Pilton Mound (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Morcott Spinney

In the civil parish of North Luffenham.
In the historic county of Rutland.
Modern Authority of Rutland.
1974 county of Leicestershire.
Medieval County of Rutland.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK92800234
Latitude 52.61085° Longitude -0.63101°

Pilton Mound has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A circular mound, most recently interpreted as '..a viewing platform or prospect mound of probably seventeenth century date, constructed to as to overlook a gentry seat and its designed landscape setting.' The mound is 9 feet in height, 78 feet in diameter, surrounded by a 12 foot wide ditch with a 4 foot counterscarp. Earlier interpretations have suggested that it is an incomplete motte and possibly the site of a Parliamentarian gun position. Aerial reconnaissance photography shows a rectilinear enclosure immediately to, and aligned on, the mound, suggesting a probable association. (PastScape)

Situation: The earthwork occupies an isolated site in a spinney on the west side of the Morcott-North Luffenham road. The feature is constructed upon minor scarp south of the River Chater and overlooks a considerable tract of land to the north.
Preservation: The site is completely overgrown and much denuded. The incomplete status of the semi -circular ditch seems related to the site’s original function rather a result of subsequent infilling or erosion.
Description: This obscure earthwork comprises a steep-sided earthen mound partially surrounded (except on the south side) by a dry ditch. The mound is c. 3m high, with a flat and round summit c. 23m in diameter. The ditch is c. 4m wide, and has a low counterscarp bank of c. 1-1.5m in height, there being slight signs of two causeways, one on the east side, and another, less well marked to the north. There are no traces of building foundations on top of the mound, nor any signs of a bailey. In the VCH, the earthwork is described both as a nearly circular motte and possibly a Parliamentary gun position; it is also interpreted as a Saxon barrow or windmill mound, whilst an alternative view suggests that it may be a post-medieval prospect mound, as it lies on the axis of the main vista from North Luffenham Hall. If not a prospect mound, the feature may indeed be an incomplete/denuded motte. (Creighton 1998)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005042, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number rt182
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 325263.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MLE5555.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 99
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 418
  Hartley, R. F., 1983, The Mediaeval Earthworks of Rutland, A survey (Leicester) p. 28, 30
  Wall, C.J., 1908, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Rutland Vol. 1 p. 111-2, 119 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'The Medieval Castles of Rutland: Field Archaeology and Landscape History' Rutland Record Vol. 20 p. 415-24
  Creighton, O.H., 1999, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Rutland' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 73 p. 19-33 (plan) online copy
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. 84, 94518-9 online copy

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.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER	Scheduling
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio