Skipsea Castle

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The mound of Skipsea Castle

Skipsea Castle is an Outbound castle near the village of Skipsea in the English Management Unit East Riding of Yorkshire . The Norman moth was built in the 11th century to protect the recently conquered region against suspected Danish attacks and to control the trade routes through the region that lead to the North Sea . Mound and outer bailey were separated by the Skipsea Mere , an artificial lake that was connected to the sea by a navigable canal in the Middle Ages. The village of Skipsea arose next to the castle's church and the fortified settlement of Skipsea Brough was built next to the castle around 1160 to take advantage of potential trade.

In 1221 the owner of the castle, William de Forz , the Duke of Aumale , rebelled against King Henry III. The fortress was taken by troops loyal to the king and the king ordered its demolition . The remains of the castle were of little value at the end of the 14th century, and Skipsea Brough did not grow any further. The castle fell into the hands of the state in the early 20th century, and a number of excavations were carried out from 1987 to 2001. In the 21st century, Skipsea Castle is managed by English Heritage and is open to the public.

history

11th and 12th centuries

Skipsea Castle was built around 1086 for Drogo de la Beuvrière , a Flemish merchant and first Lord of Holderness after the Norman conquest of England and the Harrying of the North . The region was on the border of the Norman sphere of influence and the lordship was supposed to serve to protect central Yorkshire against possible Danish attacks across the North Sea. Skipsea Castle was the administrative center of De la Beuvrière's vast estates that stretched from the Humber to Bridlington , and also served as the caput or headquarters of its owner.

Aerial view of Skipsea Castle from west 1979; A - Skipsea village; B - Mound; C - outer bailey; D - Skipsea Brough

The name "Skipsea" has Scandinavian roots and denotes a navigable lake. In the Middle Ages there was an inland port there , which was connected to the North Sea by a navigable canal, which is only about 2 km away today. The area was called an island at this time because it was surrounded by the estuary and floodplains . The site of the castle was strategically important because it was on the main trade route through the marshland and could be reached by sea. The castle fulfilled military and economic functions; it was supposed to both secure the newly conquered Norman lands and control trade through the inland port.

The castle was built in the shape of a moth and a dam was thought to have been built to turn the surrounding marshland into an artificial lake called Skipsea Mere , from which the channel to the sea ran. The complex had its own private harbor, presumably also a shipyard and a freshwater fish farm. At the end of the 11th century a church was built east of the castle, on the other side of the lake, and the village of Skipsea soon grew next to the church. De la Beuvriére settled ten knights on lands near the castle, an arrangement called the castle guard system: the knights helped defend the castle in exchange for their lands, and one of them even built his own, small fortress in nearby Aldborough .

After the suspicious death of his wife, Drogo de la Beuvrière fled England and King William the Conqueror lent the castle to Odo , the Duke of Aumale. It fell to Arnulf de Montgomery in 1096 , but returned to the Aumale family in 1102 , who then held it until 1221. Trade initially flourished and so William le Gros established the fortified settlement of Skipsea Brough on the range of hills just south of the castle, probably around 1160. The settlement was intended to generate income for the earls, but also served to defend the castle on its most fragile side . The castle guard system fell into disrepair and the knights of the surrounding lands instead paid taxes in cash.

13th and 14th centuries

The inner earthworks of the outer bailey and the mound from the southwest

After about 1200, the castle gradually lost its importance: it was in an inconvenient location, the threat from the Danes no longer existed and the nearby manor of Burstwick became the administrative center of the estate. In January 1220, William de Forz, by marriage Duke of Aumale, rebelled against King Henry III. The dispute also included the question of ownership of the Driffield estate , 18 km from Skipsea Castle, which King Henry had seized the previous year, but William de Forz had been at odds with him about his actions several years earlier.

William de Forz was immediately excommunicated and King Henry hastened to suppress the revolt. The barons in the north of England were ordered to besiege William de Forz's castles, including Skipsea Castle, and William de Forz soon surrendered to the king and was eventually pardoned. After this rebellion, King Henry ordered the razing of Skipsea Castle, although it is not clear to what extent this was done. William de Forz bequeathed the castle to his son, another William , but after the death of his widow Isabella , Skipsea Castle fell to the crown in 1293.

The Skipsea Mere was drained in the second half of the 14th century and from 1397 the castle was considered worthless: the 8.1 hectares of surrounding land were used as pastureland . The Dukes of Aumale used the mansion in nearby Cleeton when visiting the area. Probably because of its unfavorable location, the Skipsea Brough settlement also proved unsuitable as a business location . In 1260 there were only three citizens in the settlement paying rent, and by the end of the 14th century the settlement was largely abandoned. In 1377 only 95 residents were registered for poll tax in the settlements of Skipsea and Skipsea Brough .

