Nottinghamshire & Lincolnshire

Tattershall Castle Archaeology & Wildlife Walk

View from the moat of the east front at Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire — View from the moat of the east front at Tattershall Castle | © National Trust Images/Arnhel de Serra

This walk explores the estate of Ralph, 3rd Baron Cromwell - Lord Treasurer to Henry VI - and allows you to discover its hidden history through archaeology and wildlife. Tattershall Castle and parts of the wider estate are a Scheduled Monument, affording it special protections and designating it a nationally important archaeological site. The walk incorporates the village Market Place, itself a conservation area.

Near to

Tattershall Castle

Start point

The flagpole at the roadside near the entrance sign for Tattershall Castle, Sleaford Road, LN4 4LR

Trail information

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Difficulty*

Accessibility**

Full trail

DistanceMiles: 1.2 (km: 1.92)

Duration 30 mins to 0.45 hour

Dog friendly

*Mostly flat route. For further details, please see Terrain section.
**Uneven surfaces may make this trail challenging for those with mobility issues. For further details, please see section marked Access.

Tattershall Castle opening times

Tattershall Castle and its car park are normally closed between November and mid-February. However, this walk is outside the main castle grounds and thus can be competed at any time of the year. Alternative parking is available a five-minute walk away in the village marketplace.

Total stages: 12
Total stages: 12
Start point
The flagpole at the roadside near the entrance sign for Tattershall Castle, Sleaford Road, LN4 4LR
Stage 1
Start at the flagpole by the Castle entrance; you may see the Lincolnshire flag flying. Facing away from the road, walk down the church driveway to the left of the flagpole (you may need to open the gate). The Castle will be on your right.
The Castle
From here you get a fantastic view of the Great Tower which, along with the many buildings that once surrounded it, was built in the mid-1400s by Ralph, 3rd Baron Cromwell (c.1393-1456). As well as Tattershall, Lord Cromwell’s estate included Kirkstead Abbey, a 2000-acre hunting park and chase north of the village, and many tenant farms. The Castle had many owners, including royalty and nobility, before being abandoned in 1693 and left to fall into ruin. Restored by its new owner Lord Curzon in the 1910s, he bequeathed it to the National Trust upon his death in 1925. Excavations of the moats in the 1910s uncovered pottery, carved stonework and metal artefacts, some of which is on display. Various digs, excavations and geophysical surveys have been undertaken in this area over the years. The Castle provides a rich habitat for wildlife. If you’re lucky you may spot pipistrelle and Daubenton’s bats at dusk or dawn, water rail appearing out of the reeds in the winter, or kingfishers darting about at high speed. More common are Egyptian geese, greylag geese, swans, coots, and moorhens, and evidence of badgers, moles and rabbits. These industrious mammals regularly churn up the soil, which looks unsightly but is great for burrowing insects and the robins, blackbirds, rooks and jackdaws that feed on the insects thrown up in the spoil. The moats are home to many aquatic insects, including the nymphs (larvae) of a fine display of dragonflies and a significant colony of great crested newts. These are a protected species in the UK and easy to identify by their distinctive orange bellies. In the colder months they enter a period of inactivity on land, and in the warmer months move into the moats to breed. They particularly like dark, damp conditions, including the basement of the Great Tower.
Stage 2
You will see a row of Bedehouses (almhouses) on your left and the Collegiate Church of Holy Trinity on your right.
The Bedehouses and Holy Trinity Collegiate Church
The Bedehouses (almshouses) were founded in the 14th or 15th century by Lord Cromwell’s family, and have been adapted and renovated many times. The original structure comprised a gallery with 13 chambers leading from it, with a hall and a chapel at either end. The number of dwellings reduced to 10 in the 1900s and five in the 1960s. Refurbishments in 1996 provided an opportunity for archaeological exploration, revealing structures and floors possibly dating from the original structure. The Bedehouses are currently managed by a charitable trust. Now an active church maintained by the Diocese of Lincoln, Holy Trinity was the vision of Lord Cromwell, although building didn’t start until after his death. The graveyard predates the Church, possibly relating to an earlier Norman chapel. Over the years, various groundworks for maintenance and services have uncovered boundary walls and burials. These support the presence of the earlier chapel and associated graveyard. Between dusk and dawn in the warmer months you can often see bats flitting around as they emerge from the Church and Castle to feed on insects. Tattershall is part of a national bat monitoring programme which has shown it to be of national importance for Daubenton’s bats and of local and regional importance for other species. In addition to Daubenton’s, other species recorded here include Natterer’s, brown long-eared, noctule, Leisler’s, common pipistrelle and soprano pipistrelle.
