William of Hambletons House, York (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
William Hamilton's House

In the civil parish of York.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of York.
1974 county of North Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire Ainsty & York.

OS Map Grid Reference: SE602522
Latitude 53.96221° Longitude -1.08203°

William of Hambletons House, York has been described as a probable Fortified Town House.

There are no visible remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Comments

Presumably this was William of Hambleton who became Royal chancellor in 1305.
Musson writes 'In 1280 Hamilton was given a house in York which had belonged to the notorious moneylender, Aaron the Jew (d. 1268). From 1285 he was himself engaged in moneylending enterprises (sometimes with his brother Adam), manipulating conveyances of land and realizing considerable profits.' If this was the house licenced then it would have already been defendable but further work to make this a strong house could have occurred.
The licence itself may be seen as a response of some sort to the licence granted to John of Caen for his houses in York in 1298. Certainly it seems unlikely that Hamilton would wait over 20 years before making a banking house defensible so the licence probably does not reflect the date of any actual work done. However, it may be the licence was for a different house as one might expect Aaron's house to be near to the castle and the licence specifies near the churchyard of the cathedral (St Peter's) on the other side of York from the castle. It may be the profits from banking allowed Hamilton to build a grand house, with decorative crennellations, in the liberty of St Peter probably around Goodramgate where houses of leading churchmen seem to have been concentrated.
Given map reference is for St Peter's cathedral.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1017777, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 13280
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Peter Addyman (ed), 2015, British Historic Towns Atlas Volume V: York (Oxbow Books for the Historic Towns & York Archaeological Trusts)
  A. J. Musson, 2004, 'Hamilton, William (d. 1307)' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press) online copy
  Tillott, P.M. (ed), 1961, 'The twelfth and thirteenth centuries: The aspect of the city' VCH VCH Yorkshire: City of York p. 51-4 online transcription
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 404 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Davis, Philip, 2010-11, 'Crenellated town houses in Medieval England' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 24 p. 270-91
  Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 26 p. 69-100 see online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1898, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward I (1301-1307) Vol. 4 p. 19 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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