Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/105

 Castles at the Latter Part of the Tzuelftli Century. 89 early part of the twelfth century. Its subterranean passages and chambers, of Norman date, are curious. Besides these, Yorkshire contains many other castles connected for the most part with great baronial families, and playing their part in the defence of the country against the Scots. Hare- wood, reputed a Danish seat, was the castle of Robert de Romeli ; Skipton, also built by that family, contains some early parts, and has always been inhabited. Kilton was a castle of Cleveland, as was Castleton, where the Bruces forti- fied a moated mound. Burton was granted by the Conqueror to the same family, having been a seat of Earl Morcar ; Danby was also a Bruce castle, and Skelton Castle, built in 1 140, was the head of their barony. There was also the Archbishop^s castle of Cawood, and Crake, a castle of the Bishops of Dur- ham, said to be mentioned in the seventh century. Baynard was a castle of the Lords Wake of Cottingham ; Leeds Castle .was besieged by Stephen in 1 139 ; Wilton was an early castle of the Bulmers ; Guisborough was founded in 11 20; Sandal Castle, under the walls of which was fought the battle of Wakefield, was a late Warren castle, but the mound and earthworks are on a large scale and old. Yorkshire contained also a considerable number of fortified houses, some of which bore the names of castles, though whether of early date is uncertain ; such were Ryther and Slingsby. There is said to have been a castle at Upsal, and one at Hilderskelf, in the grounds of Castle-Howard. Wressill and Sheriff Hutton in their present forms are very late, but the latter has an early history, and near the parish church are some remarkable earth- works, which it is thought mark the site of an early castle. Yorkshire is rich in earthworks, and especially in moated mounds. Many have already been mentioned as having been incorporated into later castles ; there are others of at least equal age and strength which do not seem ever to have been connected with masonry : such are Mexbrough, Castleton, Wakefield, Levington on the Leven, and others on the Lune. Some of these are known to have been the seats of English Earls and Thanes, and after the Conquest fell into disuse and decay, though at that period they were probably formidable. Lancashire, in the castle-building age, was not recognised as a county, but was divided between the part then included in Yorkshire and the tract between the Mersey and the Ribble. This latter formed the great Barony of Roger of Poitou, a younger son of Earl Roger of Shrewsbury. His castle of Penverdant or Penwortham is named in " Domes- day," and its colossal mound is still called the Castle Hill, but the " caput " of the barony was the Castle of Clitheroe, the