Melton Mowbray; The Mount

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; The Mound

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

Medieval motte surviving as an earthwork probably reused later as a mill mound. Variously supposed in the past to be a tumulus, Civil War grave or modern garden feature. A motte castle approximately 30m in diameter and 3m high, with a flat top 12m in diameter. There is no evidence for a ditch. A documentary reference to a motte at Melton, dated 1364, says that it was granted to the hospital of St Lazarus at Burton Lazars and refers to cutting down trees on the mound. A reference to a mill at Mount Pleasant in 1827 suggests a later use for the mound. Cantor hints at a stone castle here. Creighton questions status of mound as castle. The mound is situated on the other side of the river from the parish church and away from the area of settlement. I would not exclude the possibility that there was a castle at Melton Mowbray given it's status as a market town before Domesday but the Mount seems an unlikely site. A more probably site for the manor house of the Mowbray's (Molbrai), which, considering the status of the family, may well have been fortified, has been identified in King Street (qv)

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Masonry 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 SK74771884

PastScape number; 321327

Books

Cantor, Leonard, 2003, The Scheduled Ancient Monument of Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicester: Kairos Press) p36
Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p41
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p255
Hunt, P.E., 1957, The Story of Melton Mowbray p63-4
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
Wall, 1907, in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol1 p275 [may possibly refer]
Nichols, J., 1804, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire Vol2 p2

Journal Articles

Creighton, O.H., 1997, 'Early Leicestershire Castles: Archaeology and Landscape History' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol71 p29
Liddle, P., 1989, 'Archaeology in Leicestershire and Rutland' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol63 p119
Cantor, Leonard, 1977-8, 'The Medieval Castles of Leicestershire' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol53 p39

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.

¤¤¤¤¤

Melton Mowbray; The Mount

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SK74771884

Sources of information, references and further reading