Marmion Tower (North York Moors)
A 15th century gatehouse which belonged to the now vanished manor house formerly home to the Marmion family.
Introduction
The fine 15th-century gatehouse of a vanished riverside manor house, with a beautiful oriel window. The monuments of the manor's Marmion family owners grace the adjacent church. The original house was fortified.
Open
21 Mar-30 Sep 10am-6pm Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, & Sun.
1-31 Oct 10am-5pm Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, & Sun.
1 Nov-31 Mar 10am-4pm Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, & Sun
History to the present day
The Marmion Tower is considered quite unique. The three story gate house except on the lower parts of the north and south walls is faced with wrought stone, and the gateway is roofed with a barrel vault of stone, higher at the east end to allow for the inward opening of the pair of doors which are hung in the outer archway. It was included in John Leland's (the librarian to Henry VIII) book of England's antiquities after he visited West Tanfield in 1530, and found 'a fair tourid gateway and haute of squarid stone'.
The three-storey tower is thought to be quite a mystery as the castle, which it once guarded, has disappeared without trace - 'lost' according to English Heritage, and the tower has none of the normal features of a fortified gatehouse. Such as grooves for a portcullis or cross- shape slits in the walls through which archers could take aim.
But it does have an elegant oriel window looking out to the east.
Whatever glass it ever held went long ago. But most of the walls have stood the test of time. They were built during the century in which the Magna Carta was signed.
