| Groby Castle | |
|---|---|
| Groby | |
 Plan of Groby Castle (prior to building of the A50 across its northern earthworks) | |
  Groby Castle Location in Leicestershire | |
| Coordinates | 52°39′50″N1°13′36″W / 52.6640°N 1.2267°W grid reference SK52390764 |
Groby Castle is situated in the large village of Groby to the north-west of the city of Leicester, England.
After the Norman Conquest, the area came into the possession of Hugh de Grandmesnil. [1] Groby was one of 67 manors Grandmesnil held in Leicestershire according to the Domesday Book of 1086. [2] The Victoria County History for Leicestershire suggests that Grandmesnil founded Groby Castle, [1] as does the English Heritage Archive. [3] However, medieval historian R. Allen Brown suggests a foundation date in the third quarter of the 12th century by the Earl of Leicester. [4] This figure was accepted by Professor Leonard Cantor [5] and David Cathcart King. [6] Excavations in the 1960s demonstrated that the motte, an artificial mound, was built around a stone tower. [7]
Along with Leicester, and Brackley, Groby was one of three castles belonging to the earl that were destroyed (slighted) on the orders of Henry II after the Revolt of 1173–1174 led by his son, Prince Henry. [8] According to historian Sidney Painter, it was one of at least 21 castles demolished on Henry II's instructions. [9]
In the 13th century a stone manor house was founded on the site. [10] Antiquarian William Burton noted in the early 17th century that Groby Castle "was utterly ruinated and gone and only the mounts, rampires and trenches were to be seen". [11]
A fragment of one wall remains, together with earthworks consisting of a large mound of earth at the rear of the present manor house known as Groby Old Hall. Part of the site is occupied by the church of St Philip and St James. [10] In 1962 and 1963 excavations were carried out at Groby Castle in preparation for the construction of the A50 road nearby. [12] The road, which runs past the north-east of the motte, destroyed some of the castle's outworks. [3] In April 2010, archaeological television programme Time Team undertook excavations at the castle. [13] Groby Castle is a Scheduled Monument, [3] which means it is a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. [14]
The ancestral seat associated with the protagonist Christopher Tietjens in Ford Madox Ford's novel Parade's End (published in 1925, and dramatized for television in 2012) is named Groby Hall. The stately home, with an ancient tree growing in the grounds half the height of an even deeper well, is supposedly located in the North Riding of Yorkshire. [15]
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a castle to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for pleasance and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace.
Hugh de Grandmesnil, , is one of the proven companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Subsequently, he became a great landowner in England.
Leicester Castle is in the city of the same name in the English county of Leicestershire. The complex is situated in the west of Leicester City Centre, between Saint Nicholas Circle to the north and De Montfort University to the south. A large motte and the Great Hall are the two substantial remains of what was once a large defensive structure. The hall is now encased in a Queen Anne style frontage. The Castle and the Magazine Gateway is a scheduled monument.
Wallingford Castle was a major medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire, adjacent to the River Thames. Established in the 11th century as a motte-and-bailey design within an Anglo-Saxon burgh, it grew to become what historian Nicholas Brooks has described as "one of the most powerful royal castles of the 12th and 13th centuries". Held for the Empress Matilda during the civil war years of the Anarchy, it survived multiple sieges and was never taken. Over the next two centuries it became a luxurious castle, used by royalty and their immediate family. After being abandoned as a royal residence by Henry VIII, the castle fell into decline. Refortified during the English Civil War, it was eventually slighted, i.e. deliberately destroyed, after being captured by Parliamentary forces after a long siege. The site was subsequently left relatively undeveloped, and the limited remains of the castle walls and the considerable earthworks are now open to the public.
Castle Acre Castle and town walls are a set of ruined medieval defences built in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk. The castle was built soon after the Norman Conquest by William de Warenne, the Earl of Surrey, at the intersection of the River Nar and the Peddars Way. William constructed a motte-and-bailey castle during the 1070s, protected by large earthwork ramparts, with a large country house in the centre of the motte. Soon after, a small community of Cluniac monks were given the castle's chapel in the outer bailey; under William, the second earl, the order was given land and estates to establish Castle Acre Priory alongside the castle. A deer park was created nearby for hunting.
