Upsall Castle is a fourteenth-century ruin, park and manor house in
Upsall, near to
Thirsk, in
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.
History
Some records state that there was a building of some construction on the site of the castle in 1130 and used by
Roger De Mowbray. The earliest extant building on the site is the ruin of a quadrangular
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
, probably begun in 1327 by
Geoffrey Scrope, which was reputedly demolished in the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. His son,
Henry continued the building work. The last mention in records of the castle are in 1660.
Surveys revealed that the part of the southeast tower (Kitchen Tower) remained, as did the foundations for the south and west walls. The north and eastern structures of the old castle now lie beneath ground level. Mason markings are still visible, including the faded arms of the
Scrope family.
The castle, the old Gatehouse located west of the present day Garden Cottage and the remains of the old castle walls are all
listed monuments. This castle was replaced by a manor house, which was rebuilt in the 19th century
and then rebuilt again following destruction by fire in 1918.
The castle was part of the manor of the Scrope family until 1520, when it passed to Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas Scrope, wife of Sir Ralph Fitz Randolph. It then passed again via his daughter, Agnes, to her son Christopher Wyvill, son of Ripon MP,
Sir Marmaduke Wyvill. After this it passed to the Crown in 1577, before coming into the hands of the Constable family. They held it until 1768 when it was purchased briefly by William Chapman who sold it the Turton family.
In August 1609,
Stephen Proctor and Timothy Whittingham captured three priests, including John Mush and
Matthew Flathers in the castle vaults. The third priest escaped.
Legends
John Constable, who resided at the castle in 1610, was a supporter of the Royal cause during the Civil War. The 19th-century writers William Grainge and John Gilbert Baker noted that he reportedly left a curse on any owner of Upsall who should prove disloyal to his king and country. The writers also recounted a folklore story of a man who dug under a bush at Upsall Castle, finding a pot of gold; later on, a stranger revealed to him that there was another pot of gold buried under the first, which he then dug up as well.
References
External links
{{Castles in North Yorkshire
Castles in North Yorkshire