Burley Castle, Medieval motte and bailey castle in Rutland, England
Burley Castle is a motte-and-bailey earthwork that stands north of the village of Burley, featuring a raised central mound surrounded by defensive ramparts. The site displays the typical two-part layout of Norman castles built on earlier settlement ground.
The site began as Alstoe, a Saxon gathering place from the 7th to 11th centuries. The Normans then built a castle there between 1086 and 1153 to strengthen their control of the region.
The site marks where Saxons once gathered for assemblies and where Normans later built their defenses, showing how one place served different rulers in different ways. Walking through this land, you sense how control and power changed hands over generations.
The site sits about three kilometers northeast of Oakham and is reachable by walking paths through the countryside. The earthworks are open ground with no fixed barriers, so you can move freely but should watch for uneven terrain and muddy patches.
Archaeological evidence at the site reveals two distinct settlement layers stacked on the same ground, with Saxon remains sitting beneath Norman fortifications. This overlap is rarely so visible and shows how invaders repurposed what they found.
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