Belasis Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Billingham.
In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of Stockton on Tees.
1974 county of Cleveland.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ47932304
Latitude 54.60027° Longitude -1.25960°

Belasis Hall has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Comments

The manor seems to have come to Durham Priory in the C13 and after this was leased to many and various tenants. Before then was held by the Belasis family, of knightly status but seem to have have had limited lands and only local significance. The tenurial history is not really consistent with a fortified house. The location was probably marshy in the medieval period and it may be the 'irregular' moat was actually relicts of drainage ditches and fish ponds. Although the actual site of the house does not ever seen to have been built upon the surrounding area was subject to much early C20 development as housing estates, now clearer away (presumably because of the danger from nearby chemical plant), and a pipe line now crosses the site.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 27029.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 5156.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 63 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 140 (Strong house)
  Page, Wm (ed), 1928, VCH Durham Vol. 3 p. 195 online transcription
  Gould, Chalkley, 1905, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Durham Vol. 1 (London) p. 356 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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