Malton Castle
Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Motte), and also as a Certain Masonry Castle
There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains
| Name | Malton Castle |
| Alternative Names | The Lodge; castellum de Maltona; Mealtune |
| Historic Country | Yorkshire |
| Modern Authority | North Yorkshire |
| 1974 Authority | North Yorkshire |
| Civil Parish | Malton |
Site of a castle. In use by 1138 destroyed in 1216 by King John. A Jacobean mansion was built on the site but it was demolished in 1674. Only the lodge and the screen wall now survive and there are no traces of the castle. (PastScape)
St. Leonard's Church stands within a large churchyard adjoining the grounds of the Lodge which border upon the road leading to Pickering and Whitby, at the northern extremity of the town. South of the Lodge is the site of Malton Castle. Malton Castle was erected probably in the early part of the 12th century. It was granted by Henry I to Eustace son of John, that 'oneeyed, wicked traitor,' who, after having long secretly favoured King David, in 1138 marched with the Scots into Yorkshire, planning to deliver Malton into their hands. After the Scottish defeat at the battle of the Standard Malton was destroyed and its castle was besieged by the king's men in revenge for the burning of several villages by its garrison during the war. After a truce of eight days, however, the siege was abandoned. It was probably at this castle that Richard I and the King of Scotland held an interview in 1194, and Malton was visited by King John in February 1213 and afterwards by Edward II. A royal grant of the custody of the castle was made in 1317 to John de Mowbray, but 'certain ill disposed persons' occupied the castle and refused to admit him. In 1322, after the hasty flight of Edward from Byland Abbey and the defeat of the royal army, Malton fell into the hands of Robert de Brus and formed a centre for Scottish depredations on the surrounding country. Brus probably stayed at the castle, but wrecked it before his retreat northwards at the end of October. Leland spoke of the castle as a ruin, but it was besieged in the Civil War, though this time its garrison was for the king. In 1643 the member for Malton refused to attend Parliament, but in 1644 Newcastle's forces were defeated here by Sir William Constable, one of the regicides
Of the house built by Ralph Lord Eure in the 17th century only the lodge remains. This has been converted into a modern residence and added to on the east and west, and is now occupied by the Hon. G. N. Dawnay. It is a rectangular Jacobean building two stories in height built of stone, and stands about 50 yards back from, and on the east side of, the Pickering road, on the border of New Malton, the grounds being divided from the roadway by a screen wall of apparently the same date as the building, but so much weathered that all the detail is lost. The principal gateway was placed in the middle of the wall in an axial line with the lodge. It was semicircular, and stood between coupled columns mounted on bases and supporting an entablature; the mouldings and any ornament here and elsewhere have, however, fallen too far into decay to discern the order to which they originally belonged. (VCH)
This site is a scheduled monument protected by law
Not Listed
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | SE790716 |
| Latitude | 54.1355514526367 |
| Longitude | -0.792909979820251 |
| Eastings | 479000 |
| Northings | 471600 |
