Mulgrave Castle (Old)

Overview

Old Mulgrave Castle is the second of three structures that share the name Mulgrave Castle on the Mulgrave Estate near Lythe and Sandsend on the North Yorkshire coast. This “old” or “Norman” castle was built on a narrow ridge between Sandsend Beck and East Row Beck, about 700 metres east of an earlier motte‑and‑bailey fort known as Foss Castle. While a later stately home now stands elsewhere on the estate, the ruined medieval fortress remains an important historic monument and a picturesque element in the landscaped grounds.

Early history

The barony of Mulgrave was granted to Nigel Fossard after the Norman Conquest. Records in the Domesday Book show that Fossard held 114 manors in Yorkshire and became a tenant‑in‑chief of the king. He or his immediate heirs are thought to have constructed the second castle on the ridge. The main approach was from the west through a gate flanked by two stone towers; moats cut into the ridge protected the east, and a drawbridge controlled entry. The uneven ground caused sections of the curtain wall to bulge outward, so buttresses had to be added. Some of the bricks re‑used in the fabric were Roman, hinting that older materials were incorporated.

Construction and layout

Mulgrave’s enclosure castle was probably begun around 1200 by Robert de Turnham, who had gained the barony through his marriage to Joan Fossard. The fortress occupied the entire width of the ridge and combined defensive and domestic features. A deep moat ranging from 5–14 m wide surrounded much of the site, and access along the ridge followed a hollow way around 100 metres long. The gatehouse had two projecting towers and opened into a courtyard containing a square keep with four corner towers; these towers are thought to have stood around 5 m high. Thick curtain walls linked the gatehouse to the keep and were later strengthened with buttresses. The keep contained living apartments on its upper floors and a great hall, while stores and service rooms occupied the lower levels. According to Atlas Obscura, a drawbridge spanned the dry moats and the three‑storey keep dominated the oval platform.

Ownership and decline

The Mulgrave barony passed through several families. Robert de Turnham’s daughter Isabel married Peter de Mauley, a Poitevin knight who, according to chroniclers, was rewarded with the barony by King John for assisting in the murder of the king’s nephew, Prince Arthur. The de Mauley family held the castle until the late 14th century; Peter III de Mauley was summoned to Parliament in 1296, signalling the family’s elevated status. Through later marriages the property passed to Sir John Bigot and then to the Radcliffe family, and in 1625 it came into the hands of Edmund, Lord Sheffield, later Earl of Mulgrave. Evidence from architectural features such as mullioned windows suggests that occupants continued to repair and adapt the castle into the 16th century, but by the early 14th century written sources described it as ruinous.
During the English Civil War the castle was garrisoned by royalists. After its capture Parliament ordered it to be demolished in 1647; fallen bricks indicate that gunpowder may have been used in its destruction. By the 17th century the ruins were no longer defensible, although a hunting lodge was briefly created there in 1626.

Romanticisation and later history

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the Earl of Mulgrave and his successors reimagined the decaying fortress as a picturesque garden feature. Landscape designer Humphry Repton visited in 1792 and recommended that the fragments should be turned into an “eye‑catcher” within the designed parkland. Following his advice, parts of the gatehouse towers and sections of the keep were rebuilt using fallen stones. Nineteenth‑century visitors were permitted to picnic by the “Old Castle,” which became an “interesting and somewhat extensive ruin” described as a romantic remnant of a genuine medieval fortress. A postcard from 1926 shows the embellished ruins, which have since been stabilised.

Present condition and access

Today Old Mulgrave Castle survives as a romantic ruin within Mulgrave Woods. Sections of the curtain walls, buttressed gatehouse and the square keep with its corner towers still stand to a height of about five metres. Mature trees now screen long‑distance views, but visitors can appreciate the blend of medieval masonry and later rebuilds. The current Marquess and Marchioness of Normanby allow public access: the woods and ruins are open on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays except in May. The wider estate remains private, though the gardens of the present Mulgrave Castle occasionally open for charity events. Recent conservation work in the 1990s stabilised the masonry and ensured the ruin’s survival.