Kilton Castle: A Ruined Medieval Fortress in England
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- English
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page12 sections
History
Kilton Castle is a ruined medieval castle in England, United Kingdom, built by medieval noble families and rebuilt in local stone around 1190. It overlooks the valley of Kilton Beck near Kilton in the historic North Riding of Yorkshire, now within Redcar and Cleveland. Its unusual elongated design was associated with the decision to construct it without a keep, making it a possible early example of this form in northern England.
Origins and early ownership
After the Norman Conquest, the land around Kilton and Skinningrove was granted to the de Brus family. Kilton village appears in the Domesday Book, the survey of English landholding and resources commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085–86, although the castle stood southeast of the village. Farmsteads may have developed independently around the fortress.
The first castle was probably a timber structure built around 1140 by either the de Brus family or the de Kilton, also called de Kylton, family. Around 1190, it was rebuilt in local sandstone, probably under William de Kilton. Its narrow promontory site and unusual proportions may have encouraged the builders to dispense with a keep, the principal fortified tower of a castle.
Siege and aristocratic succession
Kilton’s position, with steep natural slopes and western ditches, made it difficult to attack. The only practical approach was from the west. Peter de Mauley, an Anglo-Norman nobleman and royal official, besieged the castle in 1215–16, during the reign of King John, but the attack failed. After John’s death in 1216, an agreement was reached between de Mauley and Sir Richard de Alta Ripa, also known as Sir Richard de Autrey, who occupied the castle.
When Richard died in 1222, his 22-year-old widow was married to Sir Robert de Thweng by Sir William de Kylton, the castle’s owner. A dispute followed between de Thweng and local clergy appointed directly from Italy. The central issue was advowson, the legal right to nominate a priest or cleric to a church benefice, and de Thweng appealed to the pope.
By about 1257, the castle had passed to Robert de Thweng’s son, Marmaduke de Thweng. His daughter Lucia, or Lucy, de Thweng was born in March 1279, and both her father and mother died later that year. Around 1285, she inherited the manors of Danby, Brotton, Kirkburn, Skinningrove, and Yarm in Yorkshire, along with Bozeat in Northamptonshire. As an orphan, she remained in the king’s custody, and the Crown controlled the arrangement of her marriage.
In August 1294, Lucia was married against her wishes and those of her family to William de Latimer. The de Latimer family sought influence over the de Thweng castles and estates and challenged the legitimacy of Lucia’s son, born in December 1294. Lucia divorced William in 1305 and returned to Kilton Castle, although the castle may already have been ruinous and she may have lived in the village. She later married Richard de Everingham and Bartholomew Fanacourt, and arranged for her sons not to inherit the de Thweng estates. Ownership of Kilton therefore passed to her uncle, Marmaduke Thweng, 1st Baron Thweng.
Decline and later history
Lucia de Thweng died in January 1347 at the manor house in Kilton. Her funeral took place in the castle’s Chapel of St Peter. After Marmaduke de Thweng III died at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, and William, the second son of Marmaduke Thweng, 1st Baron Thweng, died without an heir, the castle had been bequeathed in 1341 to William’s eldest daughter, Lucia de Lumley.
By 1347, Catherine, William de Thweng’s widow, appears to have been the castle’s only occupant. She used only a few rooms, while the rest of the building was already in ruins. Kilton was described as ruinous during the fourteenth century and was entirely abandoned by the sixteenth.
In 1537, George Lumley was executed for actively taking part in the Pilgrimage of Grace, a major northern uprising of 1536–37 against aspects of Henry VIII’s religious and governmental policies. The Crown then took possession of the remaining castle, and the Lumley barony was attainted, meaning that the Crown confiscated the convicted man’s property and hereditary rights.
Archaeological excavations in the 1960s and 1970s clarified the castle’s plan and identified two circular towers protecting the inner bailey. Kilton Castle is a Grade I listed structure, a designation for buildings or structures of exceptional national architectural or historic interest in England, and the castle site as a whole is a scheduled monument with legal protection for its archaeological remains.
Remains
Kilton Castle occupied a narrow promontory about 300 feet (91 metres) above Kilton Beck. Steep valley sides rose from the water on three sides, while a narrow neck of land connected the western end to the valley. The castle covered about 0.5 acres (0.20 hectares), and its elongated plan measured approximately 300 feet (91 metres) by 60 feet (18 metres). Local orange-brown sandstone formed the principal building material.
Western approach and defences
The western approach followed a narrow road flanked by a deep ditch on each side. The defences included a foss, or ditch, an inner vallum, meaning an earthwork bank, and traces of a barbican gate, a fortified outer gateway. The entrance may have been reached by a drawbridge, although the evidence does not establish this with certainty. The promontory, steep slopes, and defended western neck gave the castle its strong natural and artificial protection.
Courtyards and towers
Internal sequence
From the entrance gate, the castle’s internal arrangement extended eastward through the stables, outer courtyard, cellar, kitchen, barbican, great hall, and inner courtyard. The sequence reflects the elongated shape of the site, with its principal spaces arranged along the narrow promontory.
Stone towers
The footprint included the Stable Tower, North Tower, Apsidal Tower, and North East Tower along the northern and eastern edge. The North Tower was reportedly the highest, rising more than 60 feet (18 metres). Excavation identified two circular towers protecting the inner bailey, and their foundations remain underground. Wall thickness varied across the castle, reaching approximately 5 feet (1.5 metres) in the eastern walls and about 8 feet (2.4 metres) in the dungeon walls.
Chapel and domestic evidence
Chapel of St Peter
The Chapel of St Peter stood within the great hall. Sir William de Kylton built it around 1190, during the stone rebuilding of the castle. Ralph Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, deconsecrated the chapel in 1398. It later retained a funerary association with the site, as Lucia de Thweng’s funeral was held there in 1347.
Well deposits
Charred material and remains recovered from the bottom of the well included cooked bones from seals, geese, swans, chickens, and blackbirds. These remains provide evidence of food consumed at the medieval castle and add a domestic dimension to the surviving masonry and excavated structures.
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