p415-424 (Journal). SLE6852.

The motte is relatively low, and encompassed by a weak sub-rectangular bailey adjoined by a series of irregular enclosures. The encircling ditch was c.7.5 wide and 3m deep. The earthworks when compared to the village earthworks to the east are suggestive of secondary imposition with an extant medieval community. The castle site was raised over an area of former open field agriculture. Evidence is consistent with the Alstoe focus of settlement being abandoned/displaced shortly after the imposition of the castle.

Sources

Associated Finds

• SHERD (Early Medieval - 1067 AD to 1349 AD)
• WHETSTONE (Medieval - 1067 AD to 1539 AD)

Designations

• Scheduled Monument 1010671: ALSTOE MOOT AND PART OF ALSTHORPE DESERTED MEDIEVAL VILLAGE

Associated Images

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