KIRKOSWALD CASTLE

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DESCRIPTION

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The ruins of an irregular Northern quadrangular castle, with remains of three towers. The visible building remains were constructed in about 1320 on an earlier Norman motte and bailey castle destroyed by the Scots in 1314. It was enlarged in about 1485 and dismantled between 1610 and 1688. The earthwork remains are still visible. The moat is still extant and water-filled. It is made from large blocks of Penrith red sandstone ashlar on chamfered plinth.

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MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

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(NY 5595 4100) Kirkoswald Castle (GT) (Remains of) (TI)
(NY 5594 4102) Tower (GT) (1)

Kirkoswald Castle was rebuilt circa 1320 on the site of a Norman castle destroyed by the Scots in 1314. It was enlarged circa 1485, and dismantled between 1610 and 1688. (2)

The remains consist of the two South towers and the Staircase tower of the great hall, the whole enclosed by a rectangular moat.
Scheduled. (3)

The square projection to the north-west may indicate the outline of a former motte and bailey layout. (4)

Remains of the castle, apart from those previously noted (see photographs) consist of amorphous turf-covered mounds of collapsed masonry from which no coherent ground plan can be recovered. The moat is largely overgrown but is still partially water-filled. It is reasonable to assume that it is an extension of the small complex in the NW corner, where a flat-topped mound some 12m square and 1.8m high surrounded by a ditch probably represents a truncated motte. A similar inset in the moat at the SE corner is conditioned by the topography.
Published survey (25") revised. (5)

Listed by Cathcart King as an irregular Northern quadrangular castle (6)

NY 5593 4100. The standing and earthwork remains of Kirkoswald Castle, a medieval enclosure castle with a surrounding moat. The standing fabric includes the north western corner turret of the north eastern tower with small fragments of the adjoining curtain wall, great hall and north east tower. The south eastern tower survives to first floor level and part of the ground floor of the south western tower remains, though much of the south wall has fallen into the moat in recent years. The north eastern tower, the great hall, the curtain wall to the east and west and the guard chambers flanking a gateway in the western curtain wall are all represented by earthwork remains. The castle stands on a moated island, the north western corner of which has been made into a separate island by the cutting of an L shaped ditch which connects the north and west moat arms. The moat measures between 9 and 12 metres wide and is crossed by a bridge near the south eastern corner. An outer bank flanks the northern and western moat arms. Scheduled. (7,8)

Listed with plan and photographs. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" (Prov) 1956

( 2) Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society

(J F Curwen) 13 - 1913 Page(s)150-53

( 3) Scheduled Monument Notification

AMs England and Wales 1961 (MOW) Page(s)30

( 4) by Derek Renn 1973 Norman castles in Britain

Page(s)218

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 BHP 09-JUN-72

(6) by David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery

1 - 1983 Page(s)87-8

(7) Scheduled Monument Notification

EH Scheduling revised, 09-MAY-2001

(8) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

Eden, 27-12-1967

(9) Denis R Perriam and John Robinson 1998 The medieval fortified buildings of Cumbria : an illustrated gazetteer and research guide

Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society extra series vol.29 Page(s)124

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