Mound Thorold, also known as Tout Hill, was a motte-and-bailey castle constructed around 1070, to protect Peterborough Abbey from Danish attack. Only the motte survives, within the grounds of Peterborough Cathedral.
History
Early medieval Peterborough was dominated by its Abbey, founded in 654 AD. In the face of the threat of Danish raids, around 1000 AD, a protective earth wall was built around the abbey, although the town to the east remained unprotected.
William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, but eastern England resisted his rule for several years. Torold de Fécamp, a Norman, was appointed as the abbot of Peterborough in 1069, but the next year revolt broke out. A Danish army occupied nearby Ely and allied themselves with Hereward the Wake, an Anglo-Saxon rebel opposed to the Norman invaders. They attacked and sacked Peterborough, including probably looting the abbey, before being forced to retreat by Norman forces.
In response, Torold constructed a motte-and-bailey castle in the north-east corner of the abbey. The motte was 120 ft (35 m) in diameter at the base and 20 ft (6 m) high, and 35 ft (11 m) wide at the top. It probably held a wooden tower, and was protected by a surrounding ditch. As a new feudal demand, William the Conqueror required Peterborough to muster 60 knights, which would have both added to the defences of the town. By tradition, Abbot Martin de Bec dismantled the defences, probably in the 1150s.
Today, the motte survives in the garden of the Deanery in the cathedral. It is protected under UK law as a Scheduled Monument.
Attribution
The text of this page is licensed under under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Photographs on this page includes those drawn from the Geograph website, as of 9 August 2023, and these are attributed and licensed as follows: “Mount Thorold“, author Julian Dowse, released under CC BY-SA 2.0.
