23.  A walk from Moorsholm Village to Kilton Caste and a bit of industrial archaeology - Kilton Ironstone Mine

Scenes of Cleveland, North East England

re-edit 27/04/2023

* Index of Cleveland Scenes & Notes *

A root cutter in High Street, Moorsholm Village. All photographs taken in April 2019.

St Mary's Church (built in 1892) and Church Hall, High Street, Moorsholm Village, where we parked to start the walk.

Moorsholm is a small village located in the county of Cleveland, in the north-east of England. The village has a long and varied history, stretching back many centuries.

The name Moorsholm is believed to derive from the Old Norse words for "moor" and "holme", meaning a piece of flat land in a valley. This suggests that the village was originally located in a low-lying area surrounded by moorland.

The area surrounding Moorsholm was first settled during the Bronze Age, around 2000 BC. Archaeological discoveries in the nearby moors have revealed evidence of early settlements and burial sites, including stone circles and cairns.

In the Middle Ages, Moorsholm was part of the wider area known as Cleveland, which was ruled by a series of tribal chiefs and later by the Earl of Northumberland. The village was likely to have been a small farming community, with residents working the land and trading their produce at local markets.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the village began to expand with the development of the local mining industry. Moorsholm was ideally located for access to the mines and a number of small settlements grew up around the village to house the miners and their families.

In the early 20th century, the village continued to grow, with the construction of new houses and amenities such as a school and a village hall. However, like many other mining communities in the area, Moorsholm suffered as the industry began to decline in the latter half of the century.

Today, Moorsholm remains a small, close-knit community, with a population of around 400 people. The village has a number of local amenities, including a post office, a pub, and a village shop. It is also within easy reach of the beautiful North York Moors National Park, which attracts visitors from around the world.

Spout House look's quite old?, Moorsholm Village

The multiple water troughs on the High Street of Moorsholm Village.

You head generally north on footpaths in the general direction of Kilton.

We actually went a bit astray trying to find the location of the castle

We then found some old industrial workings from the mining days of East Cleveland.

The disused buildings are from the Kilton ironstone mine, first worked in 1873 by the Kilton Ironstone Company and closed in 1954.

This is the concrete reinforced winder house built in the 1930s with a 370 bhp electric winder motor.

This building was just being used as a barn by the local farmer.

There were various disused buildings from Kilton ironstone mine and evidence of where railway tracks ran.

Kilton Ironstone mine is located in Cleveland, England, and was opened in the mid-19th century, during the Industrial Revolution. The mine was owned and operated by the Bolckow Vaughan Company, one of the most successful iron-making firms in the region, and played a significant role in the growth of the iron and steel industry in the UK.

The orebody at Kilton consisted of a thick layer of ironstone, or siderite, which was found at a depth of around 150 feet. The mine was worked using underground, or deep, mining techniques, which involved the use of tunnels, shafts, and galleries to access the ore. The miners worked long and hard hours, often in very difficult and dangerous conditions, to extract the ore.

During its peak in the late 19th century, Kilton produced up to 500,000 tons of iron ore per year, which was transported by rail to the Bolckow Vaughan steelworks in Middlesbrough. The ore was then smelted to produce high-quality iron and steel products, such as rails, girders, and structural beams, which were used to build the infrastructure of the expanding British Empire.

The Kilton mine continued to operate until the mid-20th century, when declining demand for iron and steel products led to its closure. Today, the mine site has been abandoned and the buildings, machinery, and equipment have fallen into disrepair. However, the legacy of Kilton Ironstone mine lives on, as a testament to the hard work, dedication, and innovation of the men and women who worked there and helped to shape the modern world.

In the distance you could see the 'man-made' hill of Kilton Mine shale tip. Old ovens of some sort from Kilton ironstone mine?

TOP OF PAGE

The largest section of Kilton Castle wall still standing.

On the right is the remains of one of the medieval round towers, half-collapsed now!

A few corbels can still be seen that would have supported a floor, perhaps of the Great Hall of Kilton Castle.

TOP OF PAGE

We returned south to Moorsholm Village via a few yellow fields of rapeseed oil crops.

Looking back to man-made Kilton Hill

and across the fields (on footpaths!) back to Moorsholm Village

More on Moorsholm (adapted from Wikipedia)

Moorsholm is a village in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England.

