Clifton Castle in Clifton-Upon-Ure (Yore), Yorkshire

The manor of Clifton was located in Clifton-Upon-Ure (Yore), a small township lying on the eastern bank of the Ure in the County of Yorkshire. It belonged to Cnut the Dane prior to the Norman Conquest. The manor subsequently came into the possession of the Lords Scrope, of Masham.

In the reign of Edward II, Geoffrey Le Scrope, obtained license to make a castle of his house at Clifton-upon-Ure (Yore) in 1318. From this family it passed by the marriage of Elizabeth, niece and co-heir of Geoffrey, Lord Scrope, the last baron of the line.

The last remains of the original castle were removed in 1802, to make room for a new Grecian structure (named Clifton Castle), erected in 1806, by Timothy Hutton, Esq., on the site of the castellated mansion of the Scropes, parts of the massive walls of which form the cellars of the present building; and another fragment, with its loopholes, may be seen in the yard of the present house.