Danby Hall, Thornton Steward (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Danby on Ure

In the civil parish of Thornton Steward.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of North Yorkshire.
1974 county of North Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire North Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: SE15978714
Latitude 54.27983° Longitude -1.75743°

Danby Hall, Thornton Steward has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Country House. C14, 1658 and 1855. Rubble with ashlar dressings, ashlar, Welsh slate roofs. H-plan, 2 storeys. Entrance front facing east of 5 bays between long wings, bays 2 and 4 slightly projecting. Central classical entrance inscribed 'S. C. S. 1907'. Cross windows. Pierced and balustraded parapet, over end bays pierced to read 'S. S. 1658', referring to Simon Scrope I. Corniced ashlar stacks. Symmetrical 5-bay inner facades to wings, bays 2 and 4 slightly projecting, with cross windows, balustraded parapets. Rain water heads dated 1947. End elevations of wings: one bay cross windows, coped gables, apex finials. Right wing has C14 3-storey pele tower of very small plan area, with battered base, 2-light double-chamfered mullioned windows on first and second floors, crenellated parapet. Rest of right wing perhaps C14 in core, but its right return mainly of C18 sash windows with glazing bars. Rear elevation of cross range: irregular but original C17 2-light double-chamfered mullioned windows, also cross windows to staircase with stained glass. 5 gables with coping and finials, and 2-light mullioned windows with original leaded-light glazing. On the left an C18 wing; and c1900 Billiard Room to right. Garden front dated 1855 by Joseph Hansom. Ashlar. 1:3:3:3:1 bays. Plinth. Cross windows, string- courses. In centre 5-sided cantedbay. Square end bays supporting octagonal turrets for unfinished cupolas. Pierced parapet. Interior: fine original C17 newel staircase with turned balusters arid moulded handrail; C17 panelled drawing-room with bolection mouldings, ribbed corinthian pilasters, dado, entablative, painted and gilded. (Listed Building Report)

C14 pele tower, forming the core of a country house built around it in C17 and C18. The pele tower now forms the north east wing of the H-shaped house, which is built of stone with Welsh slate roofs. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1130922
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 50861.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MNY14466.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 36
  Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p. 25
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 313
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 290
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 516
  Ryder, P.F., 1982 (paperback edn 1992), The Medieval Buildings of Yorkshire (Ash Grove Book) p. 108-22
  Pevsner, N., 1966, Buildings of England: Yorkshire: North Riding (London, Penguin) p. 137
  Page, Wm (ed), 1914, VCH Yorkshire: North Riding Vol. 1 p. 265 online transcription
  Ambler, L., 1913, The old halls and manor houses of Yorkshire, with some examples of other houses built before the year 1700 (London: Batsford) p. 52, 53 online copy
Periodical Articles
- 1901, Country Life Vol. 9 p. 804-9
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 591 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.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

Data >	PastScape	County HER		Listing	I. O. E.
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