Tilsworth Castle - Warren Knoll Motte

Warren Knoll Motte

The first "Tilsworth Castle", now known as "Warren Knoll Motte", was a pre-11th century motte-and-bailey castle, built prior to the Norman Invasion in 1066. Originally a Saxon stronghold, it was held by Levric, son of Osmund. It was a timber castle, and believed to have had outer fortifications to the east and north.

Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Tilsworth Manor", it was at that time held by William Peverel. By the middle of the 13th century, the castle had passed into the Morteyn family, and was held by seven members of that family before passing, in 1362, into the hands of a Morteyn cousin, Richard Chamberlain. The manor was thus in the Chamberlain family, passing to Richard's son Richard (d. 24 August 1396), and then to Richard's grandson Richard (1390–1439), a minor at the time of his inheritance. During his minority, the manor was held by his mother Margaret Chamberlain (d. 18 April 1408), (née de Lovaine), and stepfather Philip St.Clair, until his possession of it, upon Margaret's death, in 1408. His death in 1439, and the death of his elder son Richard in the same year, left the manor in the possession of his younger son William Chamberlain.

Sometime around Richard's death, during the 15th century, a new manor house was built across from the church. The old one falling into ruins thereafter. Nothing but cropmarks and earthworks remain. The site was excavated in 1972, and is listed as a Scheduled Monument.