Walworth Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Walworth Hall; High Walworth

In the civil parish of Walworth.
In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of Darlington.
1974 county of County Durham.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ23101886
Latitude 54.56427° Longitude -1.64379°

Walworth Castle has been described as a certain Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The ancient manor and estate of Walworth, lies three miles to the South-west of Heighington. The Hansards are the earliest owners on record; but it is evident that the founder of the line was a cadet of the house of Raby, Gilbert le Halsart, son of the younger Meldred, and brother of that Robert Fitz-Meldred who married the heir of Neville. His descendants held Walworth in long lineal succession. In 1466 an escheat describes the manor as including, One chief messuage, with divers outhouses, two granaries, a stable, and sheepfold, value per ann. xiiis. iiiid.; twelve cottages, xxxs.; 400 acres of arable land, xxiiiil.; 200 acres of pasture, cs.; 20 acres of meadow, xxiiis. 4d.. The house of Walworth, a handsome spacious mansion, is said to have been reared from its ruins in the reign of Elizabeth, by Thomas Jennison, an Auditor in Ireland, who purchased from the Ayscoughs. The chief front, a straight curtain betwixt two circular towers, looks Southward over soft even grounds, richly sprinkled with wood, and sloping gradually to the Tees. The North front looks upward against the hill. Its windows, with stone mullions and transoms, seem of earlier architecture: the stained glass mentioned by Hutchinson is removed. (Surtees)

Mansion now hotel. Circa 1600, possibly by Thomas Holt for Thomas Jennison, incorporating an earlier structure. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1121175
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 23755.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) D1565; D6900.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Wikipedia entry
  Walworth Castle Hotel
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 458
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 58-9
  Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlisle) p. 74
  Pevsner, Nikolaus (revised by Elizabeth Williamson), 1983, Buildings of England: Durham (Harmondsworth) p. 482-3
  Hugill, Robert, 1979, The Castles and Towers of the County of Durham (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 95-6
  Whittaker, N., 1975, The Old Halls and Manor Houses of County Durham
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Whellan, F., 1894 (2edn), History, Topography and Directory of the County of Durham p. 521
  Boyle, J.R., 1892, Comprehensive Guide to the County of Durham (Newcastle) p. 666-8
  Surtees, R., 1823, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham Vol. 3 (Durham) p. 316 online transcription
  Brayley, E. and Britton, J., 1803, Beauties of England and Wales; Durham Vol. 5 p. 222
Periodical Articles
- Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 228

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.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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