Newburgh Priory, The Mount
Has been described as a Rejected Timber Castle (Motte)
There are earthwork remains
| Name | Newburgh Priory, The Mount |
| Alternative Names | |
| Historic Country | Yorkshire |
| Modern Authority | North Yorkshire |
| 1974 Authority | North Yorkshire |
| Civil Parish | Oulston |
A possible belvedere in the grounds of Newburgh Park, constructed after 1600. Field investigations in 1976 found it to be 30 metres in diameter, 2 metres high. It is completely hollowed out to accommodate what appears to be the cellar of a building. The cellar walls do not exceed the height of the mound, and access into it is provided by a sunken way cut through the north side. Two earthen ramps in the southeast quadrant lead onto the top of the mound. (PastScape)
(SE 5574 7507) "There is an antiquity here ... probably mediaeval and a cellar. It is approximately at this point on the map and your symbol may imply this site (referring to the apparent outline of a building on the OS 6" 1909-50). A mound surrounds it and it may have been originally 'the Mount'. It is, as it were, built into a tumulus and is now half filled with rubbish. The walling is ? dry stone, but there are quantities of plaster, etc. about, though these may be parts of the rubbish. (May possibly be a Castle Mound). (PastScape ref. Annotated Record Map–Corr 6" & MS notes (S V Morris 1953))
'The Mount' is an earthen mound approximately 30m diameter and externally 2m high. it is completely hollowed out to accommodate what appears to be the cellar of a building. The cellar walls do not exceed the height of the mound, and access into it is provided by a sunken way cut through the north side of the latter. Two earthen ramps in the SE quadrant lead onto the top of the mound. It is situated on the southern edge of Newburgh Priory Estate, and is probably the remains of a belevedere associated with the house, which dates as a private dwelling from the Dissolution. (PastScape ref
Field Investigators Comments–F1 RE 20-JUN-74)
Situation: The site lies within a commercial plantation (Mount Plantation), on a natural, oval hill top.
Preservation: If the site is indeed a motte it has been mutilated by conversion to a garden feature; otherwise it is a well-preserved post-medieval earthwork.
Description: The Mount is a circular mound with a base diameter of c. 30m, raised c. 2m above the surrounding ground surface, and characterised by two small earthen ramps adjoining to the south and east of the feature, which lead to its summit. A dry-stone, plastered building (possibly a cellar) is sunk into the mound, accessed from the north via a passage cut through it. Although it has been alleged that the mound is a small motte, it appears rather to be a post-medieval landscape garden feature on the edge of Newburgh Priory Estate. (Creighton 1998)
Not scheduled
Not Listed
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | SE557750 |
| Latitude | 54.1684112548828 |
| Longitude | -1.14769995212555 |
| Eastings | 455740 |
| Northings | 475070 |
