Ravenstone Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Ravenstone With Snibstone.
In the historic county of Leicestershire.
Modern Authority of Leicestershire.
1974 county of Leicestershire.
Medieval County of Leicestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK40051395
Latitude 52.72172° Longitude -1.40847°

Ravenstone Castle has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are no visible remains.

Description

A 'castle' at Ravenstone is documented in 1149-53 when, in a Treaty between the Earls of Chester and Leicester, it was agreed to destroy it.

Possible Medieval moat, suggested castle site, and fishponds. A castle is mentioned at Ravenstone between 1148 and 1153. Field investigation in 1972 found only a marshy tract and the fragmentary remains of fishponds. If a ditch for a moat ever existed it must have been mainly dry. (PastScape)

The earls of Chester and Leicester had each acquired a small estate in Ravenstone. (King, 1980, p. 4 Ref. Leics Survey p. 47)

Comments

Renn locates this at SK411131, which McWhirr and Winter writes 'is in fact a moated site and fieldwork has failed to reveal any evidence of a castle' although this may say something about preconceptions as to what the destroyed 'castle' was.
Nichols writes "on the north side of the town stood an ancient castle which was destroyed... in the reign of King Henry II" Nichols was not the best historian but this location would site the castle at or near the site of Ravenstone Hall.
A critical re-examination of the original source, in light of broader ideas of the form and functions of 'castles' is probably required. It may well be there where two manors at Ravenstone and that there were conflicts in the management of these estates (issues such as servile duties). In does not seem likely that either manor was a significantly fortified site, because of the expense of providing the garrison and because of the lack of remains, although some ditching, embankments and palisading would be likely at both. Calling a modest manor house a 'castle' might have more to do with the dignity of the noble status of an Earl and/or a negotiation ploy/embellishment rather than being a description of the form of the building structure.
Gatehouse favours Ravenstone Hall as the site for the 'castle', a small and slight mound in the church yard, suggested as an alternative, appears most unlikely.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 920575; 1391682.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- YouTube video
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
  Coulson, Charles, 1994, 'The Castles of the Anarchy' in King, Edmund (ed.), The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign (Oxford University Press) p. 73
  Hartley, R. F., 1984, The Mediaeval Earthworks of North West Leicestershire, A survey (Leicester)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 256
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 290
  Slade, C.F., 1956, The Leicestershire Survey (Univ of Leicester, Dept. of English Local History, Occasional Papers 7)
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Wall, C., 1907, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol. 1 p. 264 online copy
  Nichols, J., 1804, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire Vol. 2 p. 2
Periodical Articles
- Coulson, Charles, 1995, 'The French Matrix of the Castle-Provisions of the Chester-Leicester conventio' Anglo-Norman Studies Vol. 17 p. 65-86
  King, Edmund, 1980, 'Mountsorrel and Its Region in King Stephen's Reign' Huntington Library Quarterly Vol. 44, No. 1 p. 1-10 view online copy (subscription required)
  McWhirr, A.D. and Winter, M.J., 1978-79, 'Medieval Castles Additional Information' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 54 p. 74-75 online copy
  Cantor, Leonard, 1977-8, 'The Medieval Castles of Leicestershire' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 53 p. 37 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Stenton, F., 1961 (2edn), The First Century of English Feudalism 1066-1166 (Oxford: Clarendon Press) p. 250-4 (trans), 286-8 (text)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 395 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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