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| Dugdale in the
17th century records that there were still remains visible of Studley Castle, a Norman
creation. By Dugdale's time, timbered houses (letter B) occupied the site and these are still there. It had always been obvious that the Castle was a moated site: the moat (letter C) is most visible by the side of the lane but much of the remainder has become filled in over the centuries. A few years ago a trench was dug across the moat next to the lane and into the bank. |
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| The only objects of any interest were in the lowest level, viz, small shards of coarse pottery dating from the early 12th century. The main point of interest was a second ditch (letter D), which we may suppose to have been concentric with moat C and to have surrounded the castle in similar fashion. The concentric moats may have been dry ditches but, whether dry or wet, the defensive pattern seems to have been a serious attempt to aid the defenders rather than a social requirement: in the last issue the same was thought to be true of Wyke moat. | |
The shaded area (letter A) opposite the castle and church once contained a public house and probably a few cottages. This was the nub of the original Studley, a small hamlet with several dispersed small groups of cottages to the east.
The area around the church (letter E) is not a deserted mediaeval village, for it only became as it is today in the 19th century and may have become depopulated over a long period as the present Studley grew up.
It is obvious that the large mansion to the east of this site which once served as a horticultural and agricultural college for ladies is wrongly styled 'Studley Castle' :- this was a conceit of the man who built it. Studley Castle proper is the site discussed above.