Some dolls, a dog and a car called The Fonz: Ayton Tower House. It is not a castle after all.

Ayton castle is in fact a tower house. Not a castle after all. Ayton tower house is a very romantic ruin just by Scarborough in Yorkshire.

I went on a guided tour on Saturday as part of a heritage open day. The ladies and their husbands who are decedents of the last owners flew in from America today. They are staying in a very romantic spot a quite remote farm cottage. The location is a working farm with cows and it is raining as ever in Yorkshire. I recommended tis as alternative to a hotel, I thought they could soak up the Yorkshire atmosphere and feel right at home.It is very atmospheric and surrounded by cows. Cows mean cow pats. Which is very good practice for their visit to Ayton Tower House. Which is also surrounded by cows in this day is a ruin and does not reveal former glory of stepped gardens and fish ponds that would have belonged to a Lord of the Manor.

I started my tour at this noticeboard in the pouring rain. Our guide was waiting and greeted us and ticked us all off his list of invites. I had invited myself after a phone call . My American friends could not be here for the tour and the tour could not be rearranged. Their ancestor was the last to live in this tower house, with his wife and baby daughter. He had become a Quaker under the influence of his wife whom he met in the lake district when he was a vicar just by a secret Quaker community.
I sheltered under the willow trees with my hood up. others had umbrellas and proper all weather gear for walking.

The guys here are wearing "flash" for a reason. It all became clear as First we walked to this water mill house and our guide explained how water was supplied to the old tower house and fish ponds. I needed to keep an eye on the guys in flash as the way to the ruin was not at all clear.

Then off down the lanes to the ruin I had come to see. This was my first glimpse of it after all the anticipation and research into the Mauleverer family. They were the last people to live in the tower house. Edmund Mauleverer died in 1679 and his wife and daughter emigrated to America. The times were complicated. The Mauleverer family rejected Edmund's wife and child when he died and his brother removed all mention of him from the family tree and bible. The Quakers took them under their care.

On the tour we first followed the rainy path up the hill above the ruin so that our guide could point out some bumps and inclines and explain what it is thought was there in the 17th century. To me it just looked like a field with cows long grass and cow pats. once it all had been pointed out for me I got the picture of how fabulous this tower must have been.

The tower had an outer wall and gates back and front.the differences in greens in the grass show the patterns of where these defence walls were, and A terraced garden fish ponds and dove cote. All of these were food sources and this is why the water supply was so important.

We climbed the hill to the side of the ruin and stood at the top. The places where the main gates and outer walls can still be seen from the top of the hill and where the terraced gardens were is quite clear.
Finally we came down the hill...very carefully putting my feet down as I wished very much to avoid the cow pats......we stood at the entrance to the tower...and then I got to go inside.

First to the under croft. I was inside the tower!

This is the under croft and would have been the kitchens, complete with fire place for cooking and store space.

The remains of a store cupboard.....

then into the pantry/ dairy/ buttery or whatever you want to call it.
from here we all were helped to climb very steep stone stairs to the next level....

the stone steps were very deep. I left my hand bag at the bottom. my balance is never good, so going up very steep stairs going around in a spiral was a real challenge.It had to be done! and it was. I had to kind of drag myself up by holding on to the steps and crawling.....

Once at the top...the views were stunning and I found out why the guys were wearing flash. it was their job to stop us falling off the ruins!!!!!

and now....something strange.

just as I turned to go back down the scary stair case I saw something in the grass.

just by this door way......

Mary's room. Now , why was this strange? Mary is the name of my friend from america who was flying in with her sister to see the last place that her ancestor lived. Edmund Mauleverer lived here with his Wife Anne Pearson and daughter Anne. Anne Pearson and her parents came from a secret Quaker community in the lake district to a Quaker community by Scarborough to spread the word under their leader George fox. Edmund Mauleverer was a younger son of the Mauleverer family who came to Britan with William the Conquerer and were granted lands as favors for service to the king. The civil was was happening around about this time and the family fractured over religion and being caught on the loosing side. Edmund's father bought the land and tower house from the Earl of Newcastle's family intending to harvest the forest as timber and an income. Unfortunately he was on the other side in the civil war and the Earl of Newcastle made sure this plan could not go ahead. Edmund's father died in a debtors prison in York of TB. Edmund died also of Tuberculosis not long after his father.