Castles in South Yorkshire

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There are several castles in South Yorkshire. Of the different types of castle, those represented in South Yorkshire are motte-and-bailey, the most common type of castle in England after the Norman Conquest,^[1] and manor houses. There is also one possible ringwork or siege work at Bradfield.

Contents 1 Mediaeval Castles 1.1 Beighton 1.2 Bradfield 1.3 Conisbrough 1.4 Doncaster 1.5 Hickleton 1.6 Kimberworth 1.7 Laughton 1.8 Langthwaite 1.9 Mexborough 1.10 Sheffield 1.11 Skellow 1.12 Tickhill 1.13 Thorne 1.14 Other sites 2 Manor Houses 2.1 Aston Hall 2.2 Brierley Hallsteads 2.3 Denaby Old Hall 2.4 Manor Lodge 2.5 Radcliffe Moat 2.6 Other sites 3 Post-Mediaeval structures 3.1 Stainborough Castle 3.2 Wentworth Castle 4 See also 5 References 5.1 Bibliography

[edit] Mediaeval Castles

[edit] Beighton

Beighton is now a suburb of Sheffield, but in the mediaeval period lay just over the county boundary in Derbyshire. Its castle is known only from a single thirteenth century reference to "the tower of the former castle", and its location is not known with certainty.^[2] However, the Enclosure Plan for the village and a plan made in 1792 indicate a site by the River Rother, which may have formed a moat.^[3]

[edit] Bradfield

Bradfield lies north west of Sheffield. Two sites in the village have been identified with castles. Bailey Hill is a sixty-foot high motte, and an eighteenth century excavation found stonework, suggesting that its castle may have been rebuilt in stone. It bailey covered three-quarters of an acre, and it surrounding ditch and rampart still stand up to thirty feet high. The village grew up around this castle, which was dependent on Sheffield Castle.^[2] The site is a scheduled ancient monument.^[4]

Nearby Castle Hill has been variously identified as a ringwork, a natural look-out point,^[2] or a siege work. The hill, which could possibly be a motte, has been quarried, although one source suggests remains of a keep were visible in 1819.^[5]

[edit] Conisbrough

Main article: Conisbrough Castle

[edit] Doncaster

Doncaster Castle lay on the site of the town's Roman fort, beside the River Don. It stood on a motte, which lies under the east end of St George's Minster. The motte was surrounded by a 16-foot deep ditch, 30 feet wide, which later marked the bounds of St George's churchyard. The castle was demolished, probably in the twelfth century, and there are no visible remains.^[2]

[edit] Hickleton

Hickleton lies west of Doncaster. Its castle was a motte and bailey, known from a seventeenth century sketch of the motte made by Roger Dodsworth. The site was subsequently destroyed by quarrying, and no remains are visible.^[2]

[edit] Kimberworth

Kimberworth lies west of Rotherham. Its wooden castle was a motte and bailey, dependent on Tickhill Castle. The motte survives, but there is no visible evidence of the bailey, and the castle was never rebuilt in stone.^[2] The site is a scheduled ancient monument.^[6]

[edit] Laughton

Laughton-en-le-Morthen lies south east of Rotherham. Laughton Castle was a motte and bailey dependent on Tickhill Castle, and was probably built on the site of a hall owned by Edwin, Earl of Mercia. The motte survives, as does a ditch surrounding the bailey.^[2] The castle was probably originally built by Roger de Busli, and may predate his castle at Tickhill.^[7] The site is a scheduled ancient monument.^[8]

[edit] Langthwaite

Langthwaite lay north of Doncaster. The village is now abandoned,^[2] but the site of the castle lies near Adwick-le-Street.^[9] The castle was a motte and bailey. The motte survives, reduced in height, while a 40-foot wide ditch marks the outline of the bailey.^[2] The site is a scheduled ancient monument.^[10]

[edit] Mexborough

Mexborough lies north of Rotherham. Its wooden castle was a motte and bailey, dependent on Tickhill Castle. The motte and earthworks of the bailey survive in a private garden. The castle was never rebuilt in stone.^[2] Although reduced in size, the motte stands 52 feet high, and is surrounded by a six-foot bank and a 50ft wide ditch. The site is a scheduled ancient monument.^[11]

[edit] Sheffield

Main article: Sheffield Castle

[edit] Skellow

Skellow lies north west of Doncaster. Its castle was a motte and bailey. The motte survives in the grounds of Skellow Hall, and part of the earthworks of the bailey can be seen in a field to the north. The site was reused during the English Civil War, and is now known as Cromwell's Batteries.^[2] The site is a scheduled ancient monument.^[12]

[edit] Tickhill

Tickhill Castle was one of the great castles of South Yorkshire. It was built for Roger de Busli in the 1080s as a wooden motte and bailey structure, atop a low natural hill. The ramparts of the two acre bailey and a ditch protecting part of these survive from this period. In the 1100s, Henry I of England rebuilt the castle in stone, including a shell keep, gatehouse and curtain wall, of which the gatehouse survives. The castle was again rebuilt by Henry II of England and completed in 1182. The keep and curtain walls were replaced, and a stone bridge was constructed over the ditch, while Eleanor of Acquitaine founded a chapel in the courtyard. The castle was captured by John of England in the 1190s but retaken by Richard I of England in 1194, after which it was used as a base for tournaments. On John's accession, he spent £200 on the castle's fortifications. By 1538, the building was unused and in poor condition, but it was re-fortified by the Royalists during the English Civil War before being demolished in 1648.^[2]

The site is now privately owned. The gatehouse and much of the curtain walling survives, but the site of the keep is now home to a seventeenth century hall.^[2]

[edit] Thorne

Thorne lies north east of Doncaster. Its castle was a motte and bailey dependent on Conisbrough.^[2] The motte survives, now known as Peel Hill. A ditch around the motte also survives, and a few wall fragments have been found. The castle may have also acted as a hunting lodge for Hatfield Chase.^[13] The tower, built of masonry, survived at least until the fifteenth century, when John Leland wrote that "by the church garth of Thorne is a praty pile or castelet, well diked, now used for a prison for offenders in the forestes". The foundations were largely removed in the 1820s. The site is now a scheduled ancient monument.^[14]

[edit] Other sites

There is a Castle Hill in Hampole, but the site has been heavily ploughed, and no evidence of a castle survives.^[2] Bolsterstone Castle was previously two cottages, and may contain some remains of a mediaeval castle.^[15] Fenwick has a mediaeval moat, and this site has been identified as the possible location of a fortification noted in 1272.^[16] Darfield New Hall was the site of a tower house built around the fifteenth century, sometimes identified as a pele tower.^[17] Cusworth Park in Sprotborough has a "Castle Hill", sometimes identified as a motte, but this may be a landscape gardening feature.^[18]

[edit] Manor Houses

[edit] Aston Hall

[edit] Brierley Hallsteads

[edit] Denaby Old Hall

[edit] Manor Lodge

[edit] Radcliffe Moat

[edit] Other sites

Bentley has a double moat, with foundations of a building visible on the central platform. This may have been a mediaeval manor house.^[19] Rossington similarly has the Draw Dykes Moat, which was probably the site of a manor house, although there could conceivably have been a castle there.^[20] Hooton Pagnell Hall is a Tudor building, likely built on the site of a manor house.^[21] Cowley Manor in Ecclesfield was demolished in the seventeenth century, but is believed to have been a moated manor house.^[22]

[edit] Post-Mediaeval structures

[edit] Stainborough Castle

[edit] Wentworth Castle

[edit] See also

• Castles in Greater Manchester
• Grade I listed buildings in South Yorkshire

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography