Almondbury Castle Hill

In the civil parish of Huddersfield.
In the historic county of Yorkshire West Riding (Modern Authority of Kirklees, 1974 county of West Yorkshire).

Early-mid C12 castle constructed on the Iron Age hillfort. The castle comprises three wards, and was partly constructed in stone. It was ruinous by the late C16. Visible now as an earthwork. The castle was surveyed by RCHME in 1995 and was excavated by Varley between 1939 and 1972, though little has been published.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Earthworks remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SE15251407

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 1032947

• Web site links
  • http://www.brigantesnation.com/SiteResearch/Iron%20Age/Almondbury/Almondbury.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p16
    Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p32-3
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p301
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p512
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p178
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Pevsner, N. (Revised by Radcliffe, Enid), 1967, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: West Riding (London, Penguin) p80
    Ahier, P., 1946, The Story of Castle Hill, Huddersfield Throughout the Centuries, BC200-AD1945 (Huddersfield: Advertiser Press)
    Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield)
    Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Yorkshire Vol2 p24
    Whitaker, T.D., 1816, Loidis and Elmete (Leeds) p327-8
• Journal Articles
  • (Varley), 1971, Medieval Archaeology Vol15 p149
    Manby, T.G., 1968, 'Almondburt Castle and hill fort' Archaeological Journal Vol125 p352-4
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p249-280]
    Brooke, 1902, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol16 p241-7
    Chadwick, 1900, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol15 p118-19 [minor excavation report]
    Armitage, 1900, The Bradford Antiquary Vol1 p396-403
    Brooke, 1874, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol30 p232-3
    Hills, , 1874, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol30 p410-13
    Walker, 1873, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol2 p3, 8-10 [history only]
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/yorkseng.html#york7]