Loftus Castle Cliff (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Lofthouse

In the civil parish of Loftus .
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of Redcar & Cleveland.
1974 county of Cleveland.
Medieval County of Yorkshire North Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ72191811
Latitude 54.55314° Longitude -0.88537°

Loftus Castle Cliff has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

There was a castle placename and an earthwork of some form at Loftus. The castle placename may refer to the manorial centre rather than a military fortified building although such manorial centres often did have some defences. The tenurial history is that Loftus was sub-tenanted from the Earl of Chester (and later the Percy's) but by 1278 the manor house had been granted to Gisborough Priory. This would have stopped any possibility of the small ringwork castle developing into a stone castle.
Gatehouse has not yet been able to locate this site precisely. Possibly within the grounds of Loftus Hall which seem to have been developed since the 1890's. This would certainly be the most likely place for the medieval manorial centre. The given map reference is for the parish church which lies immediately East of the site of Loftus Hall.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1390978.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlisle) p. 40
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 532 (possible)
  Page, Wm (ed), 1923, 'Parishes: Loftus' VCH Yorkshire: North Riding Vol. 2 p. 385-88 online transcription
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Calendar of inquisitions post mortem and other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office (3 vols; London, 1898-1955) cccciii, 93.
  Brown, W. (ed.), 1894, Cartularium prioratus de Gyseburne. Ebor. Dioeceseos ordinis S. Augustini. Vol. II (Surtees Society 89) p. 156–7 online copy
  Feet of Fines for the county of York 6 Edw. I, no. 34

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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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