More information : NZ 2755 393] Low Butterby [GT] Moat [GT]. (1)
Low Butterby - one and a half miles from Croxdale Chapel (NZ 23 NE 4) through Croxdale Wood (NZ 279 387). "The ancient motte, enclosing a square plot of ground about an acre in extent, still remains almost perfect, and the lower walls on its innner side are Medieval; but of the building only a gatehouse of late Elizabethan or Jacobean date, spanning the motte now remains". Ralph de Kernock, prior of Durham (1214-33), granted Roger de Audre a licence to have a chantry in the oratory on his estate Beautrove. (2)
Butterby, formerly Beautrove, is first-noticed when Roger D' Audre
was granted a licence to have a Chapel or a Chantry within his
Oratory which he had built within his manor of Beautrove.
About 1240, the manor passed to the Lumleys and it was probably the occasional residence of this family until 1566 when it passed to the Chaytors. (3)
"Sunderland Bridge - The moat of Butterby manor house remains, together with the ancient gateway. The moat, though now dry, was capable of being filled with 15 feet of water". (4)
The field next to the manor house at Butterby is supposed to be the site of the chapel. Many stone coffins and holy water jugs have been dug up here. (5)
Additional reference. (6)
There is no trace of any Medieval architecture in the actual
farmhouse of Low Butterby other than along the walls on the south-west and south-east sides which form the inner sides of the moat.
The late Elizabethan gatehouse is situated at NZ 2758 3936 and
measures 13 m by 8 m with central rounded archway. The hood-moulded mullioned windows in the south-east side are over a sundial bearing the date 1706, and look south-east along an avenue of trees lining the original entrance road. Stone steps along the north-east side of the archway lead to a first-floor room which may possibly have originally been a chapel, although it contains no architecture of an ecclesiastical nature. Nothing was seen or learnt of the pre-13th century oratory.
The moat is dry and measures approx 8 m wide with an average depth of 3 m. The inner wall is of stone and brick, 3 m high with a plinth course running along the major part of its length. (7)
Gatehouse (NR) Moat (NR). (8)
Low Butterby Farmhouse and Barn, moat walls and bridges, Grade II*
(see list for details). (9)
The site was visited by RCHME during a survey of scheduled
monuments in County Durham.
The gatehouse, which projected forward from the bridge over the moat, now consists only of foundations, partly visible, in the farmyard at the mapped position. The moat itself is extant and appears to be as depicted but under dense undergrowth. The interior area of the moat is under garden and dense scrubby woodland and no earthworks are visible. (10-10a)
NZ 2756 3940. Moated site at Low Butterby Farm. Scheduled RSM No 20960. The island measures 65m NW-SE by 55m NE-SW. The S arm of the moat has been partially infilled. (11)
Low Butterby. Listed as a strong house by Cathcart King. (13)
A medieval moat is visible as earthworks and cropmarks on air photographs. The moat survives as an earthwork on the north and west sides. The southern arm is visible as a cropmark. The moat measures approximately 71m x 65m as is visible from the air photography.
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