Kirk Smeaton Castle Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Kirk Smeaton.
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: SE520166
Latitude 53.64367° Longitude -1.21483°

Kirk Smeaton Castle Hill has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

This site may be;
1. SE513183. Castle Hill placename about a mile north of Kirk Smeaton church, in the CP of Stapleton. This was the site of late medieval quarries of fine quality Magnesian limestone (used at Windsor Castle, Westminster Hall and numerous other high status sites across the county) (PastScape 1467009). Despite the Hill part of the name there does not seem to be any identifiable mound, although the site is generally elevated. Nearby by is Castle Farm, a mid C18 building, built partly as an eyecatcher for Stapleton Hall. (North Yorkshire HER NY9762). Is the Castle Hill name a C18 origin? The site has never been in Kirk Smeaton parish.
2. A supposed Roman Encampment, south of the River Went, mentioned, without detail, in some C19 topographic gazetteers. This is not shown on C19 OS maps and no mention of such a site is made by Hunter, the early C19 Yorkshire antiquarian.
As with a number of sites in Clark's list it may be this was a contribution made by a correspondent to Clark who did not really appreciate what Clark meant by a 'moated mound' and Clark was not really in a position to actually check all such suggestions.
Given map reference is for Kirk Smeaton parish church.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Periodical Articles
- Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 215 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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