The village lies 5 miles (8 km) from Saltburn-by-the-Sea between the North York Moors and the North Sea. Because of its proximity to the North Sea coast the area was vulnerable, historically, to attack by invaders from Scandinavia. The name of Moorsholm is of Viking origin with the suffix holm, which meant a settlement, being affixed to the location of the village by the moors: so meaning settlement by the moors. The village used to be called Great Moorsholm to distinguish it from a farm called Little Moorsholm, which is the other side of the Hagg Beck Valley to the north. 'Little Moorsholm' is a title now more commonly applied to a more modern housing estate between that farm and Lingdale. The settlement was mentioned in the Domesday book as Morehusum, belonging to the Earl of Morton and later Clan Bruce, ancestor to the kings of Scotland, and from them descended to the Thwengs, Lumleys, and others. It was a planned mediaeval village built along a main street with crofts and their associated tofts on each side. The church of St Mary, Moorsholm, was built in 1892 and is of stone in 12th-century style. It consists of chancel, nave and west tower.

Although only a small village Moorsholm has a few sports available, with some ventures having to recruit better players from local teams such as Loftus and Guisborough. Moorsholm Athletic is the village football team. It is for under-15s and is currently in Division 5 in the Teesside Junior Football Alliance (TJFA). In recent years villagers have started their own tournament, pitting the under 30s in the village against the over 30s as an 11-a-side extension of the popular summer 5-a-side fixture. Quoits, bowls and darts are two of their most successful sports.
A cricket team is ever-present in the summer playing on the recreation field. In 2011 the team played in the Langbaurgh Cricket League division 1.

TOP OF PAGE

More on Kilton Castle

Robert, Earl of Mortain and Cornwall (son of conqueror’s mother by Herlewine de Conteville - half brother of William) was granted 215 manors in Yorkshire many in Cleveland.

He sub-infeuded many in Cleveland to Richard de Surdeval.

Mortain then lost possessions due to conspiracy against William 1088 but Surdeval kept his manors as tenant in chief and built Skelton Castle.

Robert de Brus came over in 1091 awarded De Surdeval’s lands granted land round Castleton – built castle.

Robert had 2 sons Robert and Adam. Son Robert founded royal line of Bruce in Scotland. Adam and heirs kept Cleveland lands in family up to 13 cent. with castles at Castle Leavington/Skelton/Castleton

Niel Fozzard, also a sub-feudatory of Mortain raised five castles – Mulgrave, Langthwaite, Birdsall, Lockington and Aughton. Mulgrave passed to Turnhams by marriage.

Percys, also Mortaine sub tenants, received the lands in chief at time of Mortains fall from grace. The Kyltons of Kilton Castle were sub-feudatories of the Percys.

Kilton Castle was the residence of Kyltons followed by the Thwengs, Lucy de Thweng being born there in March 1278–9 ; it afterwards passed into the hands of the Lumleys. It is first mentioned in 1265, when Ralph Prior of Guisborough granted a chantry in the chapel in Kilton Castle to Marmaduke de Thweng. It must have been abandoned as a dwelling place soon afterwards. In 1341 and 1345 the castle is described as small and worthless and the park as “without game”. The castle followed the descent of the manor and is last mentioned in 1696. · In the Middle Ages Mortain in Normandy was the head of an important county (comté),

In or about 1049 Duke William took it from William Warlenc and bestowed it on his half-brother, Robert, thenceforth known as "count of Mortain," whose vast possessions in England after the Conquest (1066) gave name to "the small fees of Mortain," which owed less feudal service than others. Robert was succeeded as count by his son William, Count of Mortain, who rebelled against Henry I, was captured at the battle of Tinchebrai (1106) and forfeited his possessions.

The castle of Kilton occupies a commanding situation on a projecting spur on the west side of Kilton Dale. The sides of the valley at this point are extremely precipitous and so thickly wooded that no distant view of the ruins is possible. The site of the castle on a long and narrow ridge is unusual, and the result is an irregular quadrilateral inclosure some 300 ft. long with an average width of about 60 ft. It is approachable only on the west side by a narrow neck, once defended by a deep ditch still in part discernible. On every other side the ground falls away rapidly from the base of the walls.

