Whitwick Castle, Coalville

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Whitewyk

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

Medieval motte and bailey castle surviving as an earthwork. The castle is situated on an oval natural hill. The bailey is formed by the natural rise of the hill and occupies an area of approximately 100m by 35m, rising 7 to 8m from the surrounding land. The motte is a small circular mound rising to about 2m high. The castle was held by the Earl of Leicester in the mid C12 but had fallen into disrepair by 1427. At the end of C18 the foundations are said to have been seen and a wall was still visible on the north side in 1893. Licence to crenellate issued 1320 to 'Henricus de Bello Monte, Consanguineus Regis'. The building work resulting from this licence may have provoked the attack by Sir John Talbot. Beaumont claim to the land was from wife's inheritance and, it seems, Talbot felt he had a claim to Whitwick. 20 years later the capital messuage was worth nothing.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SK43581617

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 920487
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) p39
    Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p43
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p141 [slight]
    Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p92
    Hartley, R. F., 1984, The Mediaeval Earthworks of North West Leicestershire, A survey (Leicester)
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p255
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p318
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Kinross, John, 1973, Discovering Castles in England and Wales p103
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Wall, 1907, in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol1 p261-2
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p419
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p408
    Nichols, J., 1804, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire Vol3 p112n
• Journal Articles
  • Creighton, O.H., 1997, 'Early Leicestershire Castles: Archaeology and Landscape History' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol71 p21-36 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/creightonvolume71-2sm.pdf
    Cantor, Leonard, 1977-8, 'The Medieval Castles of Leicestershire' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol53 p38 http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/CastlesPagesfromvolumeLIII-4.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
    1927-28, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol15 p231, 236, 238
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1317-21) p571
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p280
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p18 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl01lelauoft