Downhall; The Castles (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Aikton.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY28305254
Latitude 54.86249° Longitude -3.11855°

Downhall; The Castles has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a probable Masonry Castle, and also as a certain Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The castle at Downhall, the manorial seat of John de Morville, one of the assassins of St Thomas Becket, was destroyed by the Scots under Bruce, after Bannockburn (Orig NB Aikton 1866 53).
There are no traces of the walls, but the site of the square keep is very distinct (not now traceable). It appears to have been surrounded on three sides by an outer wall, enclosing a bailey on the east side. To the east the remains of the moat are strongly marked. Bulmer mentions a moated platform c100 yards square. He states that when the present buildings were erected in 1826, a portion of the drawbridge was found (Bulmer 1901).
Ferguson states that the Western ditch is now the hollow road leading to the Church. The farm buildings stand on the southern ditch, the east and north ditches are fresh and deep. The outer bailey has been enclosed by a ditch, which, to the north and east is perfect, but obliterated to the south and west. The ditch is 24 yards broad at the top, and has a scarp and counterscarp of about three yards (Ferguson).
'The Castles', Downhall Farm. Comprehensive description of earthworks, history of investigation and account of trial excavation in 1981. The eastern D-shaped enclosure is probably a late 14th century addition to the main platform, thereby suggesting a terminus post quem for the latter. The area to the east of the later enclosure was occupied by at least one building, together with a series of soakaway pits which might have been for some minor industrial use (Bennett et al). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1007068, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number cu527
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 10068.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 382.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Grimsditch, Brian, Nevell, Michael and Nevell, Richard, 2012, Buckton Castle and the Castles of the North West England (University of Salford Archaeological Monograph 2) p. 106-7
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 58
  Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 48
  Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carlisle: Carel Press) p. 53
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 85
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 43-4
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Bulmer, T.F., 1901, History, Topography, and Directory Of Cumberland p. 104 online transcription
  Collingwood, W.G., 1901, 'Remains of the pre-Norman Period' in H.Arthur Doubleday (ed), VCH Cumberland Vol. 1 p. 292 online copy
  Hutchinson, W., 1794, The History of the County of Cumberland (Carlisle) Vol. 2 p. 480 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Bennet, J., Herne, A. and Whitworth, A., 1987, '"The Castles", Downhall, Aikton' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 87 p. 67-83 online copy
  Richardson, G.G.S., 1972, 'Down Hall, Cumberland (NY 283525)' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 72 p. 328-9 online copy
  Graham, T.H.B., 1932, 'Hugh de Morvill' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 32 p. 5-6 online copy
  Graham, T.H.B., 1931, 'Aikton' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 31 p. 53 online copy
  1928, 'Proceedings' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 28 p. 401 online copy
  Graham, T.H.B., 1910, 'Extinct Cumberland Castles. Part II' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 10 p. 112-15 online copy
  Ferguson, R.S., 1882, 'Earthworks in Cumberland' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 6 p. 194-5 online copy

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	Scheduling
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