Whorlton Castle

The castle was established in the early 12th century at the edge of Castle Bank, a ridge between the villages of Faceby and Swainby, overlooking a small valley through which the road between Thirsk and Stokesley runs. In the 13th century, it was referred to variously as Hwernelton or Potto Castle (the village of Potto is part of the same parish). At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, Whorlton was recorded as belonging to Robert, Count of Mortain, the half-brother of William the Conqueror. It is unclear when exactly the castle was built, but in its first phase, it would have consisted of a wooden fortress on a roughly square motte measuring some 60 m by 50 m. The motte was surrounded by…

The mid-14th century gatehouse is the main surviving relic of Whorlton Castle. It is now a roofless and floorless shell, three storeys high, constructed from sandstone ashlar and built on a rectangular plan with a length and breadth of 17.68 m by 10 m. The height of the surviving walls varies between 8.5 m to about 6 m The walls vary in thickness between 2.3 m to 1.73 m. None of the interior walls or floors have survived. Two large segment-arched entrances are present on either side of the gatehouse, flanked by cross-windows. Each entrance is approximately 3 m wide by 3.3 m high. Above the east (main) entrance is a row of three carved shields in cusped panels. The entrances would originally…