Allerton Mauleverer (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Allerton Park; Allerton Castle

In the civil parish of Allerton Mauleverer With Hopperton.
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: SE41495843
Latitude 54.02032° Longitude -1.36771°

Allerton Mauleverer has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

The island within the Lower Fish Pond has been identified and recorded by Oxford Archaeology North within survey work of Allerton Park as part of a conservation management plan of the estate compiled in 2014. The island has been composed of the interior of a moated manor site that was the Medieval site of the Maulverer family. It was depicted as a complex double-ditched moated fature named as Pill Dykes in the 1734 Estate Map and gradually incorporated by a series of episodes of landscaping into the expanding of the Lower Fish Pond by the later 18th century. The current extent of the island is about 50m square. (North Yorkshire HER ref The Landscape Agency)

Although a separate vill as late as 1285 the later references, like the first Census, link it with Hopperton, which is now the centre of settlement. The church and Hall at Allerton stand alone. No earthworks of the site could be seen under the extensive gardens and outbuildings. An early charter (before 1105) delineates tofts and crofts near the church. (Beresford, 1955)

Comments

It seems entirely possible that, in this high status landscape, that the medieval house of the Mauleverer's could have had some defensive features beyond the moat although the castle name is much later and the site is unlikely to have been seriously fortified.
The Lower Fish Pond was developed from a pre-C18th square pond, possibly medieval in origin. It was extended to nearly its present form in the late C18th or early C19th; the existing square island with its rectangular pool being retained as a feature. (PastScape record 55108). This moated site is some way from the parish church and may represent a hunting lodge or even a moated garden pleasurance rather than the Mauleverer manor house which, most likely, was on the site occupied by the later Hall.
Allerton Castle is a large C19 country house incorporating an earlier C18 house. It is within the medieval deer park of Mauleverer's.
Richard Mauleverer founded St Martin's Priory c.1100 in the area.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 55108; 55109.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MNY18307.

Books
- Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5) p. 122
  Beresford, M.W. and Hurst, J.G. (eds), 1971, Deserted Medieval Villages p. 211
Periodical Articles
- Beresford, M.W., 1955, 'Lost Villages of Yorkshire Part 4' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 38 p. 232 (on DMV)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- The Landscape Agency. 06/2014. Allerton Park, Conservation Management Plan. 2014/07/22. Site 62

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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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