Burton in Lonsdale Motte and Bailey

Stephens [4] infers from the 1379 Poll Tax that the castle at Burton ceased to function a little before 1379, by observing that Adam and Willhelmus de Burgh were in the Poll Tax returns from Thornton, not Burton. The Norman castle was more of a support base than a stronghold; he further conjectures that whereas there is no archaeology to support that it was formerly an Anglo-Saxon fortified site, it may be worth considering it as one of several in the Lunesdale area that could have been in use as signaling posts by the Romans. Burton was the head manor of the Burton Chase, a roughly circular region centred on Ingleborough that included Whernside, Penyghent, Lawkland and Bentham; Ewcross was the wapentake area that included Burton.