Oakham Castle
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Only the great hall of the Norman castle is still standing, and is surrounded by steep earthworks marking the inner bailey. The hall dates from c. 1180—90 and according to Nikolaus Pevsner (in his "The Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland") "It is the earliest hall of any English castle surviving so completely, and it is doubly interesting in that it belonged not to a castle strictly speaking, but rather to a fortified manor house." The building is attractively ornamented with Romanesque architectural details, including six carvings of musicians. It is a grade I listed building. The hall was in use as an Assize court until 1970 and is still occasionally used as a Coroner's court or Crown Court. It is also licensed for weddings. The outer bailey of the castle, still surrounded by low earthworks, lies to the north of the castle. Known as Cutts Close, it is now a park with a bandstand, skateboard area, flowerbeds and children's play area. Some deep hollows in the park are the remnants of the castle's dried-up stew ponds (fishponds). A Castle class corvette named HMS Oakham Castle was launched in July 1944. | |||||||||||||||||