Aslackby Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Aslackby And Laughton.
In the historic county of Lincolnshire.
Modern Authority of Lincolnshire.
1974 county of Lincolnshire.
Medieval County of Lincolnshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TF08503052
Latitude 52.86124° Longitude -0.38984°

Aslackby Castle has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such, and also as a Masonry Castle but is rejected as such, and also as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The earthworks associated with Aslackby Castle referred to by the previous authority have been mapped from poor quality air photographs. The moat referred to as the 'inner moat' by Allen and White was visible as an earthwork on earlier photography but latterly as a cropmark centred at TF 0850 3052. It was visible as a substantially ditched rectangular enclosure measuring 50m by 55m internally. The circuit was broken in places but none appear to be genuine entrances. No buildings were visible within the moat. This moat could be the remains of the moat that once surrounded the castle but as there is no direct evidence for their ever being a stonework castle it could equally represent the remains of a homestead moat possibly associated with a manorial complex within the village. Three sides of what Allen referred to as the 'outer moat' were visible as thinner ditches surrounding the inner moat except on the south side. This possible Medieval enclosure is about 160m in breadth. Outside the north east corner of this enclosure, centred at TF 0859 3057 is a possible pond (Helen Winton/27-FEB-1996/RCHME: Lincolnshire NMP). (PastScape)

Comments

Has, in the past, been associated with a castle described by Leland. King writes "The error of classing it as a castle seems to be due to Mackenzie quoting Leland, which in fact refers to Bourne." and rejected this as the site of a castle. Actually Mackenzie seems to have been quoting Allen who, makes this mistake, which, given the clarity of what Leland does write, is quite astonishing (see Bourne).
The online archaeological databases are seriously flawed by trying to account for the description given in Allen with the actual remains when it is clear Allen is worthless in regard to this site. The site requires resurveying by people who understand that Allen's description probably belongs to another site and that later author's (such as White and Mackenzie) are blindly repeating his error.
There is absolutely no question whatsoever of this ever being the site of a motte or any other form of castle. The site was probably a large manor house possibly, as was usual, with some defensive features.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004952, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number li288
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 348717.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 30066.

Books
- Osborne, Mike, 2010, Defending Lincolnshire: A Military History from Conquest to Cold War (The History Press) p. 35, 47, 49
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 69 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 265 (reject)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 425 online copy
  White, W., 1872, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire p. 571 online copy
  Allen, T., 1834, History of the county of Lincolnshire Vol. 2 p. 283 online copy
  Marrat, W., 1816, The History of Lincolnshire, Topographical, Historical and Descriptive (Boston) Vol. 3 p. 122-23 (misnumbered as 233) 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. 426 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.

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