Stage 3
Follow the path between the Bedehouses and the Church. As you bear left you will see a picnic area on your right, under which are the remains of Tattershall College. Keep to the left of the picnic area and follow the path to the National Trust car park.
Tattershall College
Before it was a picnic area this square patch of lawn was the village’s bowling green. Underneath are the remains of a gatehouse attached to Tattershall’s Chantry College, founded by Lord Cromwell in 1440 (though like the Church, built after his death). The main purpose of the priests, clerks and choristers who lived here was to serve the church and say masses for Cromwell, his king, and his family & friends. The College was surrendered to the Crown in 1545 and thereafter dissolved. The full extent of the College is undocumented, but a 1967 archaeological excavation and the use of ground penetrating radar in 2019 suggest that it included two courtyards, a gatehouse, towers and turrets. It may have extended into the present churchyard and even been linked to the Church itself. The small red brick building in the corner of the picnic area was the Bowling Clubhouse; there are information panels on the building that supplement the information on this sheet.
Stage 4
Turn right at the car park, down towards the gate into the meadow, and pass through the gap to the left of the gate. Once in the meadow turn right to follow the well-worn footpath along its edge.
The Meadow
Note the high flood embankment ahead of you as you enter the meadow – on the other side is the river Bain. When the weather is wet and river levels high many areas of the meadow become wet and pool water. In the spring and summer the meadow is dominated by tall ruderal plants like hemlock, dock, spear thistle, poppy, and wildflowers like ragwort, viper’s bugloss, meadow buttercup, and great willowherb. All provide valuable cover for a range of birds, including pheasants and grey partridges. You may also see pied wagtails, house martins, sedge warblers, reed buntings and mistle thrush as they dart in and out of the vegetation. The plants of the meadow provide nectar and seeds and are a food source for common insects including bumblebees, hoverflies, wasps and butterflies. If the time is right, you may catch a glimpse of peacock, orange tip, and speckled wood butterflies, or perhaps the migratory red admiral and painted lady. Of particular local interest is the banded demoiselle, a large damselfly that lives along the fringes of slow-flowing waterways, stagnant water, and among moisture-laden vegetation. The male is metallic blue with dark blue patches on each of its wings and the female metallic green with pale greenish wings. If you’re lucky you might see grey heron, little egret, snipe, kingfishers, and even the odd bird of prey. Kestrels, sparrowhawks, buzzards and barn owls all exploit this area in the pursuit of field mice, field voles, and shrews.
Stage 5
After about 100 metres, you will see a green metal shed on your right. On the other side, looking over the gate you will see an enclosed area called the Pleasance.
The Pleasance
The Pleasance is a grassy area that was originally enclosed by a boundary wall, parts of which still stand on its south-eastern edge. It has variously been a Pleasance (a type of medieval garden and orchard), a recreation area for those living in the Castle, housed coney garths (managed rabbit warrens), and may have been a tiltyard for jousting and horsemanship in the 16th and early 17th centuries. A bridge over the moat once connected the Pleasance to the Castle’s inner ward. Geophysical surveys, test pits and trial trenching have shown wide, shallow pits relating to formal gardens contemporary to the building of the Castle, as well as buried structures thought to be the boundary of a walled garden shown on an 1842 plan of the Castle. Today the Pleasance is alive with rabbit, fox and occasional badger activity. It also contains plants like ox-eye daisy, viper’s bugloss, germander speedwell, weld, scentless mayweed, and ragwort. The hedgerows include willow, sycamore, hawthorn, and birch, and in the north-eastern corner there are cherry, whitebeam, rowan, elder and lime. As you pass the Pleasance you may notice our dead hedge, where the eastern boundary wall would have been. This is being constructed by our Ranger team to provide a valuable habitat for invertebrates, nesting birds and small mammals.
Stage 6
Continue along the same path (hugging the bottom of the Pleasance) towards the tree line; you should be able to see the caravans of Tattershall Lakes Country Park through the trees.
The Medieval Fishponds
