Lazencastle Wood

Has been described as a Rejected Timber Castle (Motte)

There are no visible remains

NameLazencastle Wood
Alternative NamesLasen Castle; Lazon; Glasson Leyson; Laysin
Historic CountryCumberland
Modern AuthorityCumbria
1974 AuthorityCumbria
Civil ParishCarlatton

(Area NY 512532) Lazen Castle (Private 1" W G Collingwood undated). Lazon Castle, shown on the map of Hayton Manor AD 1710, is a steep hill overgrown with trees; it exhibits no traces of foundations or earthworks. Graham suggests that it may have been a castle in name only, that is, a natural vantage point used by the local herdsmen when surprised by Scottish raiders.

Mention is made of Lasen Castle in an AD 1613 description of Carlatton bounds. Colingwood, under mottes, mentions Laxon Castle, with the comment, 'no remains known', he gives Graham as a sub-reference. A small steep-sided hillock at NY 51505338 is the natural site for a vantage point or a defensive work. Recent afforestation, however, precluded any close inspection, but the narrowness of the summit makes it unlikely that a castle ever existed. (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

Supposed possible motte. Rejected by Jackson as natural hill. Record of place name Lasen Castle in 1613. Looks like prominent natural hill on map, not a manorial centre and of little strategic value. Is this site so isolated that one wonders if the name is a corruption of lazar and that it was a place of retreat used by lepers (a term that, in medieval use, meant people with many disfiguring diseases - not just Hansen Disease) although Graham's suggestion of a more general place of retreat in troubled times is a valid one.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNY515533
Latitude54.8728294372559
Longitude-2.75728988647461
Eastings351500
Northings553380
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 163
  • Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carlisle: Carel Press)

Journals

  • Collingwood, W.G., 1923, 'An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Cumberland' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 23 p. 216 online copy
  • Graham, T.H.B., 1920, 'Carlatton' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 20 p. 25 online copy
  • Graham, T.H.B., 1912, 'Extinct Cumberland Castles (Part IV)' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 12 p. 200 online copy
  • Graham, T.H.B., 1907, 'An old Map of Hayton Manor' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 7 p. 43 online copy