More information : Hatterboard Hill - the reputed site of Hatterburg. No traces of walls or buildings or worked stones. The top of the hill was ploughed in the 1939-'45 war & is still under the plough. There are distinct signs of strip cultivation at the N. end, & there is a slight scatter of 18th-19th cent. pottery.
Examined 6.3.57 by J.G.Rutter. (1)
TA 017887. The deserted medieval village of Hatterboard was located by documentary research, field observation and confirmed by excavation in 1957-59 on the north slope of a low clay hillock, with poor drainage, which rises from about 200 to 250 ft. The village is not mention in Domesday but in 1167, 'Hatterberga' was an established entity large enough to be taxed. A community of Franciscan friars (previously at Scarborough - see TA08NW93) established a church and friary buildings, enclosed by a stone wall, here in 1245 but returned to Scarborough between 1267 and 1272 (see Knowles and Hadcock). There is mention of a "tower" at
Hatterboard belonging to the Earl Edmund (circa 1267) which may have been no more than a hunting lodge and possible administration centre of the Forest of Scalby (see TA 09 SW).
The building was ruinous by 1480 when Richard, Duke of Gloucester "annexed 16 or 17 exgangs (about 280 acres) lying to the tower" to his adjoining manor of Northstead (see TA 08 NW 14) and enclosed the fields with "quicksetts" (ie hawthorn).
The village had declined or may even have been deserted at this time and was certainly depopulated by 1563. There is no documentary or archaeological evidence of a manor-house or church here.
The excavations of F.C. Rimington and the members of Scarborough and Dist A S revealed the stone foundations of five houses and probably two more.
The large quantity of pottery recovered confirmed the known history. The sherds dated from the late 12th century, reaching their maximum in the period 1275-1350 and very shortly afterwards abruptly ceased. One or two later sherds (16th century) were probably transported here during subsequent cultivation.
The site of the Franciscan Friary was not located with certainty but the multi-roomed house No 2, overlying a possible 12th century timberbuilding, was tenuously considered as the site. House No 5 with stronger masonry than the other buildings was examined as the possible 13th century "tower" but the construction details made this doubtful.
The earthworks in Field 2 clearly consisted of a system of enclosures and much rig and furrow. The north-south bank seems to have been built as a boundary between the cultivated land and the pasture. Some time after its construction a row of paddocks had been created behind it; the houses had been built on flattened terraces within the paddocks which showed no signs of medieval ploughing.
The village site and enclosures were destroyed between 1959-61 when the playing field for Scarborough Technical College and a new school (in Field 3) were constructed. Plan (2). (2-4)
TA 017886. Hatterboard. Excavations on part of the deserted medieval site threatened by hospital extensions revealed foundations of stone buildings with pottery dated to circa 1300. Continuing. (5) |