Tickhill Castle

In the civil parish of Tickhill.
In the historic county of Yorkshire West Riding (Modern Authority of Doncaster, 1974 county of South Yorkshire).

Very powerful motte and bailey with mostly wet ditch. Date from C11 with fine Norman gatehouse, some rebuilding in C14. Taken in1102, 1194, 1264. The Pipe Rolls of 1178 and 1179 show three entries for work on the turns at Tickhill. The mount, on which the shell keep was situated, is partly a natural knoll of sandstone. It is 75' high and approx 80' in diameter at the top. Only the foundations of the Keep remain, unscientific `excavations' showing it to have been a round structure (previously described as an 10 or 11 sided polygon). The bailey is oval in form and is surrounded by an earthen rampart topped by the curtain wall. The ditch between the mount and bailey has been filled up. The area covered by the bailey is now a private garden. The inner bank of the bailey rampart remains on the north side only, where it forms a 6.5 m. wide terrace flanked by a stone retaining wall.

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 334302)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SK59329287

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; 318964, 318992, 318987, 318982

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/111/tickhillcastle.htm
    http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/kirk6479/mycustompage0034.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p105
    Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p58-9
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p309-10
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p527
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p306 p527
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Pevsner, N. Revised by Enid Radcliffe, 1967, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: West Riding (London, Penguin) p520-1
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p844-7
    Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield) p112-3
    Hall, 1931, South Yorkshire Historical Sketches (Sheffield) p62-8 [slight history]
    Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p219-20
    Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH York Vol2 p39-40
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p269-71
    Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England  (Wyman and Sons) Vol2 p494-6
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p211
    King, Edward, 1782, Observations on Antient Castles (London) p90-3
• Journal Articles
  • Stanford, C., 2000 Nov, 'On Preserving our ruins' Journal of Architectural Conservation Vol3
    Harfield, C.G., 1991, 'A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book' English Historical Review Vol106
    1988, ‘The Yorkshire Archaeological Register: 1987' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol60 p186
    Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' Archaeological Journal Vol143 p308, 316
    Birch, J., 1980, 'The castles and fortified houses of South Yorkshire' Archaeological Journal Vol137 p374-6
    Birch, J., 1980, ‘Tickhill Castle’ Archaeological Journal Vol137 p416-17
    Chibnall, M., 1976, ‘Robert of Bellême and the castle of Tickhill' in Droit Privé et Institutions Régionales: Etudes Historiques Offertes à Jean Yver (Presses Universitaires de France) p151-6
    Magilton, J.R., 1971-7, 'Tickhill: the topography of a medieval town' Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society Vol10 p344-9
    (Young), 1962-3, Medieval Archaeology Vol6-7 p325
    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]
    Brown, R. Allen, 1955, 'Royal Castle-building in England 1154-1216' English Historical Review Vol70 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp19-64
    Walker, John Holland,, 1937, 'Tickhill Castle' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol41 p91-94
    1920-4, Hunter Archaeological Society Transactions Vol2 p211
    1886, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol9 p221
    Clark, G.T., 1874, The Builder Vol32 p126-7 [reprinted in MMA]
    King, E., 1782, Archaeologia Vol6 p266-9 [reprinted in Antient Castles]
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/yorkseng.html#york4]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p300, 349, 525
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p35; Vol4 p15