Extensive further earthwork defences are said to have existed in a field to the west, but little trace of these is now apparent. The castle is evidently of an early type, and it appears to have become ruinous in the 14th century. Two distinct dates of building are observable in the existing remains; the earlier, distinguished by rubble masonry and a small chamfered plinth course, may perhaps be assigned to the later part of the 12th century, while the later ashlar-faced building belongs to the succeeding period and represents alterations of the early 13th century.

The ground level within the inclosure is considerably higher than outside as at Mulgrave, and the curtain consequently becomes a retaining wall for part of its height, an arrangement that accounts for the ruinous state of most of the outer walls at the present time. The walls are most complete on the north face, where the lower portions of the curtain and towers are but little broken; on the south face only fragments of the rubble core of the walls now exist. The building was apparently divided into two unequal portions by a tower placed on the northern curtain and extending half across the inclosure and forming an inner and outer ward. No trace of the gate-house, which must have stood at the west end, remains, but to the north of it is a large mass of ruin apparently of a building lying east and west, and measuring 64 ft. 9 in. by about 32 ft.

The west and north walls rise to a considerable height, and in the latter are a row of corbels to support the floor above. The angle has a heavily projecting clasping buttress, the interior being cut away to form a small chamber, probably a garderobe. The jamb of a door leading to a similar chamber remains at the first floor level. The whole structure is of the early type of masonry with a plinth course carried round the buttress, but no windows or openings exist in either wall.

Of the south side of this building only foundations remain with a single fragment of the east end. A considerable length of curtain to the south of this building is standing, but it is rubble core only. Some 100 ft. to the east stands the great tower dividing the two wards. It projects somewhat in advance of the northern curtain, which was apparently cut away to receive it.

The wall on the west side indeed appears to be a later insertion, as it is built up against the plinth of the tower. This structure is of 13th-century date with massive ashlar-faced walls 8 ft. 6 in. thick. The existing portion is the basement story only, and is entered by a doorway on the west side, of which the head is gone. The exterior has been almost completely robbed of its facing, which was finished at the base with a deep tabled plinth neatly jointed. The southern half of the tower is now represented by foundations only and appears to have had no basement. From this point to the north-east angle of the fortifications is a distance of rather over 100 ft. The curtain is apparently original, with a segmental bastion (some 14 ft. in diameter) about half-way along, added in the 13th century. Immediately to the east of this is the mouth of a garderobe pit. The north-east angle of the castle is

defended by a large bastion projecting in a northerly direction, which is the best preserved portion of the ruins. The building is rectangular with a segmental north end and is 14 ft. 2 in. across internally. It dates from the 13th century with ashlar-faced walls and a similar plinth to that of the central tower—three courses high and capped with a small moulding. The southern wall of the tower has gone, but the other three sides are more or less complete for the two lower stories.

The ground floor has a small fireplace on the west with boldly moulded corbels, one supporting a stone hood. In the centre of the segmental end is a cruciform loop, and on the east side a deeply splayed singlelight window opening with a plain pointed head. A second window of similar character exists at the first floor level. The later 13th-century work of this tower terminates at a massive buttress on its eastern face, and the few remaining fragments of the curtain standing further south on that side are of the earlier period with a chamfered plinth.

A large mass of rubble core at the south-east angle of the castle probably represents another tower at this point. The curtain on the southern face follows an irregular line, which can be traced for almost its whole course, but with the exception of a fragment of 13th-century plinth about half-way along no facing or worked stone is left in position. The ruins have evidently been much quarried in the past, but within recent years efforts have been made by inconspicuous repairs to preserve the remaining fragments of the castle.

Kilton Castle was probably built by the Kilton family and was the residence of their successors the Thwengs, Lucy de Thweng being born there in March 1278–9 (fn. 6); it afterwards passed into the hands of the Lumleys. (fn. 7)It is first mentioned in 1265, when Ralph Prior of Guisborough granted a chantry in the chapel in Kilton Castle to Marmaduke de Thweng. (fn. 9) It must have been abandoned as a dwellingplace soon afterwards. In 1341 and 1345  the castle is described as small and worthless and the park, which is then first mentioned, as without game. The castle followed the descent of the manor and is last mentioned in 1696.

Kilton Hall lies to the north-west of the castle, and further north is Kilton Mill, which was appurtenant to the manor in 1341, when it was described as broken down.

