Description and History of Site:-

A 150m-long narrow belt of shallow hills and hollows workings dug into Yoredale Sandstone strata. In places small exposed sandstone outcrops bear signs of tooling but most of the site is grassed over. Aerial views highlight the way in which the overall quarried ground was worked in a series of discrete 'bays', each surrounded by what appear as low banks but are in reality unquarried ground. It is possible (just possible) that the bays were worked by different teams of stone getters.A covenant (in Norman French) between Sir Richard le Scrope and John Lewyn, master mason, dated September 1378, details work to be done in building the castle and which party was responsible for sourcing the necessary materials - stone, sand, lime. Lewyn was bound to "get all manner of stones" while Scrope was bound to "find carriage" for the stone. Most of the facing and rubble infill for building the castle was sourced from this ground. Lewyn employed sub-masons and gangs of stone-getters and labourers to rive and roughly shape the stone prior to its being fully dressed nearer the castle site. It was the master mason's duty to identify suitable stone sources. The work took 18 years.

Further Reading and References:-

NYCRO. ZBO. MD1. Bolton Castle 1378. Agreement Sir Richard le Scrope and John Lewyn, 14 September 1378..
S . Moorhouse. 2003. 'The anatomy of the Yorkshire Dales: deciphering the medieval landscape' in T.G. Manby, S . Moorhouse and P. Ottaway (eds). The archaeology of Yorkshire. Leeds: YAS Occasional Paper 3, p. 335.
D. Johnson. 2016. Quarrying in the Yorkshire Pennines. Stroud: Amberley, pp. 10-11.

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Key Words :- bolton castle medieval quarried ground sandstone

Viewing the Site :- Open Access

Address :- Castle Bolton, Askrigg, North Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SE 029 920
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.323571 , Long -1.956917
Local Authority :- Richmondshire District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - North Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Earthworks only
Site Dates :- pre-1348 - unknown
Contributor :- David Johnson - 22 November 2016

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © David Johnson