Skelton Castle, Grade I listed country house in Skelton-in-Cleveland, England
Skelton Castle is a country house in the village of Skelton-in-Cleveland in North Yorkshire, England, built on the foundations of a medieval castle. The two-storey sandstone building has a five-bay front face and is listed as a Grade I protected structure.
Robert de Brus built a fortified castle on this site in 1140, with towers and a moat, which served as the family's seat of power. Centuries later the medieval structure was replaced by the current house, though parts of the original fabric were worked into the new building.
Skelton Castle was once a meeting place for a group of writers and thinkers known as the Demoniacks, which included Laurence Sterne, the author of Tristram Shandy. Visitors walking along the surrounding lanes can still sense the kind of rural seclusion that drew creative minds to the place.
The property is a private residence and is not open to the public in general. The exterior can be seen from the surrounding lanes without entering the grounds.
A stone doorway that opens onto nothing stands somewhere on the grounds, rescued from the ruins of Gillingwood Hall after it burned down in 1750. This fragment is all that physically remains of another estate that once stood nearby.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
