Low Dinsdale Howe Hill

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Motte)

There are no visible remains

NameLow Dinsdale Howe Hill
Alternative Names
Historic CountryYorkshire
Modern AuthorityNorth Yorkshire
1974 AuthorityNorth Yorkshire
Civil ParishOver Dinsdale

Butler suggests a low mound here is a potential early castle site designed to control the river crossing of the old Roman road into the honour of Richmond. He writes it as being at Low Dinsdale but his map places it in the other (Yorkshire) side of the River Tees in Over Dinsdale.

Gatehouse Comments

Howe Hill place name on map but no mound marked and nothing in PastScape. Not the manorial centre. Butler suggested a number of possible small sites, associated with Roman roads, on the boundary of the Honour of Richmond which attributed to the conquest and consolidation period of the newly formed lordship. In fact most of these sites do not appear to have medieval use and his argument about the way Norman authority was established in Richmondshire is probably incorrect. The suggestion that some early castle were built to control river crossings is made elsewhere (notably by Mary Higham for North Lancashire) but the actual evidence is often weak, certainly for England. This may suggest such sites were early, flimsy and soon abandoned or that the theory is flawed. However, few such sites have been thoroughly investigated.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceNZ355108
Latitude54.4922790527344
Longitude-1.45244002342224
Eastings435500
Northings510800
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Journals

  • Butler, Lawrence, 1994, 'The Origins of the Honour of Richmond and its Castles' Château Gaillard Vol. 16 p. 69-80 (Reprinted in Liddiard, Robert, (ed), 2003, Anglo-Norman Castles p. 91-103 (Woodbridge: Boydell Press))