Hellifield Peel (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Helefeld; Helgefelt

In the civil parish of Hellifield.
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: SD85885561
Latitude 53.99596° Longitude -2.21582°

Hellifield Peel has been described as a certain Pele Tower, and also as a certain Tower House.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

Hellifield Peel, erected c.1440, was crenellated and moated. It had been partly demolished in 1959 (Pevsner).
The remains of Hellifield Peel, situated at SD85945557, are now roofless and in an advanced state of decay. The central range shows some evidence of 15th c. work, though the building as a whole, is mainly modern. There are no indications of a moat (Speight).
Ruins of a fortified house built in the 14th century, possibly as an aisled hall, and altered in the 15th century. Further alterations were carried out in the 17th and late 18/early 19th centuries and the building was partly demolished in 1959. Three storeyed and built of stone rubble. No visible trace of the moat survives. Listed Grade II (Listed Building Report).
By 2007 the peel had been restored as part of a Channel 4 television programme "Grand Designs". The building is used as a bed and breakfast. The website of the business includes a popular history of the building and numerous images. (PastScape)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1440 Oct 13 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Comments

Restored in 2005 as dwelling house although, unfortunately, the oldest part of the building, a remnant of the original pele tower, collapsed during this restoration. Prior to the restoration the building was on the 'at risk' register and collapse was imminent anyway, the intent had been to preserve this wall and the collapse was accidental.
Originally this was a chamber block (solar tower) attached to a hall, built by Sir John Harcourt. It was reconstructed by Laurence Hamerton as a self contained tower house. Although the Hamerton's were also gentry they clearly were at the top end of the gentry and had pretensions to the nobility as shown by the grand rebuild and the deer park surrounding the house.
Was open as a high end B&B until July 2016 but now, seemingly, purely a family home. The Peel was put up for sale in Spring 2016 but is no longer on the market

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004073, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ny1118
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1131698
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 45495.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MNY21886; MYD3724 (ADS-YDNPHER).

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Hellifield Peel owners website
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
Books
- Turner, Maurice, 2004, Yorkshire Castles: Exploring Historic Yorkshire (Otley: Westbury Publishing) p. 158, 194, 204, 239
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 43
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 346
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 518
  Ryder, P.F., 1982 (paperback edn 1992), The Medieval Buildings of Yorkshire (Ash Grove Book) p. 108-22
  Pevsner, N., 1967; revised by Enid Radcliffe, Buildings of England: Yorkshire: West Riding (London) p. 261
  Speight, H., 1892, Craven and North-west Yorkshire Highlands p. 361-3 online copy
  Whitaker, T.D., 1878 (3edn edited by A.W. Morant), The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven in the County of York (Leeds and London) p. 151-3
  Whitaker, T.D., 1812, The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven in the County of York (London) p. 126-29 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Shaw, Karen and Francis, 2007, 'Hellifield Peel' North Craven Heritage Trust Journal online copy
  2005-6, 'Hellifield Peel' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol 19 p. 124
  Ryder, P. and Birch, J., 1983, 'Hellifield Peel — a North Yorkshire tower-house' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 55 p. 73–94
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1927, Calendar of Charter Rolls 5 Henry VI - 8 Henry VIII, AD 1427-1516, with an appendix, 1215-1288 Vol. 6. (HMSO) p. 11 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Grand Designs TV programme first broadcast 28-2-2007 (series 5 episode 16) (restoration of building as a residence)
  Berg, D., 2003, Hellifield Peel and Homestead Hellifield Documentary Research, Field Survey and Archaeological Evaluation (WYAS)
  Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 596-7 online copy
  Degnan, Sue, 1993, Yorkshire Pele Towers (University of York dissertation) p. 48

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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.
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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.

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*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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