Low Catton Manor House

Has been described as a Possible Fortified Manor House

There are no visible remains

NameLow Catton Manor House
Alternative Names
Historic CountryYorkshire
Modern AuthorityEast Riding of Yorkshire
1974 AuthorityHumberside
Civil ParishCatton

SE 704539. The north and south arms of a three-sided moat (Type A4), with River Derwent below, situated beside the church at Low Catton."Percy ing. post mortem of 1258 gives three fossata and fishery in Derwent beneath court".

Nothing visible on RAF air photographs (Le Patourel 1973).

The Manor-house, which stood immediately south of the church at Low Catton, was apparently moated in 1258-9. It was mentioned in 1315 and 1352, but in 1577 it was described as "so utterly ruinated .... that it hardly can be judged where it hath stood". There is no later mention of a manor house but some traces of earthworks remain (VCH 1976).

SE 70485396. In the graveyard about 27.0m parallel to the south wall of the church at Low Catton is a shallow ill-defined depression (about 30.0m long, 12.0m wide and 0.4m maximum depth) too poor to warrent survey.

It may possibly be the remains of part of the moat but it is more probably the site of a continuation of the approach road to the church from the east.

The area south of this covering Hall Garth down to Wath Lane is level ground used either for gardens or farmyard and there is no trace of any earthworks visible (F1 ISS 02-APR-79).

Gatehouse Comments

The form of this Percy manor house is not known. Patourel seems to have assumed that the three fossata mentioned in 1258 were three arms of a moat (the fourth side being the River Derwent?) around the house. By analogue this is a reasonable assumption. The function of these fossata may have been defensive, flood defence, pisciculture or some combination of all of these. There was a deer park at Catton which suggests the house at Low Catton was a Percy residence, although a minor one and presumably abandoned after the construction of Wressle Castle in c. 1380. As a Percy house one might expect some expression of martial nobility in even such a minor house.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSE704539
Latitude53.9763793945313
Longitude-0.928099989891052
Eastings470400
Northings453900
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Allison, K.J. (ed), 1976, VCH Yorkshire: East Riding Vol. 3 p. 151 online transcription
  • Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5) p. 111 no. 5

Primary Sources