Leconfield Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

Site of a medieval fortified manor house, surrounded by a moat. The principal seat of the Percy family from the 14th to the later 16th century, it was licenced in 1308. Known to have been ruinous in 1608, it was demolished soon after. All that now remains are the earthworks of the moat. Documents of 1538/9 refer to a timber framed house and brick gatehouse, with outbuildings set around a central courtyard. The earthwork remains of ridge and furrow and a fishpond survive to the east of the moat. (PastScape)

The large sub-rectangular island measures 140m E-W; its W end is 120m long and its E end 110m long. It is surrounded by a single dry moat with an outer earthen bank. The moat ditch is steep-sided, up to 4m deep and generally between 3 and 6m wide, although in its NE corner and elsewhere it is as wide as 10m. Surrounding the moat on its NE and S sides is an external earthen bank 5m wide. On the W side this has been reduced to 3m by ploughing. On the N and E sides of the moat the bank is 1.5m high; to the S it is 1.75m high; to the W it is only 0.75m high, though still 5m wide. Access to the island was via a causeway crossing the N arm of the moat. Immediately to the E of the moat there are traces of ridge and furrow and a poorly defined fishpond; these are excluded from the Scheduling due to their poor state of preservation. (EH Scheduling Report)

Lekingfeld is a large house, and stondith withyn a great mote yn one very spatius courte. 3. partes of the house, saving the meane gate that is made of brike, is al of tymbre. The 4. parte is fair made of stone and sum brike. I saw in a litle studiyng chaumber ther caullid Paradice the genealogie of the Percys. The park therby is very fair and large and meately welle woddid. Ther is a fair tour of brike for a logge yn the park. (Leland)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1308 Oct 4 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1007949, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 21172
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 79247.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3696.

Books
- Brears, Peter, 2011, 'The Administrative Role of Gatehouses in Fourteenth-Century North-Country Castles' in Airs, M. and Barnwell, P.S. (eds), The Medieval Great House (Donington: Shaun Tyas) p. 200-213
  Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 409
  Turner, Maurice, 2004, Yorkshire Castles: Exploring Historic Yorkshire (Otley: Westbury Publishing) p. 242
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 57
  Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p. 20
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 362, 421
  Williams, Alison, 1996, 'Castles and moated sites' in Neave, Susan and Ellis, Stephen, An Historical Atlas of East Yorkshire (University of Hull Press) p. 32-3
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 285 (slight)
  Pevsner, N. and Neave, D., 1995 (2edn), Buildings of England: Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (London ) p. 595
  Neave, Susan, 1991, Medieval Parks of East Yorkshire (University of Hull) p. 40-41
  Neave, D. and Waterson, E., 1988, Lost Houses of East Yorkshire p. 40-41
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 533
  Allison, K.J. (ed), 1979, VCH Yorkshire: East Riding Vol. 4 p. 126
  Loughlin, Neil and Miller, Keith, 1979, A survey of archaeological sites in Humberside carried out for the Humberside Joint Archaeological Committee p. 30
  Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5) p. 114
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 252-3 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 405 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.)
- T.P. {Bishop Thomas Percy} (ed), 1770, The regulations and establishment of the household of Henry Algernon Percy, the fifth Earl of Northumberland, at his castles of Wresill and Lekinfield in Yorkshire, begun anno Domini M.D.XII. online copy (see also the 1905 edition (London A.Brown and Sons) with additional notes online copy)
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1894, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward II (1307-13) Vol. 1 p. 144 online copy
  1903, 'Humberstone's Survey' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 17 p. 129-154 esp. 143-4 (Survey of 1570) online copy
  Martin, M.T. (ed), 1911 for 1909, The Percy Chartulary (Surtees Society 117) passim online copy
  SC11/959 (Survey of 1538) The National Archives reference
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 533
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 45-6 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk Yorkshire Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 13 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk Yorkshire Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 14 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 Yorkshire (London: English Heritage) p. 16 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 Yorkshire (London: English Heritage) p. 16 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 34 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 32 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 32 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 42 online copy
  Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 547-8 online copy

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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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