Medieval motte and bailey comprising motte and second mound and part of bailey ditch surviving as mutilated earthworks. The castle was probably built circa 1080 by Hugh Lupus and came into the possession of Henry 11 in 1174. The Earl of Chester took it after the battle of Lincoln and later razed it to the ground in 1217. Excavations in 1952 revealed C12 to C13 pottery. Two natural highpoints have been adapted within the castle. The northern of these is a roughly circular motte, 2m to 3m high above the surrounding hill, and about 18m at the base but part quarried away . 50m south of this is a second mound, roughly circular, about 2m high above the surrounding hill and about 15m in diameter at the base. On the south side of the hill is the remaining part of the bailey ditch which survives for a length of 60m and is about 12m wide and 2m deep. The surviving earthwork show clear signs of being, at least in part, demolished stone buildings and walls. Situated on commanding site overlooking the A6.

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Name	Mountsorrel Castle
Alternative Names
Historic County	Leicestershire
Civil Parish	Mountsorrel
Type	Timber Castle Masonry Castle
Confidence	Certain
Remains	Earthworks
Listed	Not listed
Scheduled Ancient Monument	Yes
Ordnance Survey Reference	SK582149
Eastings	458200
Northing	314950
Images of England Reference
PastScape Reference	317167
Historic Environment Record

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StreetMaps

Books

• Cantor, Leonard, 2003, The Scheduled Ancient Monument of Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicester: Kairos Press) p36
• Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p42
• Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p141 [slight]
• King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p255
• Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p262-3
• Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
• Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p745 [slight]
• Hoskins, W.G. (ed), 1954, VCH Leicestershire Vol2 p82
• Hoskins, W.G., 1949, Midland England (Batsford) p84
• Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
• Hensmen, 1911, in Dryden, Mem. Old Leics. (London) p115-22 [history]
• Wall, 1907, in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol1 p246
• Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p418
• Nichols, J., 1795, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire Vol3 p85-6

Antiquarian

• William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/huntseng.html#leics8]
• Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p279

Journals

• Creighton, O.H., 1997, 'Early Leicestershire Castles: Archaeology and Landscape History' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol71 p31 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/creightonvolume71-2sm.pdf
• McWhirr, A.D. and Winter, M.J., 1978-79, 'Medieval Castles Additional Information' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol54 p74-75 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/ALRPagesfromvolumeLIV-8.pdf
• Cantor, Leonard, 1977-8, 'The Medieval Castles of Leicestershire' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol53 p37 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/CastlesPagesfromvolumeLIII-4.pdf
• Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
• 1958, Bulletin of the Loughborough and District Archaeological Society Vol1 p9-10
• Brown, R. Allen, 1955, 'Royal Castle-building in England 1154-1216' English Historical Review Vol70 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp19-64

Unpublished

• Ardron, F., 1952, Research on the Area around Mountsorrel Castle (Unpub handwritten notes: Leics SMR)