Guisborough
Medieval Town
intro | gallery | reports |
further information
Guisborough lies within a broad valley bounded
to the north by the Eston Hills and to the south
by the North Yorkshire Moors, in the north-east
of England. The name Guisborough is derived from
two elements, a Scandinavian personal name, Gigr,
and the Old English burh meaning defended place.
Map Reference NZ 615 155.
Prehistoric evidence from the area of Guisborough
is slight, however a scatter of Neolithic, Iron
Age and Romano-British pottery was found close
to allotments in the north of Guisborough.
Traditionally it was thought that Guisborough
was a fortified Roman settlement, however an
excavation at the Priory in 1985-6 failed to
find any trace of Roman remains. Further finds
have been made in the immediate area, including
a spectacular bronze gilded parade helmet dating
to the late 3rd century AD which, along with
the discovery of coins and butchered animal bones,
further substantiate the theory that a Roman
settlement existed in the Guisborough area.
The town is first recorded in 1042 AD when land
there was given to the church at Durham. In 1066
AD Guisborough had been a prosperous settlement.
However in 1069 the Normans were driven from
the North and seeking revenge, King William destroyed
the crops, burnt villages and killed people and
animals. In 1119 AD Robert de Brus founded Gisborough
Priory. The priory dominated the settlement physically
and economically, since it owned all the land
in the town.
The early medieval town appears to have originated
along Belmangate, Westgate being a later creation.
Limited excavation has been carried out in the
area of the medieval town at the rear of Westgate
but this did not provide any clear evidence earlier
than the fifteenth century. This however could
be due to a fire in Westgate in 1413, which destroyed
a large number of houses.
Although an initial expansion of the town occurred
in the late twelfth century the town remained
essentially a small market town with some small
scale crafts and industry such as textile manufacture
and brewing. These would have been carried out
in the rear of properties. The market began in
1263 and the market place was thought to have
been originally outside the Priory gates, later
spreading further down Westgate.
After the dissolution of the Priory in 1540,
its lands were purchased by Thomas Chaloner in
1550. The buildings of the Priory were largely
demolished leaving only the east end standing.
A hall was built by the Chaloners fronting onto
Bow Street, with ornamental gardens behind and
in front a court with a fountain at its centre,
from which Fountain Street gets its name. Most
of the stone from the partially demolished Priory
seems to have been reused in further building
in the town.
The discovery of alum in 1606 did not greatly
alter the size of the town and although the alum
industry continued into the eighteenth century,
it never flourished. Some evidence remains of
the industry, in the form of alum burning, at
Belman Bank.
During the English Civil War, (1641-1644), the
town was divided in its loyalties between King
and Parliament. The major events passed the Tees
Valley by. However, on the 16th January 1643
the royalist regiment of Colonel Slingsby was
defeated at Guisborough by Parliamentarian forces
led by Sir Hugh Cholmley. The Colonel was carried
back to Guisborough where he died of his wounds
three days later. He was buried in York Minster
where his memorial can still be seen.
During the post medieval period Guisborough
retained its form of a small market town. The
town lacked a wealthier class of merchants and
the type of housing in Guisborough reflected
this. Small cottage type dwellings with only
a few superior town houses developing around
the Market Place later in the eighteenth century.
The discovery of ironstone in the Eston Hills
in 1850 led to a transformation of the town.
The mining of ironstone was carried out at three
pits; Chaloner to the north-west of the town,
Belmont to the south and Spa Wood to the east.
The industry not only brought an increase in
the population, necessitating the building of
new housing to the north of Westgate, but also
brought the railways. In 1853 the Middlesbrough
and Guisborough Railway was opened and a station
built in Guisborough; subsequently, the rival
Cleveland Railway linked Guisborough to Skelton
and ran along the southern fringes of the Eston
Hills. This closed in 1873 when the North Eastern
railway absorbed both companies. Rail services
were withdrawn from Guisborough in 1964.
intro | gallery | reports | further
information |
