Gumley, Cat Gruff

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Danes Camp

In the civil parish of Gumley.
In the historic county of Leicestershire (Modern Authority of Leicestershire, 1974 county of Leicestershire).

Supposed medieval motte also considered to be ornamental mound surviving as an earthwork. The mound occupies the southern end of a spur. It is bowl-shaped, with a flat top, circa 20m in average diameter, 4m tall and surrounded by a ditch, 3m wide and 0.3m deep, and is under grass and trees. The mound is just outside but still close to village, so may represent a more prominent and better fortified manorial centre than the probable Saxon original, although this scenario is rare. Creighton considers it likely to be a prospect mound.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Questionable.
Earthworks remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP67888989

Modern Map from

Good for landscape form and features

Modern Map from

Good for general location

Air Photo from

1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 341992

Books

Cantor, Leonard, 2003, The Scheduled Ancient Monument of Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicester: Kairos Press) p32-3
Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p36
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p253

Journal Articles

Creighton, O.H., 1997, 'Early Leicestershire Castles: Archaeology and Landscape History' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol71 p29

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

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations.

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.

Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with this site.

Go to Previous Record Go to Next Record Back to List
This record last updated on Friday, April 6, 2007

¤¤¤¤¤