Leconfield Castle

A GRAND DAY OUT

Part 3

Leconfield Castle

Having a purpose to wander round our 'green acres' adds more to the day --especially if it's fine though I've done my hours walking it in the cold and rain.

On our trips it's the unexpected and the follow up that keeps us going. Of course we (Gill and I) are not unique in this but it's the stringing together different pieces of information which brings our local history into focus and sets it sometimes in a national framework. Of course some of this may be known to some reader but some answers might still be buried in resource centres and may take some digging out -- as was the case of Meaux Abbey maps

So on a Sunday (27/8/17) Gill Webster (my long suffering but gallant and friendly associate!) and I took off at 10.30 am on a fine day to explore, the Sanctuary Stones round Beverley (see Part 1 posted on 30/8/17), the deserted medieval village of Ravensthorpe (see Part 2 posted on 2/9/17) and finally Leconfield Castle, reported here as Part 3 of 'A Grand Day Out'.

To set the scene

I'm sorry if this part seems like a history lesson or I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs but it sets the scene for Part 3 of A Grand Day Out.

In medieval England's we find powerful sets of nobles developing. Why? Well, in 1066 Harald Hardrada (the King of Norway) invaded northern England and the new English King, Harold Godwinson had to rush from London to York (at 25 miles a day for 9 days!) to do battle with him. Harald Hardrada was eventually killed on 25th Sept 1066 by Harold Godwinson at Stanford Bridge. Unfortunately for King Harold, Duke William from Normandy in France then landed three days later at Pevensey on the south coast on Sept 28th. Harold had then to chase down to south coast to fight the invader which took a week at 27 miles a day! And we complain about the trains! The ensuing Battle of Hastings took place on the 14th October 1066 and as we know our Anglo-Saxon King Harold was killed and William became known as the Conqueror. He was crowned King William in London on 25th December of the same year.

Many of the indigenous Anglo-Saxon elite were not pleased about the new situation and there was unrest for several years. A primary cause of this was King William of Normandy taking land from the Anglo -Saxons and giving it to trusted Norman friends to hold for him under the Crown in exchange for their loyalty and military support if needed. Making Norman French the lingua franca did not help either! Thus we have foreign nobles in charge of our land and also the Anglo-Saxons who worked on it, A feudal system was born were serfs, vassal and freemen became under the control off a foreign land owner.

These powerful Norman nobles individually held a vast amount of land spread round the country. Very little land remained in the hands of Anglo Saxons. These large parcels of land could be run by the owners, family members or reliable friends. What the King, who owned the land, didn't want was to have some one he'd relied on taking up arms against him. Initially the Norman overlords lived in defendable wooden Manor houses but as their wealth grew stone castles and manors were built. Their workers lived in nearby small villages.

Enter the Percys (Perci)

The appearance of the Percy family name in our day out rather surprised but also delighted us. In our English Literature at school we had come across 'Hotspur' or Henry (Harry) Percy and Northumberland, his father, in Shakespeare's Henry IV (part 1). The Percy family are made reference to many times in the plays of Shakespeare. Ravenspurgh, a long gone town at the end of Spurn Point, is also featured many times in the Bards plays.

William de Percy, a French nobleman, came to England from Normandy in 1067, the year following the Conquers invasion, and was given the Baronetcy of Topcliffe in North Yorkshire. One of his motte and bailey castles (Maidens Bower) stood between the River Swale and Cod Beck (Fig 1 and 2). This was an original Percy seat though the initial main residence was at Spofforth near Harrogate. The Percys eventually moved to Alnwick Castle in Northumbria in 1309. This no doubt helped the King with his Scottish/French problem. The Percy's became very important in England especially in the North though the family wasn't without its ups and downs as the family line was complicated by the occasional lack of a male heir. In passing Wharram Percy our famous local deserted village was called Wharram until it was given to the Percy family. This family is where Leconfield Castle comes into the story as it was one of the family's seats.

