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Gilling Castle (Gilling West near Richmond)
Also known as, or recorded in historical
documents as; Castle Hill; Scales Farm; Low Scales
In the civil parish of Gilling With Hartforth And Sedbury.
In the historic county of Yorkshire North Riding (Modern Authority of North Yorkshire, 1974 county of North Yorkshire).
Site of "Gilling Castle" the seat of Edwin, Earl of Mercia. The main period of occupation was over by C12. The last traces were removed at the beginning of C19. No visible remains. This was probably a ringwork and Clark's reference to a motte is dismissed by Armitage. However, I do not believe it is possible to entirely dismiss this as the first castle of Earl Alan before he built Richmond. In fact it would be typical for a castle to be built on the previous high status Saxon site (since Edwin held the manor until 1071 it may even have been post-Conquest 'saxon' castle). Therefore, I would consider that Camden's interpretation of earlier documents that Alan built a castle at Gilling can not be dismissed, as it was by Armitage. What is clear from these early documents is that Earl Alan was fearful of attacks and that his castle at Richmond was built for military reasons.
This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle.
The confidence
that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Nothing visible remains.
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NZ16390425
PastScape number;
21647
Books
- Jackson, M.J., 2001, Castles of North Yorkshire (Carlise) p93
Page, Wm (ed), 1914, VCH York, North Riding Vol1 p72
Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p194n2
Speight, H., 1897, Romantic Richmondshire p174
1890, Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire
Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol1 p23
Whellan, T., 1857, History and topography of the city of York and the North Riding of Yorkshire (T Whellan and Co) Vol2 p483
Journal Articles
- Butler, Lawrence, 1992, 'The Origins of the Honour of Richmond and its Castles' Chateau-Gallard Vol16 p69-80 [Reprinted in Liddiard, Robert, (ed), 2003, Anglo-Norman Castles (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)]
Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' Archaeological Journal Vol46 p214-6
M'Laughlan, 1848, Archaeological Journal Vol6 p348-9
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
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