About
Oakham Castle in the heart of Rutland's county town contains one of the most extraordinary and little-known collections in England: over two hundred horseshoes presented to the lord of the manor by every peer of the realm — and every visiting monarch — who has passed through Oakham since the reign of Edward IV in the fifteenth century. This ancient custom, unique to Oakham, has resulted in an extraordinary accumulation of ornamental horseshoes hanging from the walls of the Great Hall, ranging from massive gilded examples presented by royalty to smaller tokens offered by lesser nobles, spanning five and a half centuries of English history and heraldry.
The Great Hall itself is a remarkable survival: built between 1180 and 1190, it is one of the finest examples of late Norman domestic architecture in England. The carved stone capitals of its arcade pillars, decorated with figures of musicians, wrestlers, and fantastic beasts, are of outstanding art-historical quality and comparable to the finest English Romanesque carving of the period. The hall survives because it was used continuously as a court of law — Oakham was the county town of England's smallest county, Rutland — from the medieval period until the twentieth century. The adjoining earthworks, motte, and fragmentary masonry of the outer curtain wall complete a site that encapsulates Norman power in the east Midlands heartland.
Rutland County Museum, a short walk away in Catmose Street, holds the broader archaeological and social history collections for England's smallest county. Together the two sites offer a comprehensive picture of Rutland — a county famous for its limestone villages, the great abbey at Oakham (now Oakham School), Rutland Water reservoir, and the stubbornly maintained county identity that survived two periods of administrative merger with Leicestershire before its restoration as an independent unitary authority in 1997.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- The horseshoe collection is genuinely unique and unmissable — find the biggest (a monarch's huge gilt example) and the smallest, and try to identify the royal arms on each.
- The carved Norman capitals are world-class but rarely discussed outside specialist circles — look closely at the musician and wrestler figures for the quality of the 12th-century carving.
- Visit Rutland County Museum on Catmose Street (200 m away) in the same trip — it holds Roman mosaics, prehistoric finds, and county history that complement the castle perfectly.
- Oakham station is only 8 minutes' walk and is on the Peterborough–Leicester Midland Main Line — a realistic day trip from either city.
- Oakham's Saturday market is one of the oldest in the east Midlands — visiting on a Saturday gives the Market Place particular life.
- Look for the original medieval stocks in the castle grounds — one of the few surviving sets in the region.
- Combine with a circuit of Rutland Water for walking or cycling — the full reservoir circuit is 38 km but shorter sections are easily accessible from Oakham.
- The Rutland Osprey Project at Lyndon Nature Reserve on Rutland Water (seasonal) is worth combining for birdwatching enthusiasts.
Highlights
The Horseshoe Collection
Oakham's most famous possession is its collection of over two hundred ornamental horseshoes hung on the walls of the Great Hall, the product of a medieval custom unique to this town. The tradition — probably originating in the Norman period — required any peer of the realm or monarch passing through Oakham to forfeit a horseshoe to the lord of the manor.
From the reign of Edward IV (1461–1483) onwards, these horseshoes were retained and displayed, creating an accidental archive of English heraldry spanning five and a half centuries.
Sizes range from domestic-scale tokens to enormous gilt examples presented by monarchs: Queen Elizabeth II's horseshoe is one of the largest, and examples from Edward IV, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and every subsequent monarch make this a uniquely royal collection.
The Norman Great Hall (c.1180–1190)
The Great Hall of Oakham Castle is one of England's finest and best-preserved examples of late Norman domestic architecture. Built for Walkelin de Ferrers, a Norman knight who held the manor from the Crown, the hall dates from approximately 1180–1190 — contemporary with the choir of Canterbury Cathedral and the earliest phases of Lincoln Cathedral.
Its interior arcade of four bays features carved stone capitals of exceptional quality, depicting musicians playing fiddles and pipes, wrestlers, and a variety of fantastic and bestial figures, in a style closely related to the finest Norman Romanesque carving at Canterbury and Durham.
Romanesque Carved Capitals
The four pairs of carved capitals on the Great Hall's interior arcade columns are among the finest surviving examples of English Romanesque sculpture. Each capital depicts different scenes and figures: musicians (a fiddler, a piper, and a player of a long-necked instrument that may be a citole), wrestlers shown in dynamic physical combat, and hybrid beast-human creatures from the medieval bestiary tradition.
The quality of the carving and the sophistication of the iconographic programme suggest a sculptor of the highest calibre, possibly trained in the same workshop as the carvers working at Canterbury Cathedral in the same decades.
Castle Earthworks and Norman Defences
The Great Hall survives within a larger castle complex whose earthwork defences — motte, inner and outer baileys, and fragmentary sections of the curtain wall — remain substantially intact despite centuries of use and reuse. Walking the earthworks gives a clear picture of the original castle's scale and defensive logic, set on a natural spur above the River Eye.
Interpretive panels around the site explain the castle's construction in the decades after the Norman Conquest, its ownership by the Ferrers family until the forfeiture of Robert de Ferrers in 1265, and its subsequent use as a county court until the twentieth century.
Collections
Oakham Castle's principal collection is the unique horseshoe gallery in the Great Hall, comprising over 200 ornamental horseshoes spanning the reigns of Edward IV to the present day and representing an accidental archive of English royal and aristocratic heraldry. The architectural fabric of the Great Hall itself — with its exceptional Romanesque carved capitals — is a collection in its own right.
Rutland County Museum, 200 m away in Catmose Street, holds the broader archaeology, natural history, and social history collections for England's smallest county, including important Roman material from the Rutland villa with its remarkable mosaic depicting Achilles.
The Horseshoe Collection
Over 200 ornamental horseshoes presented by English monarchs and peers from Edward IV to the present day.
The Norman Great Hall
The finest late Norman domestic hall in England, with exceptional Romanesque carved capitals.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.