Grange Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castlehow; Diddersley Grange; Didderston Grange

In the civil parish of Melsonby.
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: NZ18410761
Latitude 54.46354° Longitude -1.71748°

Grange Castle has been described as a Masonry Castle but is rejected as such.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

A grange of Jervaulx Cistercian Abbey (SE 18 NE 1) at Melsonby, known as Grange Castle. It is a rectangular earthwork approx. 200 ft x 120 ft incorporated within and near the SE corner of a larger rectangular enclosure, of which the bank and ditches of the S and W sides are just discernible on air photographs. There is little early documentary evidence of the grange, but the Abbey undoubtedly held property from an early date in Melsonby. (VCH) The farm was sold a few months after the suppression of the Abbey in 1537 (VCH; Platt).
Didderston Grange to the west of Gatherly Moor, the site of which is known, although there are no remains, was granted to Jervaulx in 1227-8 by Henry III. The abbey estates are now represented by the 2 farms, High Grange and Low Grange. (VCH).
The remains of the grange consist of a rectangular moated enclosure measuring 60.0m by 40.0m with traces of internal turf covered foundations. The moat, which is now dry, averages 8.0m in width and 1.0m in depth and has a causewayed entrance on the north side. There is no trace of the larger rectangular enclosure referred to as being visible on air photographs.
The name "Grange Castle" is more commonly used locally than Didderstone Grange.
Deserted Medieval village at Didderston, probably attached to Didderston Grange. Grange site visible on air photographs but there is no evidence for a surrounding deserted Medieval village. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 21549.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Beresford's Lost Villages (DMV only)
Books
- Jackson, M.J., 2001, Castles of North Yorkshire (Carlisle) p. 93
  Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5) p. 120
  Platt, C., 1969, The Monastic Grange in Medieval England (Fordham University Press) p. 216
  Page, Wm (ed), 1914, VCH Yorkshire: North Riding Vol. 1 p. 107 online transcription

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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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