Whorlton Castle

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Ruin of the gatehouse of Whorlton Castle

Whorlton Castle is a ruined castle near the former village Whorlton in the English administrative unit North Yorkshire . The castle was built in the early 12th century as a Norman motte in connection with the nearby settlement. What is unusual for a moth is that this castle was used throughout the Middle Ages until the beginning of modern times. Built to monitor an important road on the western edge of the North York Moors , the castle fell into ruin in the mid-14th century. Nevertheless, the area remained inhabited at least until the beginning of the 17th century. Little is left of the castle itself, only the remains of a few cellars or basement floors. The outer walls of a gatehouse from the 14th century have also been preserved, albeit in a deplorable condition. English Heritage has listed Whorlton Castle as a Grade I Historic Structure. The castle is in private hands, but is open to the public.

history

Whorlton Castle gatehouse floor plan

The castle was built in the early 12th century on the ridge of Castle Bank , a range of hills between the villages of Faceby and Swainby . It lies over a small village through which the Thirsk to Stokesley road runs. In the 13th century the castle was called "Hwernelton" or "Potto Castle". (The village of Potto belongs to the same parish.) At the time of the Domesday Book , Whorlton is said to have belonged to Robert de Conteville , half-brother of William the Conqueror . The property later fell to the Meynell family , who then had the castle built.

It is not known when exactly the castle was built, but in its first phase it was thought to have been a wooden fortress on a roughly rectangular mound with a base of 60 meters by 50 meters. The mound was enclosed by a dry moat that was up to 20 meters wide and 5 meters deep. A 2.5 meter high wall was built around it. Most of the moat is still preserved today, only the south-eastern quarter was built over with a modern road. Attached to it was a fortified enclosure in which the village and church were located.

The castle fell into disrepair at the beginning of the 14th century or was demolished during this time; a source from 1343 describes it as a ruin. In the mid-14th century, the property fell through marriage to John Darcy , who had close ties to the royal court. Darcy had major changes made to the castle and leveling the mound so that it would have a base for a new donjon with a fortified gatehouse just east of it. It is not known whether there was also a curtain wall - no remains of it can be found on the property - but the castle would have been extremely difficult to defend without it. The lack of any evidence of a curtain wall may simply be due to the centuries of stone theft.

Whorlton Castle remained in the hands of the Darcys until 1418 , when Elizabeth Darcy inherited the castle after the death of her father Philip Darcy . She was married to Sir James Strangways . The Strangways held the castle until 1541 when inheritance disputes resulted in it falling to the Crown. King Henry VIII loaned the castle and estate to Matthew, Earl of Lennox , whose eldest son was Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley . The Countess of Lennox wrote to Mary Queen of Scots in the fall of 1561 , presumably from Whorlton Castle, proposing a marriage between her and Lord Darnley. Local tradition says that the marriage contract was signed at Whorlton Castle in 1565, in fact it was signed in Stirling .

Then the castle came back into the possession of the crown, but fell into disrepair again and in 1600 the buildings were described as "old and ruinous". Sometime at the end of the 16th or beginning of the 17th century, the Lennox family had a house built to the northwest of the gatehouse and the then extensive ruins of the donjon. This house was sketched by Samuel Buck in 1725 and is shown as a large two-story building with standing dormers on a steeply sloping roof. Today no remains of this house have survived, even if you can still see its roof line on the north side of the gatehouse.

In 1603 the manor was given to Edward Bruce (later Lord Bruce of Kinloss ) and the title of Lord Bruce of Whorlton was bestowed on his younger son Thomas in 1641 . Thomas' son Robert Bruce was named 1st Earl of Ailesbury in 1664 . At the beginning of the 19th century the ruins of the donjon had largely disappeared, as can be seen from a lithograph from this period. In 1875, a large number of bricks were removed from the castle ruins to build the Swainby village church . The Ailesbury family retained the ruins and manor until the late 19th century, when they were sold to James Emerson of Easby Hall .

The castle ruins are currently in private hands after they were bought by Osbert Peake, 1st Viscount Ingleby , in the mid-20th century as part of a hunting ground. In 1928 the property was listed as a historical building and is now a historical building of the first degree. In the 1960s, the Ministry of Works had the structure of the gatehouse repaired, but it was left open to the elements.

