the outer entrance to the barbican, was a platform measuring some 65 feet in length from north-east to south-west, which probably bore a small timber outwork separated from the barbican by a deep ditch.

The outer ward lay to the north-west of the main ward, with which it was connected by means of the smaller of the two barbicans. It is rectangular in form, and was defended by a ditch with scarp and counterscarp banks of varying width. It measures some 300 feet square, and was probably added by Robert de Roos, c. 1200.

HOD, NEAR THIRSK. That the Mowbrays erected a timber castle at Hod, or Hood Grange, near Thirsk, would appear to be proved by an entry in the Close Rolls for 12181; but up to the present the writer has been unable to find the slightest trace of this fortress.

HUTTON CONYERS. History.-This castle owes its origin to Alan Niger, Earl of Richmond, one of the most powerful supporters of King Stephen against the Empress. The Earl took advantage of the terrible anarchy which prevailed during the civil wars to erect, c. 1136, the castle of Hutton Conyers, for the sole purpose

1 The writer is indebted to Mrs. In the Licences to Crenellate (Patent Armitage for the following extract from Rolls, 48 Henry III), permission is the Close Rolls, viz.:- Mandatum est given to John D'Eyvill, in 1257, to Vicecomiti Ebor. quod si castrum de Hod, crenellate La Hode. The writer is quod in parte prostratum et in parte informed by Mr. W. T. Lancaster, F.S.A., exstans est, erectum fuit et firmatum. that a tradition exists to the effect that in feodo de Novo Burgo post guerrain Hode was the headquarters of a notable motam inter Dom. J. regem patrem Dom. band of robbers in the time of Edward II. H. Regis et Barones Angliae, ut dicitur, Rymer tells us that “a noted robber, tunc castrim predictum sine dilatione Sir Gosceline Deyville," who was of good funditus prosterni et dirui faciat (Close family, was the leader of a band of robbers Rolls, i, 366, 1218). There would also in this district in the time of Edward II, appear to be a reference to the castle and that he attacked and rified the in the Mon. Angi., i, 411, viz.:--" Ex Bishop's Palace at Northallerton. He do o Rogerii de Mubrai unam mansuram was finally captured by the Sheriff and ad pontem Fosse in excambium propter hanged at York. Stowe says Sir Hod quam tenet Richardus faber." In Goscelin Deivile and his brother, the Progenies Moubraiorum, Newburgh Robert, with 200 men in the habit of Priory, vi, 320, a document not earlier friars, did many notable robberies ; than the time of Henry VIII, we are told they spoiled the Bishop of Durham's that Roger de Mowbray, son of Nigel palaces, leaving nothing in them but d'Albini, lived at the “castellum de bare walls, for which they were afterHode,” to which place he brought a wards hanged at York." Leland, who lion from the Holy Land! William, son wrote temp. Henry VIII, tells us, in his of Nigel de Moubray, previous to 1222, reference to this district, that Sir is said to have confirmed to Byland Gotselyn Daivil, a partisan of Thomas, all donations in the vill of Angoteby Earl of Lancaster, was finally executed subtus Hode Castrum."

The

for robbery. time existence of a castle at Hode is, 2 Arms:-Chequyor and azure, however, well authenticated by the canton ermine. alove extract from the Close Rolls. 3 See also Catterick and Yafforth.

one

a

of exacting tribute from the inhabitants of the city of Ripon, and of maltreating and extorting ransom from any persons who were unfortunate enough to fall into the clutches of the garrison of the fortress.1 When order was restored in or about 1154, this robber den would share the same fate as befell Yafforth, being dismantled and destroyed by order of Henry II.

