Sauvey Castle

Sauvey Castle is a medieval ringwork near Withcote in Leicestershire. It stands on raised ground between two streams that feed the River Chater. The site has an oval enclosure about sixty metres by forty metres, surrounded by a deep ditch. A rectangular bailey to the west measures a hundred metres by seventy metres. Earth banks and dams once flooded the area to create a wide, shallow moat fed by fishponds. The castle was probably built by King John in 1211 as a hunting lodge in Leighfield Forest. In 1216 it was surrendered to William de Fors, Count of Aumale, during the First Barons’ War. William Marshal, regent for Henry III, reclaimed it in 1218, and the Crown kept it until the fourteenth century. Royal foresters used the castle and collected a small annual fee of three pounds. Henry III ordered a timber chapel built there in the 1240s. Visitors today see well-preserved earthworks and the remains of the moat and fishponds. The oval enclosure and rectangular bailey are still clearly defined. A guardhouse once stood at the north-east corner of the bailey. The site is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is recognised for its distinctive design. The landscape around the castle is quiet and rural, with the River Chater’s tributaries still flowing past.