Langton Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Langton.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of North Yorkshire.
1974 county of North Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire East Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: SE79436701
Latitude 54.09287° Longitude -0.78703°

Langton Castle has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

King writes "earthworks of possible castle."

The site occupies the W end of a spur overlooking Langton Beck. The work consists of an irregular-shaped, near-level platform bounded by what was apparently a slight low bank, now reduced to an outward facing scarp, but with no internal remains. The deep ditch-like feature along the N side appears to be no more than a hollow-way, representing a former course of the modern road, while a berm at the foot of the spur on the SW end was probably connected with the surface quarrying, which occurs at the NW corner and along the S side of the spur, rather than with the earthwork. From the existing remains, it would appear that the work represented some form of extension to the present village of Langton, possibly a garth, with or without an associated building. (Field Investigators Comments–F1 DS 20-APR-71).
An oval univallate enclosure. This has been eroded by by hollow ways and tracks so that its plan and form are unclear. It is possibly a rare surviving prehistoric enclosure as far as the wolds are concerned (Chris Jones/08-AUG-1995/RCHME/NYCC:Howardian Hills Project). The earthwork described by the previous authorities was mapped from good quality air photographs. However, the date and function of this feature is not clear (Morph No. HH.111.2.1).
An earthwork which may be the remains of a castle documented at Langton (King). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 59634.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MNY2398.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 531 (possible)
Periodical Articles
- I'Anson, W.M., 1913, 'The castles of the North Riding' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 22 p. 333
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online
  Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 605 online copy

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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