Reasons for Designation
Manor houses were residences of the seigniorial classes and the focal point of
the manor, an estate held by a lord who had certain rights of jurisdiction
over his tenants exercised through a manor court. During the 13th and 14th
centuries, many manor houses were provided with an encircling ditch, or moat,
which served as a status symbol rather than a practical military defence.
However, outside central and eastern parts of England, where moat building was
most prevalent, many manor houses remained unenclosed by substantial ditches
and, since they lack the distinctive earthworks of moated sites, unenclosed
manor houses are less easily recognised. Those examples which have been
identified often include high status houses built of stone or brick and
accompanied by specialist agricultural buildings such as drying or malting
kilns, wind or watermills. Manor houses were built throughout the medieval
period and are widely scattered throughout England; like moated sites, they
are a significant class of medieval monument and are important for the
understanding of the distribution of wealth and status in the countryside.
At Kildale, small scale excavation has revealed that the stone foundations of
the manor house and associated buildings survive, while further medieval
structures still remain below ground. The history of the manorial holding is
reasonably well documented and there is evidence that the integrity of the
manorial estate has been maintained, from the Middle Ages to the present. The
manor may have had its origins in a Danish settlement centred on the nearby
church.
Details
The monument includes a medieval manor house complex which lies to the west of
St Cuthbert's Church, 400m north west of Kildale village. The manor house is
situated in the bottom of the dale on a natural knoll close to the south bank
of the River Leven. A deep cutting containing the Whitby to Middlesborough
railway line now runs at the southern edge of the knoll.
The knoll is oval in plan, measuring 90m long by 60m wide, and rises up to 7m
from the bottom of a natural depression which appears to form a 'moat' around
it. Partial excavation of the eastern end of the knoll in the 1960s revealed
the foundations of a substantial stone building, measuring 14m long by 8m
wide, which included a malting kiln. Also recorded were stone and timber
reveted ditches at the foot of the hill, fragments of a Saxon cross, stone
troughs and medieval pottery. Some of the stone foundations are still visible
on the top and at the eastern edge of the hill. Further buried remains will
survive beneath the 19th century houses which occupy the southern part of the
knoll and also on the western part, although this has been altered by arable
cultivation. The surrounding depression is deepest at the north east, where
the ground falls towards the River Leven, and a 4m wide ditch was excavated in
this area. At least two rectangular building platforms, between 15 and 20m
across, are visible at the foot of the scarp on the north side of the
depression. Along the north edge of the site, about 30m from the top of the
knoll, a wall of limestone blocks bedded in clay lies beneath the present
hedge; it is the foundation of a boundary predating the hedge; a 20m stretch
of dry stone walling at the eastern end is modern. The adjacent church also
stands on higher ground and, to the east of the manor house site, the
depression has a more artificial appearance, forming a broad ditch 20m wide
and about 3m deep. To the west of the knoll, the depression is shallower,
broader, generally less distinct and is not thought to retain much
accumulation of archaeological deposits. To the south the depression has been
destroyed by the railway cutting.
The presence of Viking settlement in the vicinity is attested by the discovery
of Danish burials during the rebuilding of the church in 1868. At Domesday,
Kildale was in the hands of the king but very soon afterwards it came into the
possession of Robert de Brus, the seat of whose power lay at the nearby
fortress at Castleton. For many generations the manor was held by the Percys
of Kildale. By 1508 the manor had been sold to the Earls of Northumberland
who held it in their turn until the reign of Charles I. A 17th century map of
the manor clearly shows the manor house to the west of the church and,
although the original house was superseded by the nearby Kildale Hall in the
19th century, the boundaries of the estate have remained largely unaltered.
Although previously identified as the site of a Norman castle, there is no
evidence that the manor house was fortified.
The houses (Church House Farmhouse and Church House Cottage, Listed Grade II)
and outbuildings, fences, metalled surfaces, drive and paths, and modern
boundary walls are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath
them is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