15th - 21st century

Another drainage of the sea was carried out around 1720 and the land obtained in this way was used by the farmers. However, the ground remained swampy and was still occasionally flooded in the early 20th century. In 1911 the castle ruins were placed under the supervision of the Commissioners of Works and Public Buildings , which later became the government agency English Heritage. Prospecting of the castle grounds was carried out in 1987, 1988, 1992 and 2001.

The Burgstall is now a Scheduled Monument and the earthworks still visible today are generally well preserved, but between 2010 and 2014, English Heritage expressed concerns about their condition, the influence of drainage and the drying up of the land on the earthworks of the castle. Only a handful of buildings remain in the castle's settlement, Skipsea Brough , to this day.

Architecture and landscaping

Skipsea Castle floor plan: A - North gate of the outer bailey; B - course of the canal; C - main part of the Skipsea Mere; D - Mound; E - southeast corner of Skipsea Mere; F - scotch gap; G - south gate of the outer bailey; H - Skipsea Brough; Dotted red line - ways; Continuous red line - road

Skipsea Castle was a moth erected on an Iron Age hill. The two parts of the fortress were separated by the Skipsea Mere . The mere surrounded the mound. The south-east corner of the sea was separated by two dams south and east of the mound. There are records of eels being caught in the lake in the 13th century , and the southeast corner of the lake may have been used for fish farming. A curved canal, which led further to the North Sea, flowed around the southwest corner of the mound and gave the boats access to the moorings inside the outer bailey. There may also be a boatyard at the east end of the canal. There may have been another inland port just west of the outer bailey, but archaeologists disagree on that.

The sand and gravel mound was raised by human hands around 2500 years ago, possibly as a tumulus . Its diameter is 100 meters and it is 11 meters high. On its summit there is a flat area of ​​about 1000 m² and it is protected at its foot by a 1.5 meter high wall and a ditch up to 10 meters wide. The latter was deeper and wider than it is today when it was built. There was a wooden donjon on the mound, and possibly a stone gatehouse in the southeast corner . This led to the earth dam, which crossed the Mere south and connected the mound with the outer bailey. The eastern dam connected the mound to the church in the village of Skipsea.

The outer bailey was about 300 meters × 100 meters in size and covered an area of ​​about 3.3 hectares to the west and south of the inner bailey . Their earthworks were made of clay with a ring wall up to 4 meters high , which was protected by a 10 meter wide and originally 4 meter deep trench . A break in the earthworks, now called Scotch Gap , was cut out during the castle's demolition in the 13th century, and the wall was also otherwise damaged by drainage systems.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 40.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Skipsea Castle: 11th century motte and bailey castle and inland harbor . In: Historic England . English Heritage. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m K. J. Allison, AP Baggs, TN Cooper, C. Davidson-Cragoe, J. Walker: North division: Skipsea . British History Online. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  4. ^ OH Creighton: Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England . Equinox, London 2002. ISBN 978-1-904768-67-8 . P. 42.
  5. ^ OH Creighton: Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England . Equinox, London 2002. ISBN 978-1-904768-67-8 . P. 104.
  6. ^ OH Creighton: Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England . Equinox, London 2002. ISBN 978-1-904768-67-8 . Pp. 104-105.
  7. ^ Paul Dalton: Conquest, Anarchy, and Lordship: Yorkshire, 1066-1154 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521450-98-0 . P. 75.
  8. ^ DA Carpenter: The Minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1990. ISBN 978-0-520-07239-8 . Pp. 229-231.
  9. ^ DA Carpenter: The Minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1990. ISBN 978-0-520-07239-8 . Pp. 229, 233.
  10. ^ DA Carpenter: The Minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1990. ISBN 978-0-520-07239-8 . Pp. 233-234.
  11. ↑ William de Forz . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press. 2004. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 29480 . Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  12. ↑ Isabella de Forz . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press. 2008. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 47209 . Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  13. ^ Wessex Archeology: Skipsea Grange, Skipsea, Holdenress, East Riding of Yorkshire: A Report on an Archaeological Evaluation and an Assessment of the Results . Wessex Archeology, Salisbury 2005. p. 6.
  14. ^ A b O. H. Creighton: Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England . Equinox, London 2002. ISBN 978-1-904768-67-8 . P. 172.
  15. ↑ a b c d Ella Armitage: The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles . John Murray, London 1912. p. 210.
  16. ↑ Heritage At Risk Register, 2014 . English Heritage. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  17. ^ Heritage At Risk Register, 2010 . English Heritage. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  18. ↑ a b Skipsea Castle . English Heritage. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  19. ^ OH Creighton: Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England . Equinox, London 2002. ISBN 978-1-904768-67-8 . Pp. 171-172.
  20. ↑ a b Maev Kennedy: Skipsea Castle built on what Iron Age mound, excavation Reveals. Earthwork in Yorkshire is 1,500 years older than previously thought and likely to have been a burial mound. In: The Guardian. October 3, 2016, archived from the original on October 9, 2016 ; accessed on October 11, 2016 (English).

Web links

Commons : Skipsea Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 53 ° 58 ′ 30 ″  N , 0 ° 14 ′ 0 ″  W.