Description. The earthworks which mark the site of this castle have been much mutilated, probably when the stronghold was destroyed by Henry II. It was clearly useless, when pulling down one of these "adulterine" fortresses, to destroy only the timber palisading and buildings, for, as we have already seen at Castle Leavington, it would have been a simple matter to restockade them at any time. It is possible the people of Ripon would destroy the earthworks if this were not done by the king. Apparently the castle consisted of a square central platform-after the style of that of Helmsley—defended by outworks and a series of concentric ditches and banks, but the mutilation is so extensive that it is practically impossible to say what was the original design. There would, however, appear to have been two oblong courts on the north and east, and there are traces of an ancient road leading to the entrance at the south-east angle of the eastern enclosure.

KILDALE. History.—At the time of the Survey,3 Kildale was in the king's hands, but very shortly afterwards4 it came into the possession of Robert de Brus, whose caput was probably then the neighbouring fortress of Castleton. At a comparatively early date, certainly as early as the reign of Henry 1,5 this manor, with other property in Cleveland, was subinfeuded by Robert de Brus to a certain Ernald de Percy, and a castle

I.

, John of Hexham in Symeon of escaped the terrible devastation wrought Durham, Rolls Ser., ii, 308.

by the Normans upon the neighbouring ? We are told (Suger's Gesia Ludovici manors. Regis, ed. Molinier, p. 79) that when, * D.B., fo. 3326, col. Fief of in 1112, Louis VI captured Hugh de

Robert de Brus. In Childale, 6 car. Puiset's castle (Puiset-Eure et Loire),

6 The foundation charter of Guishe not only levelled the earthworks but dug up the wells (efjosis puteis).

borough Priory states that Robert de 3 D.B., fo. 3316, col. 1. Terra Tain

Brus, Agnes, his wife, and Adam, his orum Regis. In Childale habuit Ligulf

3

was probably founded here early in the reign of Stephen. Until the earthworks are examined, it is impossible to say when and to what extent the castle developed into a stone fortress, but that it did so develop is very probable, although one is inclined to think that it eventually evolved more on the lines of a fortified manor - house than on those of a feudal castle. For many generations it was held by the Percies of Kildale, whose names are frequently met with in the Chartulary of the neighbouring priory of Guisborough. John de Percyof Kildale, who died towards the close of the fifteenth century, left four daughters and coheiresses, who sold the property to their relative, Henry, Lord Percy, by deeds executed in 1494, 1502, and 1503. The castle, which was probably then more of a manorhouse than a fortress, was evidently occasionally occupied by the Earls of Northumberland, but seems to have been finally abandoned in the Tudor period.

Description.--The old stronghold of the Percies of Kildale-a purely timber structure at the time of the accession of Henry II

was charmingly situated, immediately to the west of the church (which was in existence long before the castle!), in a narrow, secluded, and beautiful moorland vale, snugly tucked away between the towering heights of Percy Cross and Kempswithen, not far from the source of the river Leven, and some 54 miles east of Stokesley. The motte is very much silted down and defaced, and now measures on the summit some 300 feet in length from east to west by about 200 feet in width from north to south. It is probable that, at some period during its occupation, it has been lowered, as was done at Whorlton. A modern farmstead now occupies the summit, and in part the motte is cut through by the railway. Mrs. Armitage says,

. in a letter to the writer, “An old man whom I met there in 1902 said he had always been told the castle stood on the rising ground west of the church, at the east end of the knoll. He also said there used to be a well there, but that it dried up when the railway cutting was made. There is now a farmhouse and a clump of trees on the knoll. The ground falls all round, probably marking the site of the ditch.” This ditch

1

The Survey informs us that a church existed at Kildale in 1087, and that it was a pre-Conquest church is certain, for when the existing structure was rebuilt in 1868 under the superintendence of Mr. Fowler Jones, replacing a churchwardenised edifice rebuilt in 1714, some interesting Danish interments,

etc., were found, an account of which appears in Canon Atkinson's History of Cleveland, pp. 81-85. Built into the walls of the present porch are four large slabs with floriated crosses, two of which bear the famous five fusils in fess of the Percies.

23

X 31

W. M. I'Anson