Ingarsby Monks Grave (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Hungarton.
In the historic county of Leicestershire.
Modern Authority of Leicestershire.
1974 county of Leicestershire.
Medieval County of Leicestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK68150489
Latitude 52.63745° Longitude -0.99436°

Ingarsby Monks Grave has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Medieval moat, formerly considered as a C12 adulterine motte, surviving as an earthwork. The moat is sub circular and approximately 50m in diameter with a surrounding ditch 8-12m wide and up to 2m deep. The moat island forms a raised platform about 1m above ground level with an outer bank 4m wide and 1.5m high on the north-eastern side which terminates 5m from a field boundary and indicates the position of an entrance. (PastScape)

Monk's Grave' is a relatively small mound with a ring ditch, but with no bailey ditch. It is very similar in form to the Kibworth Harcourt earthwork. Other ideas such as a hermitage or barrow have been put forward. (Knox 2015)

Comments

Ingarsby Old Hall is the manorial centre and this site does not appear to be a precursor. Creighton suggest this as a motte of the Anarchy but the position of the mound, on a hillside beside a bridal way (which can never have been a major route) is not suggestive of such a thing. Ingarsby Old Hall is clearly sited in a much better position both tactically and strategically. The position of Monk's Grave seems more like that of a barrow, although it would be large for a barrow and is clearly not just a barrow. Certainly a report of a shard of Iron Age pottery apparently dug out from within the mound by badgers might cast some doubt on a C12 construction date. Was it adapted or built as some sort farmstead or small sub-grange (The name is local and probably derives from an association with the Leicester Abbey Grange at Ingarsby Old Hal - PastScape). Hermitages were an occasional part of high status landscapes, was this some sort of Hermitage?

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1010839, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 17057
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 319222.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MLE1704.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Abaroth's World
Books
- Knox, Richard, 2015, 'The medieval fortified sites of Leicestershire and Rutland' in Medieval Leicestershire: Recent research on the Medieval Archaeology of Leicester (Liecestershire Fieldworks 3) p. 123-42 esp 138
  Cantor, Leonard, 2003, The Scheduled Ancient Monument of Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicester: Kairos Press) p. 65
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 36
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 254
  Wall, C., 1907, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol. 1 p. 264 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, O.H., 1997, 'Early Leicestershire Castles: Archaeology and Landscape History' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 71 p. 29, 31 online copy
  Jarvis, 1985, 'A sherd of iron-age pottery from Hungarton' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Natural History Society Vol. 59 p. 91-2 online copy
  Cantor, Leonard, 1977-8, 'The Medieval Castles of Leicestershire' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 53 p. 38 online copy
  Hoskins, 1956, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 32 p. 47 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk East Midlands Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 19 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk East Midlands Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 20 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 18 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 20 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 34 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 32 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 East Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 28 online copy
  Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 67, 73, 294, 297, 389 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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