As you pass the Pleasance and continue through the meadow towards the tree line, on the left is a small orchard of young trees. These were planted in 2025 as part of a community scheme to celebrate the King’s coronation. Within a few years they will produce beautiful blossom and fruit, and supply insect pollinators with a rich source of nectar. A little further along, near a willow tree and bramble thicket on the right of the path, ovals representing the locations of the three largest medieval fishponds have been mown into the vegetation. These medieval fishponds, or ‘stew ponds’, were used to hold and breed fish and eels caught in the river, providing a fresh supply to the Castle kitchens. Geophysical surveys carried out in 2009 clearly showed the layout of the fishponds, and excavations nearer to the river uncovered net weights that may have been used to catch stock. Spear thistle and stinging nettle are common in this area. Spear thistle is often found in disturbed ground, easily identifiable in the summer by its fluffy purple flower heads. It can be considered a nuisance by some, but the seeds are appealing to birds such as goldfinches and its flowers are a source of nectar for insects such as bees, butterflies and hoverflies. Stinging nettles are the essential food plant of the caterpillars of peacock, red admiral, and small tortoiseshell butterflies and can also be used by comma and painted lady butterflies.
Stage 7
At the tree line turn left onto the tree-lined path; you will see a lake on your right.
The Tree-Lined Path
This avenue of trees is home to birds including great-spotted woodpeckers who use their powerful beaks to hammer holes in tree bark before extracting beetle larvae with their long, flexible tongues; in the spring, be sure to listen out for the distinctive drumming sound they make as they do this. Each woodpecker species has its own unique tempo, length, and rhythm which is also used to attract mates and mark territory. Other birds you may hear, or see flying out over the meadow, are the common whitethroat, song thrush, blue tit, great tit, chaffinch, swallow and swift. Swifts rarely touch the ground - they sleep, eat, bathe and even mate on the wing. They are also the fastest birds in level flight, with an impressive top speed of around 70mph.
Stage 8
When you reach the river turn left along the riverbank until you reach the weir.
The River Bain
The river Bain is a tributary of the river Witham. It rises close to Ludford in the Lincolnshire Wolds and passes within 250 metres of the Great Tower before continuing a short distance to Dogdyke, where it joins the Witham. Building accounts for the Great Tower from the mid-1400s mention the transportation by river of building materials including bricks, lime and sand. The river is thus believed to have been navigable by boat at that time. The river is home to bream, common chub, roach, rudd, pike, eel, and brown trout, as well as to mallards, mute swans and grey heron. Otters are believed to populate the river further downstream. The UK’s otter population was dwindling by the 1970s, but they have prevailed in many localities and can now be found in all river catchments in Greater Lincolnshire.
Stage 9
At the weir turn left and leave the river to follow a small canal now on your right, known as Gibson’s Cut. Cross the canal at the first footbridge you come to.
Gibson’s Cut
Gibson’s Cut is a short, privately built waterway constructed in 1782 by merchant John Gibson to connect the river Witham to the river Bain. It led to proposals to make the river Bain navigable between Horncastle and the Witham. The Horncastle Canal was completed 20 years later, the committee responsible having been led by Sir Joseph Banks, the renowned naturalist and botanist whose family seat was at Revesby Abbey, north-east of Tattershall.
Stage 10
At the main road turn right. Walk approximately 70 metres to the Market Place and look for the brown sign pointing right to Tattershall College. This small building was once the College’s Grammar School. Try the door – if unlocked it is free to enter.
Tattershall College Grammar School
Completed in 1560, this was also commissioned by Lord Cromwell. Closely associated with the Chantry College, it was created to educate the church choristers and the sons of the estate’s tenants, free of charge. The ground floor may have been used as stabling or offices, with the school chamber located on the first floor. Although the Chantry College was dissolved in 1545, the school is believed to have been sustained for some time afterwards and in the late 18th century became part of a brewery. The building is now cared for by Heritage Lincolnshire in conjunction with English Heritage.
Stage 11
Retrace your steps to the Market Place. Take care crossing the road and visit the Market Cross, also known as the Butter Cross.
The Butter Cross
The stone Butter Cross, or Market Cross, stands on five octagonal steps; the bottom step is modern and remainder medieval. It is thought to be in its original location, having been commissioned by Lord Cromwell in the mid-1400s. Symbolising the wealth that lay within the village, it is decorated with the shields and wild men associated with Lord Cromwell’s heraldry and coats of arms. Excavations in 2001 uncovered a possible surround in the form of an 18th-century wall. Many artefacts have been found during building and gardening work in and around the Market Place. Most notable was a medieval fool’s head whistle, found in 1980 and now held within the collections at Lincoln Museum.
Stage 12
When ready, re-cross the road, turn right and walk along the main road until you reach the Tattershall Castle flagpole.
End point
The flagpole at the roadside near the entrance sign.
Trail map
Archaeology Map | © National Trust
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