Skipsea Castle Hill

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Albermarle Hill and the Baile Welts

In the civil parish of Skipsea. In the historic county of Yorkshire East Riding (Modern Authority of East Riding of Yorkshire, 1974 county of Humberside).

Well-preserved motte and bailey castle, built at some time between 1071 and 1086 by Drogo de Beauvriere (Drew de Bevrere), first of the Lords of Holderness.The castle served as the principle residence of the Lordship until replaced by the manor house at Burstwick, probably before 1200. The castle may have been abandoned in 1221 after Henry III ordered it to be slighted, although there remains some doubt as to whether this was carried out. The site has never been excavated. Most of the monument survives in good condition as earthworks, with a short length of wall made of cobbles on the east side of the motte; this possibly represents a fragment of a fore building. Field investigation suggests that a dam may have been built across a natural constriction c.200m N of the motte to create a large mere that would have completed the defences on that side, though this has been alleged to be an inland harbour. The bailey appears to have originally been horseshoe-shaped, but part has ploughed out.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TA16215507

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 80781
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/england/skipsea/skipsea.php
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/107/skipseacastle.htm
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.382
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/skipsea.html
• Books
  • Kent, G.H.R., 2002, 'North division: Skipsea' VCH Yorkshire East Riding Vol7 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=16161
    Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p93
    Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p54-5
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p281
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p298
    English, B., 1979, The Lords of Holderness, 1086-1260
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield) p103-5
    Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p209-11
    Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Yorkshire Vol2 p37-9
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England (New York: Macmillan) Vol2 p263 http://www.archive.org/stream/castlesofengland02mack#page/263/mode/1up
• Journal Articles
  • Harfield, C.G., 1991, 'A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book' English Historical Review Vol106 p371-392 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28199104%29106%3A419%3C371%3AAHOCRI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
    Youngs, S.M., Clark, J. and Barry, T., 1987, ‘Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1986' Medieval Archaeology Vol31 p259 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    1973, CBA Group 4 (Yorkshire) Annual Newsletter Vol4 p15
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
    l'Anson, W.M., 1917, 'Skipsea Castle' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol24 p258-62
    Boynton, T., 1910, 'Skipsea earthworks' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol21 p188-9
    Sheppard, 1899, Assoc. Archit. Socies. Vol25 p242-3
    Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol46 p197-217 esp216 http://www.archive.org/stream/archaeologicaljo46brit#page/197/mode/1up
• Guidebooks
  • Skipsea History Workshop, n.d. [after 2000], Skipsea Castle [good, if small, leaflet] [http://www.lhi.org.uk/docs/Skipsea_Castle.pdf]
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p497
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/yorkseng.html#yorks38]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p548
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Atkins, C., 1988, Skipsea Castle, North Humberside: A Survey of the Earthworks 1987/88 (Humberside SMR)