Kilton Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Kylton

In the civil parish of Lockwood . In the historic county of Yorkshire North Riding (Modern Authority of Redcar & Cleveland, 1974 county of Cleveland).

Remains of a tower keep castle of C13 date which replaced a timber castle constructed between 1135-40. The remains visible today were built about 1190-1200 by the Kilton family. The castle is mentioned in a document of 1265 in which a chantry was granted to an existing chapel at the site. The castle was abandoned as a dwelling soon afterwards, and in 1341 and 1345 it is described as small and worthless. It was totally abandoned during C16. The ruined castle remains are of coursed random sandstone rubble and dressed sandstone. It is long, narrow and roughly-rectangular in plan, projecting eastwards into a deep ravine; a causeway at the west end is flanked by the remains of a moat. The castle remains include the lower two storeys of the north, east and west walls of the tower at the north- east angle of inner bailey. It is rectangular in plan with a segmental north end. Between the north east tower and basement of the north and west walls of the keep are the lower parts of C13 bastion. The curtain wall is of rubble construction faced with fine ashlar blocks; in places the latter have been removed and the rubble core is visible. The height of the curtain wall varies from between 1.5m to 5.3m. On the south side, for much of the east side and the south part of the west side, it is visible as the low foundations of a stone wall.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 60125)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NZ702176

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 29029
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.everingham.com/family/data2/kilton.html
    http://www.teesarchaeology.com/new/Kilton.html
    http://www.teesarchaeology.com//projects/aerial_photography/gallery/index417.html
    http://www.teesarchaeology.com//projects/aerial_photography/gallery/index247.html
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p51
    Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p80-1
    Jackson, M.J., 1996, Castles of Durham and Cleveland (Carlise) p34-8 [plan]
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p292
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p519
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p216
    Pevsner, N., 1966, The Buildings of England: York; North Riding (London, Penguin) p208
    Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield) p52-6
    Page, Wm (ed), 1923, VCH Yorkshire North Riding Vol2 p327-9
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p288
    Whellan, T., 1857, History and topography of the city of York and the North Riding of Yorkshire (T Whellan and Co) Vol2 p776
    Young, G., 1817, History of Whitby and the Vicinity Vol2 p729-30
• Journal Articles
  • 1987, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Medieval Section Vol16 p3-7
    Youngs, S.M., Clark, J. and Barry, T.B., 1987, ‘Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1986' Medieval Archaeology Vol31 p119 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Brotton, 1986, 'Kilton Castle' in ‘Yorkshire Archaeological Register: 1985' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol58 p203
    Aberg, A., 1979, ‘A bronze, eagle-shaped spout from Kilton Castle. Cleveland' Antiquaries Journal 59 p411-12, 424
    Thorp, F., 1976, ‘The Yorkshire Archaeological Register: 1975' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol48 p8
    (Aberg), 1975, Medieval Archaeology Vol19 p241 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    1(Aberg), 974, Medieval Archaeology Vol18 p197 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    (Aberg), 1973, Medieval Archaeology Vol17 p165 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    (Aberg), 1972, Medieval Archaeology Vol16 p184 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    (Aberg), 1971, Medieval Archaeology Vol15 p149 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Aberg, A., 1969, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol42 p243 [slight]
    (Aberg), 1969, Medieval Archaeology Vol13 p261-3 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    (Aberg), 1968, Medieval Archaeology Vol12 p181 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    (Aberg), 1967, Medieval Archaeology Vol11 p288 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    (Aberg), 1966, Medieval Archaeology Vol10 p192 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    I'Anson, W.M., 1913, 'The castles of the North Riding' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol22 p361
    I'Anson, W.M., 1913, 'Kilton Castle' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol22 p55-126
• 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] p483-4
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/yorkseng.html#yorks44]