Skipsea Castle was a Norman motte and bailey castle near the village of Skipsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Built around 1086 by Drogo de la Beuvrière, apparently on the remains of an Iron Age mound, it was designed to secure the newly conquered region, defend against any potential Danish invasion and control the trade route across the region leading to the North Sea. The motte and the bailey were separated by Skipsea Mere, an artificial lake that was linked to the sea during the medieval period via a navigable channel. The village of Skipsea grew up beside the castle church, and the fortified town of Skipsea Brough was built alongside the castle around 1160 to capitalise on the potential trade.
Bakewell Castle was in the town of Bakewell, Derbyshire.
Great Canfield Castle lies in the small village of Great Canfield, 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Great Dunmow in Essex, England: grid reference TL595179.
Haughley Castle was a medieval castle situated in the village of Haughley, some 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north-west of the town of Stowmarket, Suffolk. Prominent historians such as J. Wall consider it "the most perfect earthwork of this type in the county," whilst R. Allen Brown has described it as "one of the most important" castle sites in East Anglia.
Groby Old Hall is partly a 15th-century brick-built manor house and grade II* listed building located very near the site of Groby Castle in the village of Groby in Leicestershire.
Thetford Castle is a medieval motte and bailey castle in the market town of Thetford in the Breckland area of Norfolk, England. The first castle in Thetford, a probable 11th-century Norman ringwork called Red Castle, was replaced in the 12th century by a much larger motte and bailey castle on the other side of the town. This new castle was largely destroyed in 1173 by Henry II, although the huge motte, the second largest man-made mound in England, remained intact. The motte, recognised as a scheduled monument, now forms part of a local park, and the remains are known variously as Castle Hill, Castle Mound and Military Parade.
Watch Hill Castle is a medieval motte-and-bailey on the boundary of Bowdon and Dunham Massey, Greater Manchester, England. It is a scheduled monument. The castle is located north of the River Bollin and south of a deep ravine.
A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles without the motte. Defences were usually earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank surrounding the site.
Sauvey Castle is a medieval castle, near Withcote, Leicestershire, England. It was probably built by King John in 1211 as a secluded hunting lodge in Leighfield Forest. It comprised a ringwork or shell keep, with an adjacent bailey; earthwork dams were constructed to flood the area around the castle, creating a large, shallow moat. The castle was occupied by the Count of Aumale in the early reign of Henry III, but it then remained in the control of the Crown and was used by royal foresters until it fell into disuse in the 14th century. By the end of the 17th century, its walls and buildings had been dismantled or destroyed, leaving only the earthworks, which remain in a good condition in the 21st century.
Burrough Hill is an Iron Age hillfort in Burrough on the Hill, 7 miles (11 km) south of Melton Mowbray in the English county of Leicestershire. Situated on a promontory about 210 metres (690 ft) above sea level, the site commands views over the surrounding countryside for miles around. There has been human activity in the area since at least the Mesolithic, and the hillfort was founded in the early Iron Age. In the medieval period, after the hillfort was abandoned, the hill was used as farmland. This ended in the 17th century when the parish the hill was in was enclosed. Traces of ridge and furrow show where the medieval fields were ploughed. Since the 1930s the site has been the subject of archaeological investigations and renewed excavations under the auspices of the University of Leicester began in 2010. Part of Burrough Hill Country Park and open to the public, the hillfort is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The first phase was one of the earliest castles in England to be built at least partly using stone when the majority were built with earth and timber. Corfe Castle underwent major structural changes in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Fotheringhay Castle, also known as Fotheringay Castle, was a High Middle Age Norman Motte-and-bailey castle in the village of Fotheringhay 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) to the north of the market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire, England. It was probably founded around 1100 by Simon de Senlis, Earl of Northampton. In 1113, possession passed to Prince David of Scotland when he married Simon's widow. The castle then descended with the Scottish princes until the early 13th century, when it was confiscated by King John of England.
Down End Castle, also known as Downend Castle, Chisley Mount or Chidley Mount, was a motte-and-bailey castle at Down End, north of Dunball in the parish of Puriton, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
| Inhabited |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Ruined | ||
| Earthworks | ||
| No visible remains | ||
