More information : SE 477808. Balk grange was the property of Byland Abbey granted by Roger de Mowbray in the 12th century. The earthworks lie immediately S of the Bagby road, opposite The Grange Farm. A rectangular banked and ditched enclosure incorporating a smaller enclosure on the NW corner is still visible. The banks are prticularly marked on the E side of the site, away from the stream. (1)
The rectangular enclosure is some 150.0m N-S and 80.0m E-W, sited on level, low-lying ground to the E of Balk Beck.
As described by Auth 1, the eastern perimeter is the best preserved, having a ditch some 1.2m deep, and internal and external banks 0.7m high. The S side has a ditch 0.7m deep and internal bank 0.5m high. The W side has a clear cut ditch 1.0m deep, but little remains of any bank. To the W of this ditch is an area of amorphous hollows about 0.5m-0.8m deep. The N side of the enclosure is not as sharply defined as the other
three, consisting of curving banks 0.5m max height, and vague traces of ditches. Modern farm tracks have also mutilated this area. There appears to be a depression leading from the NE corner towards a small stream which may have supplied water to the perimeter ditch. A similar depression at the SW corner suggests an exit for this water towards Balk Beck.
The smaller enclosure in the NW corner, noted by Authority 1, is visible on APs 2 & (a) but is identifiable on the ground only by a vegetation growth in its "ditch", a depression with a max depth of 0.2m. No definite sites of buildings could be identified. Extant remains suggest this to have been a moated monastic grange.
Surveyed by A/G on 1:2500 MSD. (2) |