Description of the buildings and the surrounding area

The mid-14th century gatehouse is the most important surviving remnant of Whorlton Castle. It is a shell without a roof and without a ceiling, three stories high and made of sandstone - stone built in a rectangular plan. It is 17.68 meters long and 10 meters wide. The outer walls have been preserved up to a height of 6.0–8.5 meters. The thickness of the walls varies between 1.73 meters and 2.3 meters. Nothing remains of the interior walls and ceilings.

On both sides of the gatehouse there are two large entrances with segmental arches flanked by cross-shaped windows. Each of the entrances is approximately 3 meters wide and 3.3 meters high. Above the eastern entrance, the main entrance, there are three carved signs on pointed panels. The coats of arms of the Darcys (center), the Meynells (right) and the Grays (left) are shown on these shields ; the latter indicates Philip Darcy's marriage to Elizabeth Gray in the late 14th century. Above these shields is another, single shield showing the combined arms of the Darcys and Meynells; it points to the original marriage that united the two families and brought the castle into the hands of the Darcys. The entrances were originally secured by portcullis made of wood or metal, which could be lifted into the walls of the gatehouse or lowered from there with winches. The notches of the portcullis can still be seen today.

After stepping through the entrances, visitors had to walk through an arched central aisle, some elements of which are still visible today. On either side of this aisle were a number of large rooms with small chambers set into the walls - presumably guard rooms - and a large hall on the upper floor above. The remains of the open chimneys can still be seen on the ground floor and upstairs. A spiral staircase in a tower gave access to the upper floors. You could not get there from the ground floor of the gatehouse, but through an entrance with a round arch in the north-west wall of the building. You can still climb these stairs to the remains of the upper floor, even if the ceiling of the first floor no longer exists. On the northwest wall of the gatehouse you can still see the roof line of the later house, which has now disappeared.

Ruins of Whorlton Castle

  • Inside the gatehouse of Whorlton Castle

  • East entrance of the gatehouse with the signs of the Darcys, the Meynells and the Grays.

  • Fragment of the main building of Whorlton Castle

The donjon was about 22 meters west at the other end of the courtyard. The only remains that have survived to this day are fragments of the vaulted cellar or basement, the largest of which measures 9 meters by 4 meters. They are believed to be of Norman origin and form the oldest part of the extensive ruins on the site. In the middle of the 19th century, a local farmer allegedly used the cellars of the castle ruins as a pigsty. Today the cellars are overgrown and partially filled with rubble.

A large area in the surrounding landscape is also connected to the castle. Much of the land was cultivated in the Middle Ages and the marks left by the plows are still visible today. The area immediately adjacent to the castle was designed as a landscape park in the late Middle Ages; Ornamental gardens were laid out in two rectangular enclosures a little east of the castle courtyard. Each of these gardens was 40 meters by 20 meters and surrounded by 1 meter high earthen walls. To the east of the gardens there was a rectangular pond, 190 meters long, 20 meters wide and up to 3 meters deep. You would think this was a fish pond, but its size makes this seem unlikely. A deer park was created south of the castle and it is said that King Richard II once hunted there. The landscaped park and grounds of the abandoned village of Whorlton , along with the castle ruins, form a Scheduled Monument .

