Paull Holme Motte

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Motte)

There are uncertain remains

NamePaull Holme Motte
Alternative NamesPaulholme
Historic CountryYorkshire
Modern AuthorityEast Riding of Yorkshire
1974 AuthorityHumberside
Civil ParishPaull

The hill {Holme Hill} is probably one hundred feet high, a considerable elevation for Holderness, upon which an artificial mound seems to have been raised, in an oval shape, to which tradition has assigned an observatory, for the purpose of communication with Thornton Abbey, in Lincolnshire. (Poulson 1841)

Gatehouse Comments

Both King and Jean le Patourel suggest the existence of a motte, taking Clark and the VCH as sources, although King is tentative. Clark may not have visited the site and may have listed it from correspondence from a person who may not have understood Clarks concept of the 'moated mound'. This appears to be a small mound upon which a trig column has been erected. This does not have the quality of a motte and Poulson's description does not suggest it as such. The earthworks marked on the OS map are gravel pits which, in fact, are rather more extensive than shown on the map. Some other small features may relate to the 2nd World War when this area was laid out as an air raid decoy site. The feature 55m NW of the trig column is a Cold War nuclear fallout Royal Observer Corps Monitoring Post. No mention of a motte is made in Dennison's comprehensive survey of Paull Tower.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceTA183247
Latitude53.7069091796875
Longitude-0.208910003304482
Eastings518320
Northings424870
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 532 (possible)
  • Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5)
  • Armitage and Montgomerie, 1912, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Yorkshire Vol. 2 p. 45
  • Poulson, G., 1841, The History and Antiquities of the Seigniory of Holderness Vol. 2 p. 493 online copy

Journals

  • Clark, G.T., 1880, The Builder Vol. 38 p. 251

Other

  • Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online
  • Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 549 online copy