Drax Castle Hill

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Talleville

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

Medieval moated site now occupied by Castle Hill Farm. The site is reputed to be that of Talleville castle built after 1139 by Philip de Colville. The castle was adulterine and was one of those ordered to be destroyed by Stephen in 1154. There is a 1278 documentary reference to a garden on the site of the manor, but by 1405 the site was recorded as being worthless due to flooding and in 1421 it was assessed as being worth 3/4d in herbage. The monument is typical of a nobleman's moated manor house of C12-C13, with a 55m square island raised above the level of the surrounding fields with material from a deep encircling moat ditch. On the outside of the moat ditch there is a substantial encircling bank, up to 15m wide, which would have typically derived from material dredged from the ditch after the initial construction.

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SE67602602

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; 57913

Books

Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p36
Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p18-19
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p530
Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5) p124
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)

Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)

William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/yorkseng.html#yorks30]

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This record last updated on Friday, April 6, 2007

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