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Monument Types

• CHAPEL (Medieval - 1067 AD? to 1539 AD?)
• MANOR HOUSE (Medieval - 1067 AD to 1539 AD)
• MOAT (Medieval - 1067 AD to 1539 AD)

Summary

An isolated, strongly defended moated site, apparently with a chapel and a settlement of some sort. By 1543 these were in decay. The moat has water in its northern arm; within the moat is a platform 50m square with substantial building foundations.

Additional Information

Scheduled Monument description:
Woodhead Castle is a moated ringwork with an attached bailey enclosure and an outlying fishpond.
The moated ringwork measures approximately 90m x 90m in maximum dimension with arms 12m wide and 4m deep, except in the north-western corner where the moat has been enlarged and is currently waterlogged. The moat island exhibits an inner bank comprising the remains of a stone wall which survives to a height of 1m in the south-eastern area. The foundations of buildings, including a chapel, occur in the northern half of the island. There are two entrances, one on the western side and one on the eastern side leading to the outer bailey. The outer bailey is sub-rectangular in plan and is demarcated by a low bank about 5m wide which encloses an area of 80m x 70m. An entrance to the enclosure on its eastern side is aligned with the two access points of the moated ringwork. On the south side of the ringwork is a small rectangular fishpond measuring approximately 10m x 20m considered to be contemporary with the rest of the monument.
Woodhead Castle is identified as being of medieval date, being visited by Edward I in 1290, and there are documentary records of a chapel and buildings on the site, which were in ruin by 1543.

Surveyed in detail RFH 1982. Pottery and tile retrieved from rabbit burrows and adjacent ploughed field. (RFH 25/11/87)
An isolated manor house site with a deep moat and stone walls. The buildings within were in ruins in 1543. Apparently there was a chapel and a small settlement. Ponds lie north and south, roughly rectangular structure to E, 40m square, on aerial photos. (RFH 25/11/87)

Medieval pottery in Oakham Museum (RCM 1975.22) (RPJ Aug 88)

Site scheduled 06/02/92 - Woodhead ringwork bailey and fishpond. (KW 22/07/94)

<1> Hartley R F, 1983, The Medieval Earthworks of Rutland, p17 (Bibliographic reference). SLE601.

"This was an isolated, strongly defended moated site, apparently with a chapel, and a settlement of some sort. By 1543 these were in decay: - "The manor there hath heretofore been a proper house standing upon high ground and wholesome soil, moated round about…. and the said manor house or place is now in great ruin and decay" (Page 1935, 232). OS 25" maps show a roughly square moat with outer dimensions of approximately 70m square and a platform 50m square with substantial building foundations. Aerial photographs (RAF CPE UK 1932 3125) show a low, roughly rectangular enclosure on the east side, approximately 40m square. There were two small ponds, one just north, and the other just south of the main site, and the deep moat retained water on the north side."

<2> Elkin, Kathleen (ed), 2015, Medieval Leicestershire: Recent Research on the Medieval Archaeology of Leicestershire, p133, "Medieval fortified sites of Leics & Rutland", Richard Knox (Bibliographic reference). SLE5149.

"A stone-walled and moated site, with internal domestic earthworks and an adjacent enclosure. The site immediately abuts an area of ancient woodland to the north. There are two small fishponds, one to the north and another to the south. Although the site is very close to the strategically important Great North Road and has a small village adjacent to it, the very close proximity to the woodland strongly suggests a location motivated by hunting. It was visited by Edward I in 1290. There is no documentation for the castle until 1543, by which time it was ruinous (Page 1935, 232)."

<3> McK Clough, TH (ed), 2000, Rutland Record, No. 20, No. 20 (2000), p415-424 (Journal). SLE6852.

The fortified site occupies a prominent ridge-top position. It comprises "a sub-rectangular ringwork with vestiges of an appending enclosure to the east. Surface collection in the immediate area has yielded a substantial volume of tile and a fragment of Collyweston slate, in addition to medieval pottery… The substantial nature of the stony bank that defines the ringwork perimeter is suggestive of masonry defences which have grassed over, whilst a series of internal earthworks demonstrates the presence of domestic structures. The entire complex was formerly encompassed by a spring-fed moat…"

Sources

Associated Finds

None recorded

Designations

• Scheduled Monument 1010923: WOODHEAD CASTLE RINGWORK BAILEY AND FISHPOND

Associated Images

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