Back to Hallaton. Historic England describes Hallaton Castls as "the finest example of its type in Leicestershire," that type being a Norman motte and bailey castle.
Chris Tweed took this drone footage of the castle in 2023, and the Gatehouse website says of it:
Unusually 600m from church and most probably a new site. The chosen site has some defensive features but is overlooked to the west. Built not on the top of a rise, but on a false crest to be as visible from the old Leicester Way as possible.
If this has been a purely defensive structure it would have been built on the true crest, where the defenders would still have full visibility but the interior of the bailey would be hidden from observation (allowing the size of a garrison to be kept secret). Its actual location shows the castle off to the fullest as a display of wealth and status.
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