Harlsey Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hatlesey; Hartesey vel Harlesey; Harsley; Harlesey

In the civil parish of West Harlsey.
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: SE41539803
Latitude 54.37637° Longitude -1.36274°

Harlsey Castle has been described as a certain Tower House.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Farmhouse, part of C15 castle. Early C15 and C19. Stone, rendered, pantile roof. 2 storeys, 4 bays. Right-hand bay has a lower roof. To bay 2 a 4-panel door with overlight set in plain doorcase with pilasters, frieze and cornice . All windows are 4-pane sashes with stone sills, those to ground floor have flat stuccoed arches. Stone coping to each end and to left of right-hand bay. End stacks and one to ridge. Rear: a small 4-centred arched window, now blocked. Interior has 3 very large beams. Thick original walls up to eaves level. History: built by Sir James Strangwayes, a judge of Common Pleas; he purchased the manor in 1423. His son James was High Sherriff of Yorkshire 1445-6, 1452 and 1468 and Speaker of the House of Commons 1461. It probably fell into disuse after the manor was forfeited to the Crown in the C16. (Listed Building Report)

An almost rectangular enclosure of 4 1/2 acres, with a 30ft wide ditch on three sides and terraces for defence on the west. Slight remains exist of an inner enclosure, including three cellars with rubble-vaulted pointed roofs which may be the basement of a later keep (Pevsner). Castle taken over by Sir James Strangeways in 1423 and probably fell into disuse after the manor was forfeited to the Crown in the 16th century. (VCH) The moat, now dry, was obviously originally a continuous feature, but its NW angle has been obliterated by the present farmstead. The terraces outside the ditch on the west side have been much mutilated by tree-planting, but were probably intended for cultivation rather than defence, as this is the least vulnerable side. The cellars of the castle are in use as farm buildings (Field Investigators Comment–F1 DS 30-NOV-72) The earthworks are divided into two areas, a more ornamental element to the east containing the ponds and orchards, and the inner court containing the principle buildings (Dennison and Richardson, 2007). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004183, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ny442
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1315142
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 55698; 55709; 1266470.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MNY496.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Moors Knowledge
  The Gott Collection of early drawings
Books
- Turner, Maurice, 2004, Yorkshire Castles: Exploring Historic Yorkshire (Otley: Westbury Publishing) p. 86, 197, 249
  Jackson, M.J., 2001, Castles of North Yorkshire (Carlisle) p. 25-7 (plan)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 42
  Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p. 19
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 413
  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. 528
  Ryder, P.F., 1982 (paperback edn 1992), The Medieval Buildings of Yorkshire (Ash Grove Book) p. 87-107
  Jennings, B. (ed), 1970, History of Harrogate and Knaresborough p. 345-7
  Pevsner, N., 1966, Buildings of England: Yorkshire: North Riding (London) p. 151
  Page, Wm (ed), 1914, VCH Yorkshire: North Riding Vol. 1 p. 434-8 online transcription
  Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Yorkshire Vol. 2 p. 48-9
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 223 online copy
  Whellan T, 1859, History and topography of the city of York and the North Riding of Yorkshire Vol. 2 p. 329 online copy
  Allen, T., 1831, A new and complete history of the county of York Vol. 3 p. 537
  Buck, Samuel and Nathaniel, 1774, Buck's Antiquities (London) Vol. 2 p. 327
Periodical Articles
- Matthews, Erik and Richardson, Shaun, 2011-12, 'Harlsey Castle, West Harlsey, North Yorkshire' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 25 p. 272-86
  Dennison, Ed and Richardson, Shaun with contributions by Erik Matthews, 2007-8, 'Recent Work on some North Yorkshire Castles' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 21 p. 157-166
  Roskell, J.S., 1956-8, 'Sir James Strangeways of West Harlsey and Whorlton' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 39 p. 455-82
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 553
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 68 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. 22 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk Yorkshire Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 28 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 Yorkshire (London: English Heritage) p. 32 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 Yorkshire (London: English Heritage) p. 32 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 50 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 46 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 45 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 55 online copy
  Matthews, E. and Richardson, S., 2007, Harlsey Castle, North Yorkshire: Some Preliminary Observations (unpublished report for Mrs S. Kirk, Harlsey Castle Farm)
  Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 631 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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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.

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