Cotherstone Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Cotterstone; Cuderston; Cutherston; Codrestune; Hallgarth

In the civil parish of Cotherstone.
In the historic county of Yorkshire North Riding (Modern Authority of Durham, 1974 county of County Durham).

Earthwork remains of motte with possible bailey, probably founded circa 1090. There are also the remains of a two-winged building which is thought to be a hall of later date. The remains consist of the castle mound, average height 3.4m and one fragment of masonry footing 9m long. A series of terraces have been constructed across what was probably the bailey. As well as the 'two winged building' there are remains of a formal garden and fishponds. Licence granted in 1201. This castle is said by tradition to have been destroyed by the Scots in one of their plundering expeditions, and the fragments of burnt wood which have been dug up on the site seem to corroborate the story.

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 footings remains.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1200/1.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NZ01331997

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; 19889

County Sites and Monuments Record number; D1976

• Web site links
  • http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=D1976
    http://www.teesarchaeology.com//projects/aerial_photography/gallery/index495.html
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles and Tower Houses of County Durham (Malvern) p24
    Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p33
    Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p18
    Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlise) p25-6
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p301 [slight]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p516
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p216
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p160
    Pevsner, N., 1966, The Buildings of England: York; North Riding (London, Penguin) p125
    Ramsden, D., 1947, Teesdale p112-3
    Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield)
    Page, Wm (ed), 1914, VCH York, North Riding Vol1 p90, 118-21
    Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Yorkshire Vol2 p45
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p217-8
    Whellan, T., 1857, History and topography of the city of York and the North Riding of Yorkshire (T Whellan and Co) Vol2 p513
    Whitaker, T.D., 1823, History of Richmondshire Vol1 p141
• 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)]
    I'Anson, W.M., 1913, 'The castles of the North Riding' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol22 p341-3
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rotuli Chartarum 89b
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Coulson, C., Handlist of English Royal Licences to Crenellate 1200-1578 p4