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Monument Types

• CASTLE (Early Medieval - 1067 AD to 1349 AD)
• DITCH (Medieval - 1067 AD to 1539 AD)

Summary

West of the church there is a large flat-topped circular motte surrounded by a dry ditch, with a ditch leading away to the north-west where there is a moat (see MLE1537).

Additional Information

<1> Historic England, National Heritage List for England, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1010495 (Website). SLE7874.

Scheduled Monument description extract:
Gilmorton motte was either built within, or acted as a focus for, a later settlement. Although part of this settlement has continued in use to the present day with consequent disturbance of the earlier remains, earthworks survive in the area around the motte. These belong to part of the earlier settlement which was deserted as the village either shrank or shifted its focus. These earthworks include house plots and fishponds and, importantly, the location of a prestigious residence surrounded by a moat. Together, the remains of the motte and the shrunken village provide important evidence of the changing patterns of settlement in the Leicestershire medieval rural landscape.
DETAILS:
The earthworks at Gilmorton lie west of the church and 3km north east of Lutterworth and consist of a motte castle, a moat to the north west, house platforms to the south and two fishponds below them. A prominent motte is situated adjacent to the church and comprises a flat- topped circular mound, approximately 3m high, 38m in diameter at the base and 25m at the top. It has a surrounding ditch, 8m wide and 1m deep, which is waterlogged on the south side and has been partly altered on the church side. A channel, waterfilled at one end and about 20m long, 7m wide and lm deep, leads off the motte ditch on the western side. A rectangular moat measuring 45m by 33m overall lies to the north west of the motte. The moat ditch is shallow but the southern and eastern arms contain water. The remainder of the moat has been largely filled in. A dry feeder channel leads off to the south but cannot be identified beyond the existing field boundary. A hollow way, 7m wide and 0.75m deep, leads south from the motte. Several house platforms are visible to the east of the hollow way. At the southern end of the hollow way are two rectangular fishponds aligned east-west. The western pond measures 12m by 9m and is 1m deep, and the eastern pond measures 8m by 25m and has a depth of 0.75m.
Scheduled 29/05/1952, most recent amendment 20/10/1994.

<2> Page, William (ed), 1907, The Victoria County History of the County of Leicester, Volume 1, p258 (Bibliographic reference). SLE1156.

"Mount and bailey of an early castle (Gilmorton) supplemented on the north-west by a manorial moat. The moat is rectangular with a revetment. The circular mount has a flat top, and an escarpment of 21 ft. into a wide fosse, with a counterscarp of 6 ft; the latter, however, has been destroyed on the eastern side by a footpath. The bailey is small, of horse-shoe shaped plan, situated on the north-west of the fortress, and the fosse, which merges with that around the mount- is clearly marked on its western side only, the other portions are but just traceable,being cut up by two paths and generally levelled by the tread of cattle." Listed under Mounts with One or More Attached Courts. Class E.

<3> 1977-8, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, Volume 53, Vol 53 (1977-8), p78 (Journal). SLE5951.

The Museum Survey Team surveyed the motte and moated sites at Gilmorton in 1978.

<4> Leicestershire SMR Comment, PL (undated) (Unpublished document). SLE7870.

In 1971 MC found a short cross penny probably of Henry III near the castle. (926.1974)

<5> Elkin, Kathleen (ed), 2015, Medieval Leicestershire: Recent Research on the Medieval Archaeology of Leicestershire, p132, "Medieval fortified sites of Leics & Rutland", Richard Knox (Bibliographic reference). SLE5149.

"A large, flat topped mound surrounded by a dry ditch and adjoined to a later shallow moat or fishpond by a linear ditch, lies immediately west of the church. The Victoria County History plan shows a bailey bank to the north (Page 1907, 258); Creighton 1997, 25) giving the dimensions of the motte as 2.6-3.1m above the bottom of the ditch, with the summit measuring 27m in diameter and suggests that the motte has been lowered to accommodate a larger building than the original keep."

<6> Hartley, RF, 2018, The medieval earthworks of south and south-east Leicestershire, p21-22 (Bibliographic reference). SLE5736.

"Immediately to the west of All Saints Church is an interesting field of earthworks, dominated by a conical mound (a), probably a Norman motte, with an outer enclosure (b) forming a small bailey to the north-west, and both features surrounded by a substantial ditch (c). Knox (2015, 132) suggests the motte has been lowered to accommodate a larger building than the original keep."

<7> 2016, National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) accessioning (Website). SLE4981.

SUMMARY: "Medieval motte, moat and two probable fishponds surviving as earthworks. The motte has a flat top and an escarpment of 21 feet into a wide ditch, destroyed on the eastern side by a footpath. There is uncertain evidence for a bailey. There is a moat and fishponds. Scheduled."
URL: 'https://nrhe-to-her.esdm.co.uk/NRHE/RecordDetail.aspx?pageid=45&he_uid=340243', accessioned 03/07/2025.

<8> Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 (6") and 10K historic mapping, 1902-1950 (Map). SLE7243.

[SP 5688 8791] Moat [GT]
[SP 5695 8785] Tumulus [OE]

<9> Scheduled Monument List/Amendment, M.O.W AMs England & Wales 1958, p49 (Scheduling record). SLE7368.

Scheduled as an Ancient Monument: motte and bailey castle and adjacent moated site.

<10> Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, Field Investigators Comments, W C Woodhouse/27-JUL-1960 (Website). SLE3488.

A motte, accurately described by VCH, with a large dry ditch. On the east, the ditch is mutilated by a track. The mound has a number of slight mutilations revealing a gravelly core. No certain remains of a structure are visible but a rectangular crop/soil marking in the centre of the flat top is faintly discernible from the parapet of the adjacent church tower. From the north-west the ditch of the motte appears to have been drained by a large ditch leading to the corner of the moat. This ditch has been mutilated by recent soil-dumping. It is, apparently, this feature which is incorrectly described as a bailey by VCH, in fact no evidence of any form of bailey was seen. The ditch is doubtfully contemporary with the motte but both it and the motte-ditch may have been
deepened for some purpose in connection with the moat.
See GPs: AO/60/186/1 & 2 for a panorama of the motte as seen from the church, tower.
Surveyed 26th July 1960

<11> Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, Field Investigators Comments, J Baird/02-SEP-1971 (Website). SLE3488.

No change.

<12> Scheduled Monument List/Amendment (Scheduling record). SLE7368.

SP 569 879. Remains of motte and bailey castle and adjacent moated site. Scheduled.

<13> Cathcart King, DJ, 1982, Castellarium Anglicanum: an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the Islands. Vol I: Anglesey to Montgomery, p253 (Bibliographic reference). SLE4995.

Listed by Cathcart King.

Sources

Associated Finds

• COIN (Early Medieval - 1216 AD? to 1272 AD?)

Designations

• Scheduled Monument 1010495: MOTTE, MOAT AND FISHPONDS WEST OF ALL SAINTS CHURCH

Associated Images

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