Hallaton Castle

Hallaton Castle stands in the rolling farmland of Leicestershire’s East Midlands, about 20 kilometres south-east of Leicester. The remains lie west of the quiet village of Hallaton, beside a minor road that crosses open fields. Archaeologists believe the site once formed the heart of an estate recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Geoffrey Alselin owned the estate when the survey was made, so the castle’s timber buildings were probably raised between 1066 and 1086. Only grassy mounds and shallow ditches now mark where those buildings once stood. The castle was built as a motte and bailey, with a tall mound topped by a wooden keep. A separate rectangular enclosure, still visible as an earthwork, once protected the inner ward. The mound rises 36 metres above the surrounding ground and measures 190 metres around its base. Excavations show the keep and its outworks covered roughly two acres. The rectangular enclosure adds further lines of defence to the east. Today the visitor walks over the grass-covered mound and traces the lines of the vanished bailey. The earthworks stretch across open fields, giving a clear sense of the castle’s size and shape. A low hedge marks the edge of the rectangular enclosure, while the central mound offers wide views over the Vale of Catmose. The site is peaceful, with only the wind and distant tractors breaking the quiet.