Annesley Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Anelegh

In the civil parish of Annesley.
In the historic county of Nottinghamshire (Modern Authority of Nottinghamshire, 1974 county of Nottinghamshire).

Medieval motte and bailey castle in Annesley Park. It comprises a flat-topped motte with a bailey to the north. Fragments of bank and ditch across the bailey may indicate that it was divided into two courts. The motte has a diameter of 42m and is 2m high. On the east and southeast the natural slope drops steeply away; there is the slight unsurveyable depression of a ditch on the north. The defences of the bailey appear to have consisted of a bank with an outer ditch which are only extant at the north-east corner. Elsewhere the bank followed the crest of the slope and now appears as a step-like scarping of that slope. Where it is best preserved the bank is 7m wide and 0.8m high, with a ditch of equivalent dimensions. The transvere bank is visible for a length of 40m and averages 8m wide and 2m high. There are traces of a ditch on the north side.

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 SK509518

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; 318069

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_midlands/120/annesleycastle.htm
    http://www.thorotonsociety.org.uk/gateway/places/castles/castles1.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p84
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p379
    Stevenson, W., 1906, VCH Nottinghamshire Vol1 p305, 367-8
• Journal Articles
  • Speight, Sarah, 1994, 'Early Medieval Castles in Nottinghamshire' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol98 p63, 66
    Coulson, C., 1994, 'Freedom to Crenellate by Licence - An Historiographical Revision' Nottingham Medieval Studies Vol38 p108-9
    Crook, David, 1979, 'The struggle over forest boundaries in Nottinghamshire, 1218-1227' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol83 p35-4
    1918, Derbyshire Archaeological Society Vol 40 p84
    Musters, L.Chaworth, 1903, 'Some account of the family called in Latin Cadurcis, in French Chaources, and in English Chaworth' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol7 p130
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Groves, G.,1987, 'Gazetteer of Minor Moated and Fortified Sites in Nottinghamshire (Unpub MA Thesis; University of Nottingham) p15