Crazy Castle, Skelton (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

The original timber castle of Skelton, built by Richard de Surdeval circa 1072-75 formed part of a 'burgus' or communal fortified enclosure which also had a church and small seignoral village. The 'burgus' occupied a diamond-shaped promontory, 5 1/2 acres in extent, surrounded by a dry defensive moat, 240 ft wide and 50 ft deep, which was scarped out of the slopes of the natural ravines on the east and west sides. The timber castle was converted into a stone structure with rectangular keep and associated domestic buildings circa 1190-1200 and appeared to be ruinous in 1490. In 1788-4 the castle was completely demolished and the present building constructed. According to l'Anson, an 18th century drawing of the 12th century castle suggests that the keep was built on a lowered motte. VCH also refer to the drawing and in addition state that a still traceable (1912) depression separating the castle from the 'burgus' seems to indicate the existence of a former motte (l'Anson, VCH 1912, 1923) Skelton Castle, with Medieval north wing heightened 19th century and 18th century south block, remodelled circa 1800 but incorporating early walls and late 14th century window. The outer bank of the moat at the north end was washed away circa 1865 during drainage operations. The site of a possible infilled moat indicated by made up earth was discovered south of the castle when the drive was widened. No trace of the original castle(s) in the present building and no trace of the possible moat noted by Mrs Ringrose-Wharton. The surrounding moat is well defined and would appear to have been a natural ravine artificially shaped around the castle buildings but more in its original state to the south. The average width is circa 50.0m and approximately 10.0m deep with three modern causeways carrying roads across it. The moat is dry except at NZ 65301917 where a boating lake is situated. No trace of a motte mentioned in l'Anson and VCH (Field Investigators Comments–F1 JHO 29-MAY-53). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1262832
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 28285.
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.)
- The Gott Collection of early drawings
Books
- Oliver Creighton and Stephen Rippon, 2017, 'Conquest, colonisation and the countryside: archaeology and the mid-11th- to mid-12th-century rural landscape' in Dawn M Hadley and Christopher Dyer, The Archaeology of the 11th Century Continuities and Transformations (Routledge) p. 57-87
  Turner, Maurice, 2004, Yorkshire Castles: Exploring Historic Yorkshire (Otley: Westbury Publishing) passim
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 93
  Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p. 136-7
  Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlisle)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 301 (slight)
  Pounds, N.J.G., 1990, The Medieval Castle in England and Wales (Cambridge) p. 139
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 525-6
  Ryder, P.F., 1982 (paperback edn 1992), The Medieval Buildings of Yorkshire (Ash Grove Book) p. 87-107
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 357
  Sanders, I.J., 1960, English Baronies. A study of their origin and descent 1086-1327 p. 77-8
  Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield)
  Page, Wm (ed), 1923, VCH Yorkshire: North Riding Vol. 2 p. 405-406 (tenurial history) online transcription
  Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Yorkshire Vol. 2 p. 51
  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. 262 online copy
  Young, G., 1817, A history of Whitby, and Streoneshalh abbey; with a statistical survey of the vicinity to the distance of twenty-five miles Vol. 2 p. 730 online copy
  Bigland, J., 1812, Beauties of England and Wales Yorkshire Vol. 16 p. 309-11
  Graves, J., 1808, History of Cleveland: In the North Riding of the County of York p. 389, 411 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Speight, Sarah, 2004, ''Religion in the Bailey: Charters, Chapels and the Clergy' Château Gaillard Vol. 21 p. 271-80
  Creighton, O.H., 2004, ''The Rich Man in his Castle, The Poor Man at His Gate': Castle Baileys and Settlement Patterns in Norman England' Château Gaillard Vol. 21 p. 25-36
  Screeton, A., 2001, 'Skelton village, history and excavation' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 73 p. 3-18
  Brown, R. Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' The English Historical Review Vol. 74 p. 249-280 (Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 90-121) view online copy (subscription required) p. 277
  I'Anson, W.M., 1913, 'The castles of the North Riding' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 22 p. 380-390 (plan)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Dugdale, William (Caley, J., Ellis, H. and Bandinel, B. (eds)), 1817-30 (originally pub. 1655-73), Monasticon Anglicanum (London) Vol. 6.1 p. 267 online copy
  Hardy, T.D. (ed), 1835, Rotuli Litterarum Patentium in Turri Londinensi Asservati (1201-16) (Record Commission) p. 165, 167 view online copy
  Stubbs, W. (ed), 1880, The Minor Works comprising the Gesta regum with its continuation, the Actus pontificum, and the Mappa mundi, by Gervase, the Monk of Canterbury (London: Longman Rolls series 73) Vol. 2 p. 440 online copy
  Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) (lists sources for 1272-1422) p. 496-70
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 563
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1908, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 2 p. 7 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online
  Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 288, 528-9 online copy

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