Shawell, Catthorpe (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SP54117959
Latitude 52.41168° Longitude -1.20604°

Shawell, Catthorpe has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Medieval motte and associated mound (part of surrounding defence) surviving as earthworks. The motte comprises a circular, flat topped mound, 3m to 4m high and 35m in diameter with a surrounding ditch 7m wide and 1.5m deep on the south side but not visible to the north. 20m to the south of the motte is a smaller circular mound, approximately 20m in diameter and 1m high, which is the only remaining feature of a series of defensive earthworks known to have existed in the vicinity of the motte. (PastScape)

A possible Norman castle consisting of medieval enclosures and a mound 3-4m high and 35m in diameter.
Scheduled Monument description:
The monument at Shawell is situated 75m south of the church, between Lutterworth and Rugby, near the southern boundary of Leicestershire, and includes two protected areas.The motte comprises a circular, flat-topped mound and surrounding ditch. The mound is 3-4m high and 35m in diameter, with an area 10m in diameter on the top. The ditch measures 7m wide and 1.5m deep on the south side but is not visible north of the motte. Twenty metres to the south of the motte is a smaller circular mound, approximately 20m in diameter and 1m high, which is the only remaining feature of a series of defensive earthworks known to have existed in the vicinity of the motte castle.
A large mound c.30m in diameter with the remains of a wide ditch on the south side lies within presumably medieval rectilinear enclosures. It has been surveyed by RFH.
VCH describe it as a large prehistoric barrow, but it has also been described as a castle mound.
From its size and shape and position in relation to the church it is probably a Norman castle. (Leicestershire and Rutland HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1017549, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 17047
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 340075.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MLE2332.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
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
  Cantor, Leonard, 2003, The Scheduled Ancient Monument of Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicester: Kairos Press) p. 39
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 43
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 255, 256
  Hoskins, W.G., 1970, Leicestershire: A Shell Guide (London: Faber and Faber) p. 96
  Wall, C., 1907, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol. 1 p. 275 (where called a barrow) 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. 30-1 online copy
  Cantor, Leonard, 1977-8, 'The Medieval Castles of Leicestershire' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 53 p. 39 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. 148, 155, 273-5, 399 online copy

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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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