More information : (SE 96909040) Site of (NAT) Manor House (NR)
and supposed site of (NAT) Monastic Cell (NR)
(See illustration card) (1)
"This site is a short distance south from St Peter's (SE 99 SE 51) and east of the Fish Pond. It was pointed out by Mr Turnbull (a).
The monastic cell dated from AD 1088. The date of the old Manor House is not known, but as in Hinderwell's History of Scarborough, 1798, it is stated to be a perfect model of a Monastery, it seems probable that it may have existed in 16th century". (2)
No visible remains. Published survey (25") revised. (3)
William de Percy granted to Serlo, Prior of Whitby (See NZ 91 SW 10), the churches of St Mary (SE 99 SE 52) and St Peter (SE 99 SE 51) at Hackness circa 1091-2 the later being where the Benedictine monks of Whitby 'serve God, die and are buried' during their temporary migration to Hackness at the end of the 11th century. (4 - 7)
Undoubtley some of the monks remained at Hackness after their return to Whitby (circa 1098) (4) and the charter of Henry I contemplates the permanent residence of a few monks here (5) but Hamilton Thompson and Fallow both agree that a conventual 'cell', in the true sense of the word, probably never existed at Hackness. They refer to the distinction between Hackness and the cell at Middlesbrough (NZ 42 SE 13) and conclude that Hackness was no more than an outlying manor or grange, in demense of Whitby. (See also Platt).
A detailed account of the stock in the grange and manor of Hackness, and a note that the grange needed repairs, is mentioned in 1394 (5).
Whitby Abbey held the manor until the Dissolution (1539) having a stud, 'bohovs' and grange here (6). Evidently there were four monks at Hackness at the suppression (4). When the present Hackness Hall (SE 99 SE 49) was nearly completed in 1798, 'the old timber manor-house was doomed to destruction because it impeded the view (6b). (5-8)
The probable earthworks of the medieval grange are visible as an irregular shaped banked enclosure with a `causwayed' trackway on air photographs, centred at SE 9700 9038. The enclosure appears incomplete and the bank is in places accompanied by an outer ditch. The `causewayed¿ trackway leads south-east from the enclosure. It appears to consist of a raised linear earthwork lined on both sides by a parallel ditch. The straight and sharp form of the earthworks may suggest a post medieval date. A potentially natural break of slope appears to continue the line of the causewayed enclosure to the south. A pond mentioned by the above authority (a) is located to the west and is depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey maps. The earthworks appear slight on the 1940s and 1950s RAF photography and are no longer appear extant on the latest 2009 vertical photography.
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