The Gatehouse website record of a licence to crenellate for Bolton Castle granted on 1379 July 4

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Licence for Richard Lescrope to crenellate his manor of Bolton in Wencelowedale or a place within it with a wall of stone and lime. By p.s. (CPR)

Ricardus Lescrop, Cancellarius noster in Wencelowedale ... seu unam placeam infra idem manerium ... Bolton, Yorkshire. (Turner and Parker)

Richardus Dei gracia rex Angliae et Francia et dominus Hibernie, omnibus ad quos presentes litterae prevenerint salutem, sciatis quod de gracia nostra speciali concessimus & licentiam dedimus pro nobis & heredibus nostris dilecto & fideli nostro Ricardo Lescrop, cancellario nostro, quod ipse manerium suum de Bolton in Wencelaw Dale, seu unam placeam infra idem manerium muro de petre & calce firmare & kernellare & manerium illud ceu placeam, illam sic firmatum & kernellatum vel firmatam & kernellatam, tenere possit sibi & heredibus suis imperpetuum sine occasione vel impedimento nostri vel heredum nostrorum vel heredum nostrorum quorumcunque. In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes. Teste meipso apud Westmonasterium quarto die Julij anno nostri tertio. Per breve de privato sigillo. Waltham. {Grose}

Original source is;

Lyte, H.C. Maxwell (ed), 1895, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1377-81) p. 369 online copy
The original survives as is held at Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies Service as part of Cartulary of Yorkshire Estates of Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton (Wensleydale),? 1327-1403, Chancellor of England. DCH/X/15/1. It is also reproduced in colour in Orde-Powlett, Tom, nd, Bolton Castle The Historic Heart of Wensleydale (The Bolton Castle Guide Book available on site in 2011)

(In fact, the original source given is usually a transcription/translation of what are precious medieval documents not readily availably. It should be noted that these transcription/translations often date to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries and that unwitting bias of transcribers may affect the translation. Care should also be taken to avoid giving modern meaning to the medieval use of certain stock words and terms. Licentia is best translated as 'freedom to' not 'permission'.)

Significant later sources are;

Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol. 1 (Cambridge) p. 421
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 536n8
Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 part 2 p. 418 online copy
Grose, F.,1783 (new edn), The antiquities of England and Wales p. 4n.p online copy

Scrope, Richard, first Baron Scrope of Bolton (c.1327–1403)

Scrope, Richard, first Baron Scrope of Bolton (c.1327–1403), soldier and administrator. Long royal service as Treasurer, steward of the royal household and, at this time, chancellor of England.

'Richard Scrope had achieved one of the most spectacular feats of social climbing in fourteenth-century England, which had propelled the Scropes of Bolton into the ranks of the peerage'. (King, 2007, p. 392)

Biographical source include;

King, Andy, 2007, 'Fortress and fashion statements: gentry castles in fourteenth-century Northumberland' Journal of Medieval History Vol. 33 p. 392
Brigette Vale, 2004, ‘Scrope, Richard, first Baron Scrope of Bolton (c.1327–1403)’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press) online copy (subscription may be needed)

More information about licences to crenellate can be found here.

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