Whorlton Castle

Whorlton Castle stands on a ridge between Faceby and Swainby in North Yorkshire, overlooking a valley where the road from Thirsk to Stokesley once ran. Built in the early 12th century as a Norman motte-and-bailey, it was one of the few to remain in use through the Middle Ages and into the 17th century. The castle passed through the de Meynell family, then the Darcys, and later the Strangeways and Lennoxes. By the mid-14th century it had been rebuilt with a new keep and gatehouse, though no curtain wall has ever been found. The gatehouse survives as a three-storey shell of sandstone, its walls up to eight and a half metres high. Carved shields above the main entrance show the arms of Darcy, Meynell and Gray, recording marriages that shaped the castle’s history. Grooves for wooden portcullises are still visible, and the vaulted passage inside once led to guardrooms and a great hall. A spiral staircase on the outside once gave access to the upper floors, though only the stonework remains. Beyond the gatehouse, fragments of vaulted cellars mark the site of the earlier Norman keep. The largest cellar measures nine metres by four and may be the oldest part of the castle. The dry ditch that once surrounded the motte is still partly visible, though part was lost to a modern road. The gatehouse itself leans under the weight of centuries, its roofline still showing where a later house once stood against its northwest wall.