Fig 1 An old drawing of the Perci's Motte amd Bailey castle (Maiden Bower) near Topcliffe, North Yorks.

Fig 2 An annotated aerial photo of the Perci's motte and Bailey Castle (Maiden Bower) near Topcliffe, North Yorks.

Leconfield (Lekyngfeld) Castle or Manor House

Leconfield Castle (Grid Ref TA 01254312) is situated about 400 yards south west of the Driffield Road (A164) behind the post office. An easy walk along a public right of way (Fig 3) that at the start appears to go through someones front garden! The path starts about 50 metres north from the post office and on the same side. The walk takes you though fields with a few horses so those who are nervous of them, beware. The track has way markers and stiles and actually takes you round the east side of the site. The castle or manor house appears on the OS map 293 as a rectangular moat. People wishing to go to Ravensthorpe village can carry on following the way markers.

Fig 3 The path to the Leconfield Castle

The nearly square site (Figs 4 & 5) is 120m x 140m surrounded by a dry ditch of variable width and depth. Up to 4 m deep and 3-6 m wide though at one part it is 10m wide or more, Fig 6s. It is or was surrounded by an earth bank apparently exterior to the moat but this has been largely ploughed away. Much of the ditch is obscured by trees. The moat was crossed by causeway across the north side to reach the central platform. The moat is narrow here Fig 7. There are no remains on the site but it is thought that a brick gatehouse existed at the end of the causeway. Whatever other materials were used Beverley was well known for brick making so a brick gate house seems to fit. Down the centre of the inside there is a row of vegetation (Fig 4). We have no explanation for this save it could have been the line of a medieval ditch. To the east of the site the humps and bumps are apparently the remains of strip farming and a fish pond.

Fig 4 An aerial view of the rectangular Leconfield Castle with the fish pond and strip farming to the right.

Fig 5 The west side of the castle plateau. An interior bank can be seen in the distance

There are about 6000 moated sites in England, the central part being used for housing or crop growing or religious buildings. Usually at this time the moat had no defensive significance but acted as a status symbol. One can appreciate status from the size of Leconfield castle, 120 x 140m compared to Hayholme moated site at Leven which was 43 x 34 m -- and eventually given to Meaux Abbey and was used to keep cattle on.

Figs 6 A wider part of the moat on the east side of the site

Fig 7 A view of the moat from the causeway

On Oct 4th 1308 Henricus de Percy (Henry, Lord Percy) was granted a Royal licence by Edward II to ' fortify and crenelate' 'Lekynfield' (Leconfield manor/castle). This allowed him to fortify not only Leconfield but also Spofford (near Harrogate) and Petworth in Sussex. It was Edwards' son (Edward III) who allowed Hull to do this in 1356. To fortify his properties Percy could use 'stone and lime' --i.e. mortar. The King had to be sure of his allegiances to allow crenelation as he wouldn't want trouble from some one with a fortified property! There is no remaining evidence of such fortifications. Indeed the only description of the manor house seems to say that it was wooden and if so was presumably was an early one. There is documented evidence of a mound in one corner which has been surmised as rubble from a site clearance, possibly the gate house

On the south west corner of the site a small ditch joins the moat (Fig 8). At first we thought this ditch was used to fill the moat but as the moat was apparently a dry one then emptying it is more likely. A water filled moat would have the disadvantage of making the area wet and possibly flooding in wet weather. Given the fact that moats seem to have been a status symbol then what was the point of making life more difficult!

Fig 8 A small ditch joins the south west corner of the moat and runs west.

What Gill and I find intriguing is with an atavistic eye we can cast our minds back and imagine the hustle and bustle that occurred at these places. A hustle and bustle as well as joy and sorrow, now long stilled by the passage of time.

I acknowledge the help of Jan Perrin in straitening out 'my Shakespeare' and to her and Gill Webster for discussing other historical aspects of the above as well as proof reading!

Chris Coulson Sept 2017