Ayton Castle is a Grade I listed building in the North York Moors National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 January 1967. A Medieval Castle.
Ayton Castle
- WRENN ID
- nether-baluster-sparrow
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- North York Moors National Park
- Constituency
- Scarborough and Whitby MP: Alison Hume (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 18 January 1967
- Type
- Castle
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Ayton Castle, Castle Rise, West Ayton, North Yorkshire
- OS grid reference
- SE 987 850
- Coordinates
- 54.25199, -0.48561
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Ayton Castle is a late 14th-century pele tower that is now in ruins. Constructed from sandstone ashlar, it has a rectangular, two-cell plan measuring 21 metres by 13.5 metres. The castle was originally three storeys high and stands on a chamfered plinth, with each storey set back from the one below, marked by a chamfered string course. The entrance features a pointed doorway, flanked by square-headed window openings with chamfered quoined surrounds. Only the upper machicolation remains at the east corner.
Inside, both ground floor rooms have depressed pointed tunnel vaults supported by chamfered transverse ribs, and the surviving windows are deeply splayed. Staircases rise within the walls, located to the left of the entrance and from the inner room. This type of building is very rare in this part of Northern England. Ayton Castle is also designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Local climate
Ayton Castle receives an average of 880 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 64% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 73% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 12 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 89% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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