Caistor Castle Hill

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Castor

In the civil parish of Caistor. In the historic county of Lincolnshire (Modern Authority of Lincolnshire, 1974 county of Lincolnshire).

Suggested site of Caistor Castle, built by King Stephen in 1143, which was recorded as withstanding a siege. It is possible this was just a refurbishment of the Roman walls only or some additional earthworks on Castle Hill. It is suggested the alignment of the west end of Church Street may be due to the existence of a bailey. Rickard cites some post mortem inquistions for Joan princess of Wales, in 1385, Thomas de Holland, earl of Kent, in 1397 for a castle in Caistor in Lincolnshire. What this holding was is unclear but probably a simple manor house somewhere in the parish, possibly at this site.
King records Castor as been suggested as the site of a medieval castle but rejects this as Roman only.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TA115013

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 892573
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 50492 '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.

• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p69 [slight]
    Roffe, David, 1993, 'Castles' in Bennett, S. and Bennett, N. (eds), An Historical Atlas of Lincolnshire (University of Hull Press) p40-1
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p264, p265 [reject]
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p200
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p353
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
• 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] p290