Liversedge Castle Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Batley and Liversedge.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of Kirklees.
1974 county of West Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire West Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: SE20952462
Latitude 53.71755° Longitude -1.68394°

Liversedge Castle Hill has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Clark, in his list of moated mounds or burhs, records 'Liversedge.–Castle hill.'

SE21252480. C19 field and house names contain place name elements which may indicate former status as defended site. Additionally there are C14 and C15 documentary references to a messuage called Castel or Castel House. Situated on south-facing spur. Area still largely open ground.
Site visit by Ian Sanderson (WYAAS) in October 1998. There is a pronounced knoll to the south of Castle House which has a very steep scarp to the west and south – this is the Gomersal/Liversedge township boundary- and appears to be the line of a fault (drift sheet 77). The eastern edge of the area appears to be defined by the remains of a low earthwork bank (when viewed from Oxford Road to the east). There are no signs of 'internal' earthworks, but there are discrete patches of nettles among what is otherwise knee-high grass. (West Yorkshire HER 4361)

Comments

This is a place-name, at the given map reference, although it seems to be more closely associated with Gomersal than Liversedge. Nothing is recorded in PastScape, it is not a manorial centre, there is nothing on the map or air photo to suggest anything other than a natural hill. Castle House and a Castle Hill House are marked on the 1854 OS map. Houses occupying these sites do still exist but are not listed. Presumably the C14 house took its name from the hill and it is possibly this was the site of an artificial defended site long ploughed out. However, the location is more typical of an Iron Age hill slope fort than a medieval castle.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 4361.

Books
- Smith, A.H., 1961, The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Part 3 Morley Wapentake (English Place-Name Society 32) p. 22
Periodical Articles
- Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 215 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.)
- 1932, Yorkshire Deeds VII (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series 83) p. 46 no. 128, p. 98 no. 285, p. 100 no 292, p. 118 no 343
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Heckmondwike Tithe Award map, field no. 14

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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.

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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