Swineshead; The Manwarings

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Baythorpe; Manwar Ings

In the civil parish of Swineshead.
In the historic county of Lincolnshire (Modern Authority of Lincolnshire, 1974 county of Lincolnshire).

Medieval motte and bailey castle which is believed to have been constructed by the de Gresley family, lords of the manor of Swineshead (Who also held Manchester castle). The remains of the castle take the form of a series of substantial earthworks, including a circular motte and bailey with inner and outer moats, now dry. The motte is represented by a raised circular platform, now largely level, standing to a height of nearly 2m above the surrounding fields. The motte is surrounded by a deep inner moat about 15m wide, in turn encircled by the bailey which varies between 7ms and 15m in width. Surrounding the bailey is an outer moat 7m-10m in width, originally circular in plan but partly truncated on the eastern side by modern ploughing.

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TF24334097

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; 352577

• Web site links
  • http://www.roffe.freeserve.co.uk/earthworks/castles/swineshead.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p63
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p148 [slight]
    Roffe, David, 1993, 'Castles' in Bennett, S. and Bennett, N. (eds), An Historical Atlas of Lincolnshire (University of Hull Press) p40-1
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p263
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p304
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Pevsner, N., Harris, J., 1964, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (London) p690
• Journal Articles
  • Healey, R.H., 1977, 'Moated Sites in South Lincolnshire', South Lincolnshire Archaeology Vol1 p28
    1961, East Midland Archaeological Bulletin p12
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p249-280]