Norton Tower

Description

Norton Tower from the air MYD3933 (c) YDNPA, 2023

The ruins of Norton Tower stand on the strongest point of a natural ridge, and are flanked on the east side by a slight bank and ditch. The Tower was probably built by Richard Norton of Rylstone Hall around 1540. Legend has it that it was used to house watchers after a dispute with the Cliffords of Skipton Castle over hunting rights in Rylstone. It is more likely to have been a guard post for the associated rabbit warren. It may also have been used by its aristocratic owners for banqueting when they were out hunting. The bank and ditch may have formed part of a palisaded enclosure, later walled, that covered the summit of the ridge and was primarily designed for herding deer. The Tower measures 9.5 by 7.5 metres with walls 1.2 metres thick, standing to a maximum height of 5 metres.

Norton Tower features in William Wordsworth’s poem ‘The White Doe of Rylstone’.

Norton Tower MYD3933 (c) YDNPA, 2023

Source:

Hartley, Marie & Ingilby, Joan (1991) The Yorkshire Dales. Otley:Smith Settle

http://pages.britishlibrary.net/bolton.priory/wordswrth.htm – information on the writing of the White Doe of Rylstone