Annesley Castle

Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Motte)

There are earthwork remains

NameAnnesley Castle
Alternative NamesAnelegh
Historic CountryNottinghamshire
Modern AuthorityNottinghamshire
1974 AuthorityNottinghamshire
Civil ParishAnnesley

Medieval motte and bailey castle in Annesley Park. It comprises a flat-topped motte with a bailey to the north. Fragments of bank and ditch across the bailey may indicate that it was divided into two courts. The motte has a diameter of 42m and is 2m high. On the east and southeast the natural slope drops steeply away; there is the slight unsurveyable depression of a ditch on the north. The defences of the bailey appear to have consisted of a bank with an outer ditch which are only extant at the north-east corner. Elsewhere the bank followed the crest of the slope and now appears as a step-like scarping of that slope. Where it is best preserved the bank is 7m wide and 0.8m high, with a ditch of equivalent dimensions. The transvere bank is visible for a length of 40m and averages 8m wide and 2m high. There are traces of a ditch on the north side. (PastScape)

Geophysical survey in 2004 revealed buried banks and ditches of the baileys and ridge and furrow ploughing across the outer bailey. (James Wright 2010)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSK509518
Latitude53.0613899230957
Longitude-1.24091005325317
Eastings450950
Northings351800
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink
Photograph by Andrew Herrett. All rights reservedView full Sized Image

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.

Calculate Print

Books

  • Wright, James, 2008, Castles of Nottinghamshire (Nottinghamshire County Council) p. 11, 37, 42, 60
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 84
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 379
  • Stevenson, W., 1906, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Nottinghamshire Vol. 1 p. 305, 367-8 online copy

Journals

  • Speight, Sarah, 1994, 'Early Medieval Castles in Nottinghamshire' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol. 98 p. 63, 66
  • Coulson, C., 1994, 'Freedom to Crenellate by Licence - An Historiographical Revision' Nottingham Medieval Studies Vol. 38 p. 108-9
  • Crook, David, 1979, 'The struggle over forest boundaries in Nottinghamshire, 1218-1227' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol. 83 p. 35-4
  • Stevenson, W., 1918, 'Pinxton Castle' Derbyshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 40 p. 84 online copy
  • Musters, L.Chaworth, 1903, 'Some account of the family called in Latin Cadurcis, in French Chaources, and in English Chaworth' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol. 7 p. 130

Other

  • Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk East Midlands Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 65 online copy
  • Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk East Midlands Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 59 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 59 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 58 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 67 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 61 online copy
  • Wright, James, 2010 Dec 9, pers. corr.
  • English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 54 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 39 online copy
  • Pre Construct Geophysics, 2004 April, Geophysical survey
  • Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 250-2, 475 online copy
  • Groves, G.,1987, Gazetteer of Minor Moated and Fortified Sites in Nottinghamshire (Unpub MA Thesis; University of Nottingham) p. 15