It appears from the historic record that the village of Hickleton once had a castle and however unlikely this may seem for such a small village community, one has to look at the overall picture of Yorkshire and indeed the Norman Conquest during the first one hundred years, for it to begin to make any sense. Backing this poorly documented historic castle is the equally imperfect evidence, consisting in total of one place-name and a scrap of paper dating from the seventeenth century.
The book published in 2001 is entitled ‘Hickleton Castle: A Desktop Study’ by John A Dabell, number two in the Hickleton Parish Series, published by the Hickleton Heritage Trust, with all profits going to Hickleton’s Heritage to ensure the continuity of such an historic and ecclesiastically important village.
The book measures approximately 15 cm by 21 cm and consists of 52 packed pages, five photographs and seven illustrations. It is printed in black and white to keep down cost. It consists of five chapters, the first, gives an overview of the book, the second, introducing the subject of castles, the third, discusses the provenance of the sketch of the castle attributed to Roger Dodsworth in 1625, the fourth, gives a conjectural interpretation of this important historic evidence, while the fifth tries to date the lost structure and suggests several dates and people between 1066 and 1134 for the building of this motte and bailey castle. Another local historian had interpreted this evidence as a Roman fort!
To order a copy or make an enquiry please e-mail the author at johndabell@freenetname.co.uk the price is only £3.00 plus 80p postage & packing.
