John of Gaunts Castle, Haverah Park

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Haywra; Heywra; Haywrocastell; Skargill; Skirgill; Scargill

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

The standing ruins of a royal hunting lodge known as John of Gaunt's Castle, situated on a spur of land. The hunting lodge took the form of a stone tower standing on a square shaped platform surrounded by a moat with a large outer bank. The tower no longer stands, but the foundations for it survive as prominent earthworks. The moat surrounding the platform is 4m wide and 2m deep. The east and west outer banks are substantial, measuring 12m in width with steep sides up to 2m high. Was a royal hunting lodge for the medieval park of Haverah lying within the Forest of Knaresborough. It would serve as a royal residence and administrative centre when the king was hunting in the forest. The first reference to the lodge was in 1333 when substantial repairs were carried out to what was an already well established building. Haverah Park was created in the late C12 and the lodge may date to this time.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SE21965455

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 51828
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is MNY21049 '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.

• Books
  • Turner, 2004, Yorkshire Castles p202
    Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p42
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p310 [slight]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p518
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p671-3
    Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield) p127
    Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH York Vol2 p21
    Allcroft, A. Hadrian, 1908, Earthwork of England (London) p431-2 http://www.archive.org/details/earthworkofengla00allc
    Grainge, 1871, History and Topography of Harrogate and the Forest of Knaresborough (London) p345-7
• Journal Articles
  • Dennison, Ed and Richardson, Shaun with contributions by Erik Matthews, 2007-8, 'Recent Work on some North Yorkshire Castles' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol21 p157-166
• 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] p481-2
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Richardson, S. and Dennison, E., 2007, John of Gaunt's Castle, Haverah Park: Photographic Survey and Archaeological Observations (unpublished EDAS report 2004/247.R05 for English Heritage)