Manchester Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Mamecestre; Mainecestr'; Chetham College

In the civil parish of Manchester.
In the historic county of Lancashire.
Modern Authority of Manchester.
1974 county of Greater Manchester.
Medieval County of Lancashire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ839988
Latitude 53.48657° Longitude -2.24409°

Manchester Castle has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a Masonry Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Comments

The manor house of Manchester was the at site now occupied by Chetham Hospital, just North of the church (now Cathedral). This was a naturally defensible situation on a sandstone outcrop at the confluence of the Rivers Irwell and Irk, this would appear to be the most likely situation for the castle mentioned in 1184-7, when in the custody of Robert de Burun, and 1215-16, when held by Robert Gresle. It is not impossible that by the late C12 the castle was of masonry, although there is no masonry of that date on the site. However the site is quite small and can not have been a major building. There is nothing to suggest a motte at the site. There may have been the embankment of a ringwork, at least on the southern side otherwise the site may have defined by a ditch and the natural scarps. The successor manor house on the site is usually described as fortified, and the natural features and ditch would have made it defensible. This house was given to the church in the C15 as a residence for priests for the collegiate church.
There are Castlefield place-names in Manchester but these are somewhat south of above site and refer to Roman remains rather than the medieval castle.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1283015
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1386094.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Chetham's Library
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 101
  Grimsditch, Brian, Nevell, Michael and Nevell, Richard, 2012, Buckton Castle and the Castles of the North West England (University of Salford Archaeological Monograph 2) p. 110
  Hylton, Stuart, 2003, A History of Manchester (Philimore) p. 13
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 36
  Hartwell, Clare, 2001, Buildings of England: Manchester (Penguin) p. 5
  Kidd, Alan, 1996, Manchester (Keele: Keele University Press) p. 13-14
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 249
  Holdsworth, Philip, 1983, 'The Castle' in Morris, Michael, The Archaeology of Greater Manchester Vol. 1: Medieval Manchester (Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit) p. 36-7
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 239
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Tait, J., 1904, Medieval Manchester and the Beginnings of Lancashire (Manchester: University of Manchester History Series 1) p. 138
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 200 online copy
  Taylor, H., 1884, Old Halls of Lancashire and Cheshire p. 31-46 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Norman Redhead, 2016 Sept, 'Manchester's 'lost' medieval castle' Castle Studies Group Bulletin No. 22 p. 6 online copy
  Newman, Caron, 2006, 'Medieval Period Resource Assessment' Archaeology North West Vol. 8 p. 141
  Brown, R. Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' The English Historical Review Vol. 74 p. 249-280 (Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 90-121) view online copy (subscription required)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1913, The Great Roll of the Pipe for the thirty-first year of the reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1184-1185 (Pipe Roll Society Publications 34) p. 11 online copy
  1914, The Great Roll of the Pipe for the thirty-second year of the reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1185-1186 (Pipe Roll Society Publications 36)
  1915, The Great Roll of the Pipe for the thirty-third year of the reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1186-1187 (Pipe Roll Society Publications 37) p. 24 online copy
  Holt, J.C. (ed.), 1964, Pipe Roll 17 John, edited by R.A. Brown , and Praestita Roll 14-18 John, Roll of Summonses 1214, Scutage Roll 16 John (Pipe Roll Society Publications 75)
  Hardy, T.D. (ed), 1835, Rotuli Litterarum Patentium in Turri Londinensi Asservati (1201-16) (Record Commission) p. 165 view online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online

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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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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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