Ormside Ringwork (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Great Ormside

In the civil parish of Ormside.
In the historic county of Westmorland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Westmorland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY701176
Latitude 54.55307° Longitude -2.46172°

Ormside Ringwork has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are uncertain remains.

Description

C11 church said to be built on possible motte or ringwork with large circular enclosure to east. Jackson writes mound is 36m by 52m similar in size to ringwork of Appleby castle.

Late 9th century Viking burial found in 1898 in Ormside churchyard. The skeleton was accompanied by a sword, shield boss, knife and piece of iron rod, 11 1/2" long, semi-tubular in section and pierced with four rivets at intervals of 2 1/2". The sword is late 9th century. A Bronze Age cist was also discovered, and the suggestion is that the church is built on a prehistoric barrow. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 14861 (barrow).
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1825 (barrow).

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 78
  Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carlisle: Carel Press) p. 77
  Curwen, J.F., 1932, 'Parishes (East Ward): St James, Ormside' The Later Records relating to North Westmorland: or the Barony of Appleby (Kendal: CWAAS Record Series 8) p. 189 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. 278-9 online copy
  1899, 'Various finds in Ormside Churchyard' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 15 p. 377-80 online copy
  Hodgson, J.F., 1880, 'Kirkby Stephen Church' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 4 p. 182-3n online copy

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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.

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Help is acknowledged.

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