Cleveland Index

Cleveland North East England docspics images pictures photos © Phil Brown Tourist information, Walks, Holidays, Top tourist attractions in Cleveland, luxury hotels in Cleveland, B&B, holiday cottages in Cleveland, pubs, restaurants, walking holidays, touring coach tours, historic English towns, villages, churches, museums, art galleries, property for sale, Cleveland Shops tourism destinations in Cleveland holidays Cleveland tourist information top tourist attractions best luxury hotels in Cleveland B&B, cafes in Cleveland, eating out in Cleveland restaurants, dining in Cleveland, historic churches, museums, art galleries, Cleveland travel lodges, Cleveland's medieval buildings, Cleveland's modern shopping centres, Cleveland market stalls, properties for sale in Cleveland, renting property in Cleveland, renting a house/flat in Cleveland, estate agents, public transport in Cleveland, churches in Cleveland, cheap train tickets to Cleveland, properties for sale in Middlesbrough Teesside Cleveland, renting property in Middlesbrough Teesside Cleveland, renting a student house/flat in Middlesbrough Teesside Cleveland, estate agents, public transport in Middlesbrough Teesside Cleveland, churches in Middlesbrough Teesside Cleveland, cheap train tickets to Middlesbrough Teesside Cleveland docspics images photos of Moorsholm Village © Phil Brown Tourist information on Moorsholm Village, Walks near Moorsholm Village, Having holidays near Moorsholm Village, England, Top tourist attractions near Moorsholm Village, luxury hotels near Moorsholm Village, self-catering holiday cottages near Moorsholm Village, airbnb air B and B near Moorsholm Village, quality B&B near Moorsholm Village, friendly pubs near Moorsholm Village, cafes near Moorsholm Village, eating out in fine restaurants near Moorsholm Village, weekend breaks near Moorsholm Village, wining & dining weekends near Moorsholm Village, walking holidays around Moorsholm Village, touring coach tours including Moorsholm Village, pretty villages near Moorsholm Village, historic towns and pretty village near Moorsholm Village, museums near Moorsholm Village, local art galleries near Moorsholm Village, guided walks from Moorsholm Village, excellent fell hill walking around Moorsholm Village, rambling near Moorsholm Village, exploring the landscape near Moorsholm Village, good places to eat near Moorsholm Village, tourist attractions near Moorsholm Village, tourist information for places near Moorsholm Village, good places for wining and dining near Moorsholm Village, good walks near Moorsholm Village, properties for sale near Moorsholm Village, renting a flat or house near Moorsholm Village, property for rent near Moorsholm Village, houses for sale near Moorsholm Village, lettings near Moorsholm Village, places to rent near Moorsholm Village, holiday cottage accommodation near Moorsholm Village docspics images photos of Moorsholm Village northern England © Phil Brown Tourist information on Moorsholm Village, Things to do in Moorsholm Village, What to see in Moorsholm Village, guided walks in Moorsholm Village, weekend breaks in Moorsholm Village holidays in Moorsholm Village, Top tourist attractions in Moorsholm Village, luxury hotels in Moorsholm Village, self-catering holiday cottages in Moorsholm Village, airbnb air B and B in Moorsholm Village, B&B in Moorsholm Village, friendly pubs in Moorsholm Village, cafes in Moorsholm Village, eating out in fine restaurants in Moorsholm Village, bargain holiday breaks in Moorsholm Village, wining & dining weekends in Moorsholm Village, touring coach tours visiting Moorsholm Village, pretty areas in Moorsholm Village, historic buildings in Moorsholm Village, visiting museums in Moorsholm Village, local art galleries in Moorsholm Village, guided walks in Moorsholm Village, history of Moorsholm Village, architecture of Moorsholm Village, trains to Moorsholm Village, historic houses in Moorsholm Village, historic churches in Moorsholm Village, information centre in Moorsholm Village, heritage places in Moorsholm Village, good places to eat in Moorsholm Village, top tourist attractions in Moorsholm Village, tourist information for things to do and see in Moorsholm Village, good places to eat out in Moorsholm Village, good places to walk to in Moorsholm Village, tourist attractions properties for sale in Moorsholm Village, renting a flat of house in Moorsholm Village, property for rent in Moorsholm Village, houses for sale in Moorsholm Village, lettings in Moorsholm Village, places to rent in Moorsholm Village, holiday cottage accommodation in Moorsholm Village