Hallaton Castle was situated to the west of the village of

Hallaton Hallaton is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 523, which had increased to 594 at the 2011 census. History and description The village's ...

, which lies some 20 km to the south-east of the city of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

(). It seems likely that the castle formed the administrative centre of an estate owned by Geoffrey Alselin, which is described in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, pinpointing the construction of the castle happening before 1086 but after 1066. This was an interesting

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...

castle with an additional rectangular enclosure now surviving as an earthwork, high, and in circumference, on which stood the

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

, occupying, with the

outwork An outwork is a minor fortification built or established outside the principal fortification limits, detached or semidetached. Outworks such as ravelins, lunettes (demilunes), flèches and caponier A caponier is a type of defensive structur ...

s, about of ground. The earthworks only are present today.

References

*Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, ''The David & Charles Book of Castles'', Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1980. Castles in Leicestershire {{England-castle-stub