Sedbergh Castle Haugh Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Sedbergh.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Yorkshire West Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: SD66239229
Latitude 54.32514° Longitude -2.52084°

Sedbergh Castle Haugh Tower has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A small well preserved motte and bailey castle. The oval motte is 30 feet high and surrounded by a ditch about 15 feet wide except on the south where there is a steep scarp. The top of the motte measures nine metres east to west by seven metres north to south. The top is dish shaped, caused by the removal of a building. The bailey, which lies to the west of the motte and slopes to the west is 30 metres east to west by 20 metres north to south. The motte was used as an air raid look out during World War II. (PastScape)

Castlehaugh Tower is an oval motte, 30ft. high, surrounded by a ditch about 15ft wide except on the south where there is a steep scarp. The bailey, measuring about 1/4 acre, now forms a terrace (VCH). The motte top measures about 9m E-W by 7m N-S; the modern building has been removed, leaving a slightly dished top. The motte commands excellent views over the town to the Lune valley, and down Garsdale and the Rawthey valley; the bridge at Millthrop would be visible but for trees. There is some gorse and hawthorn growing on the E side of the motte and recent repairs have been made to a damaged area on the N side. On the N side the motte ditch is defined by a bank 1m high. There is a slight causeway across the E sector of the motte ditch. The bailey, which lies to the W of the motte and slopes to the W, is approximately 30m E-W by 20m N-S. The bailey has no bank and there is no sign of masonry anywhere on the site (Bowden). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1007128, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number cu365
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 44165.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MYD3612; 2096 (Cumbria County Council SMR).

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Visit Cumbria
  Out of Oblivion
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog; Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Turner, Maurice, 2004, Yorkshire Castles: Exploring Historic Yorkshire (Otley: Westbury Publishing) p. 245-6
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 393
  Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 97 (slight)
  Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carlisle: Carel Press) p. 42
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 525
  Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield) p. 130
  Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Yorkshire Vol. 2 p. 37
Periodical Articles
- 1996, Sedbergh Historian Vol. 3.5
  Higham, Mary, 1991, 'The Mottes of North Lancashire, Lonsdale and South Cumbria' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 91 p. 79-90 (reprinted in Crosby, A.G. (ed), 2007, Of names and places: selected writings of Mary Higham (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society and the Society for Name Studies) p. 81-91) online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 207 (mislocated in Lancashire) and 213 (mislocated in Westmorland) online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 2006, Extensive Urban Survey - Cumbria (Cumbria County Council) Download copy
  Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online
  Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 534 online copy
  Mark Bowden, 18-MAY-1993, Howgill Fells Project (RCHME)

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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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