Castle Donington

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Donnington; Dunnington

In the civil parish of Castle Donington. In the historic county of Leicestershire (Modern Authority of Leicestershire, 1974 county of Leicestershire).

Medieval enclosure castle with outer and inner ditches surviving as earthworks, partly infilled. Buried foundations of casle built circa 1150, destroyed in 1215, rebuilt circa 1290 and ruinous by 1565. It was demolished in 1595. The enclosure castle occupies a sub-circular area about 160m in diameter defined by a pair of ditches cutting off the tip of the promontory from the plateau to the south. The main buildings of the castle occupied the irregularly-shaped platform in the centre of the site and it is clear from documentary references and finds made in the 1940's that the platform was surrounded by a substantial curtain wall with at least five towers. A stone lined well was found in 1978.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SK44842759

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 315372
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

• Books
  • Cantor, Leonard, 2003, The Scheduled Ancient Monument of Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicester: Kairos Press) p31
    Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p35
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p141 [slight]
    Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p37
    Hartley, R. F., 1984, The Mediaeval Earthworks of North West Leicestershire, A survey (Leicester)
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p253
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p219
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Kinross, John, 1973, Discovering Castles in England and Wales p102
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London) p628-9 [slight]
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Wall, 1907, in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol1 p256
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England (New York: Macmillan) Vol1 p412 http://www.archive.org/stream/castlesofengland01mack#page/n475/mode/1up
    Nichols, J., 1795, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire Vol3 p770
• Journal Articles
  • Higgins, Tim, 2002, 'Archaeology in Leicestershire and Rutland 2001' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol76 p104-5 [slight] http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/2002/ALR20012002-5.pdf
    Creighton, O.H., 1997, 'Early Leicestershire Castles: Archaeology and Landscape History' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol71 p31, 34 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/creightonvolume71-2sm.pdf
    McWhirr, A.D. and Winter, M.J., 1978-79, 'Medieval Castles Additional Information' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol54 p74-75 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/ALRPagesfromvolumeLIV-8.pdf
    Cantor, Leonard, 1977-8, 'The Medieval Castles of Leicestershire' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol53 p35 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/CastlesPagesfromvolumeLIII-4.pdf
    1969-70, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol45 p76 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/ALRPagesfromvolumeXLV-7.pdf
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
    Clarke, D.T.-D., 1952, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol28 p42 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/ALRPagesfromsmvolumeXXVIII-2.pdf
    Farnham, G. and Thompson, A.Hamilton, 1925-6, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol14 p32-70 [history]
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p285-6
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/huntseng.html#leics9]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p282
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Reaney, D., 1976, Excavations at Castle Donington, Leicestershire (Unpub site notebook Leics. SMR)