Staynor Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Stainer Hall

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SE62283115
Latitude 53.77290° Longitude -1.05638°

Staynor Hall has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Staynor or Stainer Hall, a plain, modernised building built in 1689 on the site of a medieval moated enclosure. (PastScape)

A complete plan was obtained by Mr. and Mrs. D. C. Eyre of a building-complex, go ft. by 45 ft., with lime-stone dry-walling on clay foundations. The foundation of a baking-oven and a stone-bordered hearth were identified, and the main room was paved with stone flags and brick. Great numbers of sherds, predominantly of the 14th century with some Cistercian ware, and many small household and agricultural objects of iron and bronze were found, and also small portions of window-glass. The house is believed to have been the servants' house of the Selby abbey grange. Excavations were also undertaken to try to locate the grange chapel. Some carved stone fragments were unearthed, but no chapel foundations have yet been traced. A possible kiln was marked, but has still to be excavated. Research into the Court Rolls of the five manors belonging to Selby abbey, recently deposited at the Beverley Deeds Registry and dating from the 14th to the 18th century, is being undertaken. (Med. Arch., 1962/3)

Excavation by D. C. Eyre in the garden of the present hall (built in 1689) within the moated area revealed a foundation of limestone blocks, 1.75 ft. wide, running parallel with the moat, and traces of a brick floor. This was possibly the manor house built by Gilfred de Gaddesby in 1360 but no pottery or other dating evidence was found. Work in the area of a large barn in the fold-yard produced early foundations, but no evidence that they belonged to the chapel. (Med Arch, 1964)

Acquired 1257 licence to crenellate 1365. Coucher Book states it was a mansion house with edyfycesmoted aboute. Rebuilt in 14th century by Gaddesby. Sold after the dissolution. Location of eyres excavations confused but building outside moat so main grange building still unexcavated. (North Yorkshire HER)

It has been incorrectly suggested that a Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1365 (Click on the date for details of this supposed licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 58076.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MNY10488; MNY10486.

Books
- Hass, Jeffrey D., 2006, Medieval Selby A new study of the Abbey and Town (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Occasional Paper 4) p. 77
  Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5) p. 128
  Morrell, Wm, 1867, History of Selby p. 75
Periodical Articles
- Hurst, D. Gillian, 1964, 'Medieval Britain in 1962 and 1963, II. Post-Conquest' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 8 p. 276 online copy
  Wilson, D.M. and Hurst, J.G., 1962/3, 'Medieval Britain in 1961' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 6-7 p. 338 online copy
  Hodges, C.C., 1893, 'The Architectural History of Selby Abbey' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 12 p. 364 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Fowler, J.T. (ed), 1891, The Coucher Book of Selby (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series 10) Vol 2 p. 350, 353-54
  Dixon, W.H. and J. Raine, J. (eds), 1863, Fasti Eboracensis (Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts) Vol. 1 p. 335
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Hunter, K., 2009/10/26, Staynor Hall Selby North Yorkshire Earthwork Survey, (MAP Archaeological Consultancy Ltd. 06/2009)
  Newman, R., Oliver, T., 01/11/1991, Selby Bypass - An Archaeological Evaluation (Lancaster University Archaeological Unit)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio