Birds Nest Lodge, Leicester (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
New Parks

In the civil parish of Leicester.
In the historic county of Leicestershire.
Modern Authority of Leicester; City of.
1974 county of Leicestershire.
Medieval County of Leicestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK55280589
Latitude 52.64804° Longitude -1.18464°

Birds Nest Lodge, Leicester has been described as a certain Palace, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The rectangular moat, measuring 100m x 80m, was filled in during the 1940's. It now survives as a very shallow ditch on the northern arm, 10.0m wide, and 0.5m deep, and as a cropmark for the remaining arms. Fifteen meters to the east of the moat, earthwork banks c. 0.5m high and 30.0m long represent the site of a fishpond associated with the moat. The lodge known locally as 'Birds Nest Lodge' that occupied the island is first mentioned in 1362, but was rebuilt with a moat in 1378. A drawbridge was added in 1526. (Scheduling report). A hunting lodge extant in the reign of Edward III and still in good repair in 1523. (HKW). (PastScape)

The moated lodge known as Birds Nest Lodge was the centre of the former Leicester Frith Deerpark. The lodge is believed to have been the principal hunting lodge for the Leicester Forest in which the Earls of Leicester (subsequently Earls, then Dukes of Lancaster) held the rights to 'vert and venison'. The earliest references to a park being created from the forest date from 1297 and it was much reduced in size in 1526 to create 'New Parks'. The lodge was first mentioned in 1362 and was rebuilt with a moat in 1378. The names of the workmen are recorded as Robert Hod, Adam Gryst, William Redford and Robert Ireland, and they repaired the roof with 1500 Swithland slates. Extensive documentary information survives, recording the construction, management and repair of the site. In connection with the reorganisation of the Park in 1526 there is reference to 'scouring the moat' and the construction of a drawbridge. A survey of 1560 describes seven bays on the south side, eight on the west, three on the east, and nine on the north. There was a hall of three bays, stairs beyond this, and two bays over the porters ward. There are also references to the lodge having seven chimneys in all.
The fish pond(s) lie to the SE of the moated platform and appear on the 1st edition OS map of 1888. Topographic survey suggests there may be two ponds, and or other water management features within the copse/play area adjacent to the moat.
Trial trenching at a nearby house revealed no archaeological finds or features. (Leicester City Council Heritage Data)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1010664, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 17027
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 316735.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MLC462.

Books
- Cantor, Leonard, 2003, The Scheduled Ancient Monument of Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicester: Kairos Press) p. 67
  Hartley, Robert F., 1989, The Medieval Earthworks of Central Leicestershire (Leicestershire Museums)
  Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p. 901
  Fox, L. and Russell, P., 1948, Leicester Forest (Edgar Backus)
  Wall, C., 1907, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol. 1 p. 264 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.)
- DL44/24 (Survey of 2 Elizabeth) The National Archives reference

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.

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