Kirkcambeck (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Kirk Cambock; Howdale

In the civil parish of Askerton.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY533689
Latitude 55.01294° Longitude -2.73088°

Kirkcambeck has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Comments

Collingwood suggests, tentatively, a site at Howdale (approx NY527690) although slight mounds beside farms have to been considered with much care. Jackson appears to have somewhat more authority although neither site are recorded in the archaeological databases and both sites have to be considered doubtful. Between 1154-89 Alfred Cammork had a 'capital messuage' here but the site is unknown. In 1295 the manor was held for an eighth of a knight's fee which suggests a manor too small for even a modest castle. The Close Roll of 4 March 1307 has two entries dated from Cambok (Kirkcambeck) which have been taken as meaning there must have been a substantial building (including earlier versions of this web page) capable of hosting the king and retinue although it may just be the king stopped on the journey to Carlisle just for a short period of rest and to sign (seal) some pre-prepared documents.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 252 (church).

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Visit Cumbria
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 98 (slight)
  Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carlisle: Carel Press) p. 66
  Lysons, Daniel and Samuel, 1816, 'General history: Historical events' Magna Britannia Vol. 4: Cumberland p. xv online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Collingwood, W.G., 1923, 'An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Cumberland' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 23 p. 209 online copy
  Graham, T.H.B., 1911, 'Extinct Cumberland Castles (Part III)' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 11 p. 256-8 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Ferguson, R.S., 1887, An accompt of the most considerable estates and families in the county of Cumberland, from the conquest unto the beginning of the reign of K. James by John Denton (Kendal: T. Wilson) p. 144 (tenurial history) online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

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