Gaittecastellum (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Gaitlecastellum

In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of .
1974 county of County Durham.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

Gaittecastellum has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are uncertain remains.

Description

Place-name mentioned in 1161-7. Jackson associates this C12 reference with Gate Castle which is not mentioned until C17. However Westgate Castle is also known as simply Gate Castle and this hunting lodge of the Bishop of Durhams' great deer park of Stanhope was standing by 1300 so possibly an earlier reference to that site.

item ex parte meridiana a capite Snelesgile per Gaitte-castellum us{que} ad rivum de Hodeshope per filum aque superius versus aquilonem usque ad divisas foreste predicti episcopi quantum foresta mea durat, ita quod vituli et vitule xii vaccarum cum etatem duorum annorum habuerint inde removebunter. (Farrer)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlise) p. 64
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 354
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Farrer, Wm. (ed), 1914, Early Yorkshire Charters (Edinburgh) Vol. 1 p. 441 (mention in 1161-7) online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.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

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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.

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