Castle Gresley: A Medieval Motte-and-Bailey Castle in Derbyshire
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- English
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page8 sections
History
Castle Gresley is a ruined motte-and-bailey castle in the United Kingdom, at Castle Gresley in Derbyshire. Its construction date is unknown, but its form resembles twelfth-century castles and it may have been built during the mid-twelfth-century Anarchy, the civil war between forces supporting King Stephen and those supporting Empress Matilda in the struggle for the English throne.
Possible twelfth-century foundation
A plaque installed at the site in 2007 records that the castle predates 1252, when the nearby settlement was first described as “Castelgresele” and was named after the castle. The same plaque suggests that the fortification may already have been abandoned by that time. The castle may have been built without a royal licence to crenellate, meaning official permission to fortify a site with battlements. If so, its construction would fit the unsettled conditions of the Anarchy, when temporary or unauthorized fortifications were built in several parts of England.
The probable landowner during this possible construction phase was William de Gresley, who also founded Gresley Priory about 1 mile (1.6 km) away. The de Gresley family had adopted its name by 1166. An ancestor, Nigel de Stafford, son of Robert de Stafford, held the area at the time of the Domesday survey, the major eleventh-century record of landholding and resources compiled after the Norman Conquest.
Medieval ownership and abandonment
Castle Gresley does not enter the historical record until the fourteenth century. By 1330, Geoffrey de Gresley possessed the right to use gallows at both Drakelow and Castle Gresley. The de Gresley family had abandoned the castle by the sixteenth century and were living at nearby Drakelow. In 1582, the antiquarian William Camden recorded that the remains of a mansion could still be seen. The family retained ownership of the castle site until at least the end of the nineteenth century.
Later changes to the site
During the nineteenth century, the Midland Railway constructed the Burton-to-Leicester line south of the castle and built Gresley railway station to the east. Shortly after the Second World War, the Royal Observer Corps installed an underground nuclear-warfare monitoring post in the central bailey. This British civilian organization monitored nuclear explosions and radioactive fallout during the Cold War. The motte was lowered slightly to widen the platform and allow monitoring equipment to be installed.
Excluding the disused Royal Observer Corps post, the castle site was listed as a scheduled monument on 31 August 1966. This form of protection under English heritage law recognizes archaeological or historic sites of national importance and can cover their earthworks and buried remains. Castle Gresley is considered to retain substantial archaeological remains and is generally well preserved.
Remains
Castle Gresley is a large motte-and-bailey complex comprising a central motte and three associated baileys. A motte is a raised artificial mound usually associated with a tower or keep, while a bailey is an enclosed area containing domestic, administrative, and service buildings. The site occupies a position with views towards the River Trent to the north and the River Mease to the south. Its surviving fabric consists principally of earthworks, including the motte, baileys, ditches, a berm, and associated mounds.
Motte and eastern mound
The conical motte measures about 50 metres (160 ft) in diameter at its base and about 12 metres (39 ft) across at its top. It rises approximately 4 metres (13 ft) high and is surrounded by a ditch about 10 metres (33 ft) wide and currently about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) deep. Earth from a nearby housing development has partly filled the northern section of the ditch. A raised area about 5 metres (16 ft) in diameter survives on the motte summit and is thought to mark the position of a lost tower. Another mound, about 3 metres (9.8 ft) high, lies east of the motte. A tower formerly stood on it and may have guarded the main entrance.
Baileys and defensive earthworks
The central bailey contains the motte and is the largest of the three enclosed areas, measuring about 70 metres (230 ft) across at its widest point. The Royal Observer Corps post was installed within it. To the north, a ditch about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) deep separates the northern bailey from the central one; the northern bailey measures approximately 40 metres (130 ft) along its longest axis. The southern bailey is separated from the central bailey by a berm, a level strip or raised bank, about 5 metres (16 ft) wide.
Each bailey is thought to have been enclosed by a scarp, meaning a steep artificial or natural slope, topped with a timber palisade. No earthwork ramparts are evident. The three baileys, their separating features, and the mounds form the main surviving outline of the castle.
Internal buildings
Earthworks within the baileys indicate the positions of a main hall, living quarters, kitchens, workshops, stables, and paddocks. A modern shed and stable occupy part of the northern bailey. The tower once marked by the raised area on the motte and the tower associated with the eastern mound have been lost, leaving the earthworks to preserve the principal evidence for the castle’s arrangement.
