Bagworth Moats (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Baggeworth; Thorneton

In the civil parish of Bagworth and Thornton.
In the historic county of Leicestershire.
Modern Authority of Leicestershire.
1974 county of Leicestershire.
Medieval County of Leicestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK45450866
Latitude 52.67329° Longitude -1.32894°

Bagworth Moats has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Moat and fishponds at Bagworth. The moated site measures 250m x 170m overall enclosing a rectangular island 110m x 80m. The south, east and west ditches are on average 20m wide and 3-4m deep and are largely dry. The northern arm widens to 70m at the north-east corner of the island. There are causeways in the north-west corner and the south; the latter considered to be the original entrance. The dry, rectangular fishpond to the west (SK 4534 0862) is 55m long and 45m wide maximum with an extension channel 25m long on the north-west side and a triangular island. The fishpond to the south-east (SK 4566 0828) is dry and irregularly shaped, being 75m x 100m maximum and was fed by a stream from the north which forms the southern boundary; the stream bed here is included in the scheduling. The western side of the fishpond is bounded by a bank 3m high which is broken in several places. Documentary records for the site begin in 1279 when Anthony le Bek held a park in Bagworth with two fishponds. (PastScape–scheduling report)

In the 1980s earthworks of a moated site were surveyed. The house is mentioned in documents dating from the C14th and C15th, owned by Robert de Holand and William Hastings. When the moat was drained a large quantity of deer antlers was found. (Leicestershire and Rutland HER)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1318 July 15 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1474 April 17.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1013324, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 17121
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 921288.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MLE2688.

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
  Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 10, 375, 378
  Hartley, Robert F., 2008, The Medieval Earthworks of South-West Leicestershire Hinckley and Bosworth (Leicestershire Museums Archaeological Fieldwork Monograph 2) p. 3, 6 (plan)
  Cantor, Leonard, 2003, The Scheduled Ancient Monument of Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicester: Kairos Press) p. 63
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 33
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 218, 327
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 256 (possible)
  Hoskins, W.G., 1950, The Heritage of Leicestershire p. 58
  Wall, C., 1907, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol. 1 p. 271 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 408 online copy
  Nichols, J., 1811, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire Vol. 4 p. 989
Periodical Articles
- Speight, Sarah, 2008, ''Castles as Past Culture: Living with Castles in the Post-Medieval World' Château Gaillard Vol. 23 p. 385-94
  Cantor, Leonard, 1977-8, 'The Medieval Castles of Leicestershire' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 53 p. 34-5 online copy
  Williams, D., 1974-75, 'Fortified manor houses' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 50 p. 1-16 esp 7-8 online copy
  Herbert, A., 1931-3, 'Ashby Castle' Transactions of the Leicestershire Architectural and Archaeological Society Vol. 17 p. 200 (slight mention) 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.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1903, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward II (1317-21) Vol. 3 p. 189 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1927, Calendar of Charter Rolls 5 Henry VI - 8 Henry VIII, AD 1427-1516, with an appendix, 1215-1288 Vol. 6. (HMSO) p. 243 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 281
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 20 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. 380-1 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.
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