C O N T E X T 1 1 7 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 0 21 Charles Hippisley-Cox Tickhill Castle revisited On a recent revisit it was encouraging to see that conservation work carried out on a ruined South Yorkshire castle in the 1980s had stood the test of time. The early 1980s were troublesome times in South Yorkshire. Nestled between coalmining villages, Tickhill seemed an idyllic backwater, complete with duck pond and overgrown medieval castle. The miners’ strike formed a curious context for a programme of repairs with pitched battles with the police at nearby Maltby and views from the castle motte towards the Nottinghamshire pits ignoring the call for strike action. Although never formally open to the public, Tickhill Castle has been in possession of the crown since the middle ages as part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Established as a motte and bailey with timber defences by the De Buisli family, the castle will have had a significant role in the cruel subjugation of the north soon after the Norman Conquest. A stone gatehouse and polygonal keep were added in the 12th century, and the bailey encircled with a thick wall of local magnesian limestone. The proximity of the Great North Road added to the strategic importance of the castle and its use in most of the major medieval conflicts. The castle was slighted after the Civil War but the large house within the bailey built by the Hansby family was allowed to remain. The keep was dismantled down to the plinth and the bailey wall was breeched. Subsequently the castle was leased by the Lumley family, who was probably responsible for the insertion of Georgian windows on the front of the house and the landscaping of the ruins. The Norman gatehouse, complete with crude figurines and diaper ornamentation, also managed to survive. It can be seen from the village duck pond. One suggestion is that some of the stonework for the gatehouse may have been from the church at nearby Dadesley, deserted after the conquest. Tickhill grew adjacent to the new castle. It was not just the mining community facing great changes in the 1980s. The Tory government was making great changes to the civil service.The formation of English Heritage coincided with the restoration work at Tickhill. South Yorkshire County Council, initially responsible for the archaeological oversight, was under threat of abolition at the time. Initial discussions regarding the future of the castle began in 1983 between Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and the Duchy of Lancaster. It was decided that a programme of repairs would be essential, whatever the long-term plans for the castle. English Heritage was brought in to the negotiations. An imaginative scheme was set in place for a locally recruited workforce to be trained by the highly skilled English Heritage team inherited from the old Ministry of Works. Derek Latham Associates was given oversight over the applications for scheduled monument consent. An untrained team of young surveyors was recruited A doorway in the north bailey wall, before and after repair
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