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STARBOROUGH CASTLE

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A quadrangular castle situated within a sandstone valley on the southern side of the River Eden. The castle buildings, which were constructed upon a roughly square, artificial island of 0.8 hectares, survive mainly in the form of buried foundations and associated archaeological remains. Documentary evidence suggest that the castle buildings were faced with sandstone ashlar and ranged around a central courtyard. The outer defences included a high curtain wall. Surrounding the island is a water-filled, roughly square moat up to 25 metres wide. The moat walling is Listed Grade II*. Most of the original castle buildings have been dated to 1341, when the then owner, Lord Cobham, was granted a licence to crenellate. The monument is recorded as one of the places of captivity of the Duke of Orleans after the battle of Agincourt in 1415. The castle was dismantled by order of the Parliamentary government in 1648, when it was feared that it could be used as a focus for Royalist resistance. During the 18th century the monument was remodelled and reused as an ornamental landscape feature, forming part of the grounds of the adjacent country house. The level of the central island was raised and landscaped, and in 1754, the then owner, Sir James Burrow, built a Gothic style garden house of dressed sandstone within its north eastern corner. This building is Listed Grade II*. The building material included some reused medieval masonry originating from the earlier castle buildings. The moat, island and garden house underwent renovation during the 1980s and now form part of a separate residence.

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Further information about monuments may be obtained by contacting NMR Enquiry and Research Services , through the English Heritage website.