Milby

Description

Butler writes "one might expect an earthwork castle near Milby on the north bank of the Ure opposite Aldborough, but there is now no visible evidence."

Comments

Presumably Butler is considering this because this would be the northern bank of the Ure at the place the Roman Dere Street crossed. He was considering the River Ure as the boundary of the honour of Richmondshire and that a castle at this point being used to 'control lines of communication at river crossings' and entry into the honour.
The castle at Aldborough Studforth Hill covers the crossing point but on the other side of the river and not within the honour of Richmondshire. Castles directly opposite other castles on crossing points do occur (in the welsh marches) but very rarely as this is provocative.
Butler suggested a number of possible small sites, associated with Roman roads, on the boundary of the Honour of Richmond which attributed to the conquest and consolidation period of the newly formed lordship. In fact most of these sites do not appear to have medieval use and his argument about the way Norman authority was established in Richmondshire is probably incorrect.
The suggestion that some early castle were built to control river crossings is made elsewhere (notably by Mary Higham for North Lancashire) but the actual evidence is often weak, certainly for England. This may suggest such sites were early, flimsy and soon abandoned or that the theory is flawed. However, few such sites have been thoroughly investigated.