Keld Tute Hill

Has been described as a Possible Timber Castle (Motte)

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains

NameKeld Tute Hill
Alternative Names
Historic CountryYorkshire
Modern AuthorityNorth Yorkshire
1974 AuthorityNorth Yorkshire
Civil ParishMuker

Site of a possible motte consisting of a 20m square top promontory, with a shallow ditch up to 12m wide. It is currently overlain by a modern enclosure. The 1857 Ordnance Survey records the Site of Tute Hill here, and nearby at NY 8927 0107 a building known as 'Starling (?) Castle' is recorded. This site is also in the centre of the medieval settlement of Keld and on an important junction in the transport infrastructure of the Yorkshire Wolds. (PastScape)

"Keld, Kisdon. North bank, south-west of limestone cliff, south of enclosure on hillcrest, with drystone enclosure on site, 20m square top promontory, with shallow ditch evident round north and north-north-east. South-west corner built up to within 1.5m of top and other indications of enclosing bank. Medieval?".

Site listed as a possible medieval motte with the ditch up to 12m wide. A modern enclosure occupies the site. (Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority)

Gatehouse Comments

Area of lead mining and many spoil tips in area. Jackson was unable to find the site although there has been some confusion over map references. Keld was a township in the manor of Mukar, the last significant settlement in Yorkshire on this route into Westmorland. High up Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales it can not have been a wealthy area, although there was hunting (Wild deer and wolves survived in the area in the middle ages), and some lead mining perhaps from the C13. This can not have been the manorial centre for the manor of Mukar. If this was a motte it may have functioned as a toll post on a drover route over the Pennies, although it is difficult to see how the funds raised would have covered the costs of a 'garrison' and site maintenance.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNY893011
Latitude54.4057884216309
Longitude-2.166179895401
Eastings389300
Northings501100
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

No photos available. If you can provide pictures please contact Castlefacts

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.

Calculate Print

Books

  • Jackson, M.J., 2001, Castles of North Yorkshire (Carlisle) p. 34
  • Page, Wm (ed), 1914, VCH Yorkshire: North Riding Vol. 1 p. 236-45 (tenurial history) online copy

Journals

  • Moorhouse, S., 1977, 'The Yorkshire Archaeological Register: 1976' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 49 p. 11