Conservation plans

The gatehouse is in poor condition and has been placed on the Heritage-at-Risk register. The building has been repeatedly damaged by vandals and is also suffering from the effects of the weather. The site is within the boundaries of the North York Moors National Park and the National Park Administration, English Heritage and the owner of the site have agreed on a maintenance plan for the property. In a report to the park administration from 2005, various possibilities are presented, e.g. B. the preservation of the buildings as ruins while at the same time improving security by employing a guard or converting the gatehouse into a habitable house that could serve as a residence or holiday home. They also thought of employing a local volunteer group to manage and maintain the property. The authors of the report recommended renovating the gatehouse. The report concluded that "maintaining the status quo was not an acceptable option because the historic walls and archaeological sites were continually being damaged by vandals, [this solution] was an unparalleled public treat, and future repairs and maintenance of the property." are uneconomical ". English Heritage partially funded a feasibility study to convert the gatehouse into a residential building. However, these plans fell through because of the breakdown in the administration of the Vivat Trust , which had proposed the renovation.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Whorlton Castle: a motte and bailey and tower house with associated garden, earthworks, ponds, park pale, field system, deserted village and church . Historic England. English Heritage. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  2. ^ Martyn Bennett: The Civil Wars Experienced: Britain and Ireland, 1638–1661 . Routledge, London 2000. ISBN 978-0-415-15901-2 . P. 26.
  3. ^ A b Adrian Pettifer: English Castles: A Guide by Counties . Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2002. ISBN 978-0-85115-782-5 . P. 300.
  4. ^ A b Bernard Ingham: Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire castles . Dalesman, Skipton 2001. ISBN 978-1-85568-193-4 . P. 78.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Whorlton Castle . Pastscape. Historic England. English Heritage. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  6. ^ Lesley Skipper: The Castle on the Hill: Memories of Whorlton Castle . Black Tent Publications, Stockton-on-Tees 2009. ISBN 978-1-907212-00-0 . P. 17.
  7. ^ A b Lesley Skipper: The Castle on the Hill: Memories of Whorlton Castle . Black Tent Publications, Stockton-on-Tees 2009. ISBN 978-1-907212-00-0 . P. 20.
  8. ^ Lesley Skipper: The Castle on the Hill: Memories of Whorlton Castle . Black Tent Publications, Stockton-on-Tees 2009. ISBN 978-1-907212-00-0 . P. 15.
  9. ↑ a b c d Lesley Skipper: The Castle on the Hill: Memories of Whorlton Castle . Black Tent Publications, Stockton-on-Tees 2009. ISBN 978-1-907212-00-0 . P. 16.
  10. ^ A b c d Paul Wilkinson: Castle for keeps . In: The Daily Telegraph . May 28, 2005. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  11. ^ John Clement Fowler: The Ancient Saxon Parish of Whorlton in Cleveland . Jordison & Co., Middlesborough 1904. p. 6.
  12. ^ Lesley Skipper: The Castle on the Hill: Memories of Whorlton Castle . Black Tent Publications, Stockton-on-Tees 2009. ISBN 978-1-907212-00-0 . P. 28.
  13. ↑ a b c Lesley Skipper: The Castle on the Hill: Memories of Whorlton Castle . Black Tent Publications, Stockton-on-Tees 2009. ISBN 978-1-907212-00-0 . P. 30.
  14. ↑ David Jeffels: Castle may be turned into holiday home . In: Gazette & Herald . March 16, 2005. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  15. ↑ a b Heritage at Risk Register - Whorlton Castle Gatehouse . English Heritage. Retrieved on August 7, 2011.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / risk.english-heritage.org.uk
  16. ↑ a b c Whorlton Castle Gatehouse . Historic England. English Heritage. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  17. ^ A b Lesley Skipper: The Castle on the Hill: Memories of Whorlton Castle . Black Tent Publications, Stockton-on-Tees 2009. ISBN 978-1-907212-00-0 . P. 22.
  18. ^ A b Lesley Skipper: The Castle on the Hill: Memories of Whorlton Castle . Black Tent Publications, Stockton-on-Tees 2009. ISBN 978-1-907212-00-0 . P. 23.
  19. ^ Lesley Skipper: The Castle on the Hill: Memories of Whorlton Castle . Black Tent Publications, Stockton-on-Tees 2009. ISBN 978-1-907212-00-0 . P. 26.
  20. ^ John Murray: Handbook for Travelers in Yorkshire . John Murray, London 1867. p. 197.
  21. ↑ T. Whellan: History and Topography of the City of York and the North Riding of Yorkshire: embracing on general review of the early history of Great Britain, and a general history and description of the County of York . Volume 2. John Green, Beverley 1859. p. 771.
  22. ↑ David Roberts: Plan offers hope for the future of badly vandalized castle . In: The Northern Echo . March 7, 2005  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.highbeam.com
  23. ↑ Ben Barnet: The 704 Yorkshire historic landmarks in dire need of repair . In: Yorkshire Post . October 20, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Web links

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

Coordinates: 54 ° 24 '55 "  N , 1 ° 15' 36"  W.