Doncaster Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Gillot Bar; Hallgate Bar; Sun Bar; Bardike

In the civil parish of Doncaster.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of Doncaster.
1974 county of South Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire West Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: SE574033
Latitude 53.52461° Longitude -1.13254°

Doncaster Town Defences has been described as a certain Urban Defence.

There are no visible remains.

Description

At Doncaster the Normans reoccupied an old Roman site at a strategic crossing point of the river Don. A motte and bailey castle was built over the fort of Danum and the later anglo-saxon burgh. The town itself was laid out over the Roman civilian settlement. Richard I's borough charter confirmed the towns existing privileges in 1194, and a royal charter, which extended the fair from two to three days extended the existing market rights. Burgage plots have been traced along Frenchgate, High Street, St Sepulchre Gate, Baxter Gate and Scott Lane. The street pattern in the centre of the town was largely moulded by the town ditch and the earthen rampart created beside it. In the middle ages water from the Cheswold (the original course of the river Don) flowed along this ditch which was not in-filled until 1734. Four substantial stone gates stood at St Mary's bridge, St Sepulchre Gate, Hall Gate and Sunn Bar, marking the entrances to the town. An enormous market place lay in the south east corner of the town, which lay close to the wharf. The marketplace formed an extension of the churchyard of the original parish church of St Mary Magdalene, which stood on the site now occupied by the Victorian Corn Exchange. The market at Doncaster became nationally famous and served both the traffic from the river, and the traffic from the Great North Road. (PastScape ref. Hey, 1986)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 919253 and others.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 04547/01 and others.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 60
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 60, 179, 268
  Hey, David, 2003, Medieval South Yorkshire (Landmark Publishing) p. 130-35
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 36
  Sneyd, Steve, 1995, The Devil's Logbook Castles and Fortified Sites around South Yorkshire (Hilltop Press) p. 10
  Buckland, P.C., Magilton, J.R. and Hayfield, C., 1989, The Archaeology of Doncaster, The Medieval and Later Town (British Archaeological Reports: British series 202)
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 (plan) online copy
  Hey D., 1986, A regional history of England: Yorkshire from 1000 AD p. 137
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 534
  Ryder, P.F., 1982 (paperback edn 1992), The Medieval Buildings of Yorkshire (Ash Grove Book) p. 141
  Magilton, J.R., 1977, The Doncaster District: An Archaeological Survey (Doncaster) p. 32-6
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 plan p. 62 download/view online
  Hunter, J., 1828, South Yorkshire. The History and Topography of the Deanery of Doncaster in the Diocese and County of York Vol. 1 p. 11
  Miller, E., 1804, The History of Antiquities of Doncaster (Doncaster) p. 40 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  1973, 'The Yorkshire Archaeological Register: 1972' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 45 p. 203
  Buckland, P. and Dolby, M., 1972, 'Doncaster' Current Archaeology Vol. 33 p. 273-7
  1971, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 15 p. 135-6 download copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 524-5
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 35 online copy
  
  See the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.

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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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