Mulgrave Castle Mulgrave Castle refers to one of three structures on the same property in Lythe , near Whitby , Yorkshire , England . One of these , known as the " old " or " ancient " castle , was by legend founded by Wada , a 6th - century ruler of Hälsingland . The second castle , ( ) " caput " of the feudal barony of Mulgrave , was of Norman construction and remained active until destroyed by order of Parliament in 1647 . The third is a country house ( ) which was constructed by Lady Catherine Darnley and passed in 1718 by marriage into the Phipps family , when her daughter Lady Catherine Annesley married William Phipps . The Phipps family later held the titles of Baron Mulgrave , Earl of Mulgrave and Marquess of Normanby . History . Ancient castle . The 19th century " Handbook for Travellers in Yorkshire and for Residents in the County " recounts that the ancient castle was built by Wada , ruler of Hälsingland . Leland in his " Itineraries " , circa 1545 , refers to several local legends supposing Wada to have been a giant who built many castles and roads in Yorkshire . Second castle . A second castle , which occupied the entire width of the ridge , seems to have been Norman , presumably constructed by Nigel Fossard ( d . about 1120 ) , who obtained the property after the Norman Conquest . Fossard is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a tenant of 114 manors , all in Yorkshire , including under Robert , Count of Mortain of " Grif " , identified as Mulgrave in the hundred of Langbaurgh . He became himself a tenant - in - chief of the king in 1088 , and a holder of the large feudal barony whose " caput " was at Mulgrave , hence known as the barony of Mulgrave , which according to the " Cartae Baronum " return made in 1166 comprised 33 1 / 2 knight ' s fee s . The main approach was located on the west , with two stone towers overlooking the entrance . Moats prohibited approach from the east and ensured that western approach was by means of a drawbridge . Differing levels of land surrounding the containing walls caused the wall to bulge outwards , which required buttressing . Some of the bricks used in the structure are clearly Roman . Nigel Fossard ' s son Robert died c . 1135 , Robert ' s son William I d . c . 1170 , leaving a son William II who died in 1195 leaving an heiress Joan , who brought the barony and castle to her husband Robert de Turnham ( d . 1211 ) . Their only surviving child and heiress was Isabel de Turnham who brought the barony and castle to Peter I de Mauley ( or Maulay ) ( d . 1241 ) to whom she had been granted in marriage by King John on the escheat ment of the barony . De Mauley was a native of Poitou , whose marriage to this wealthy heiress is said to have been his reward for having murdered in 1203 Prince Arthur , the son of John ' s elder brother who threatened his succession to the throne . He was governor of Corfe Castle in Dorset where he acted as jailer of Eleanor , Arthur ' s sister . Peter I ' s heir was Peter II de Mauley ( 1226 – 1279 ) , who married Joan de Brus ( d . 1243 ) , one of five sisters of Peter III de Brus ( d . 1272 ) , feudal baron of Skelton , Yorkshire , who was his brother - in - law , having married Hilary de Mauley , Peter II ' s sister . In the time of Peter II the barony was held by knight service of supplying two knights in time of war in the king ' s presence for 40 days per annum . Peter II ' s heir was Peter III de Mauley ( d . 1308 ) , who married Nicole de Ghent ( d . before 1302 ) , sister and in her issue co - heir ( in a 1 / 3rd share ) to Gilbert V de Ghent ( d . 1298 ) , feudal baron of Folkingham , Lincolnshire . Peter III was summoned to parliament by writ dated 23 June 1296 , creating him the 1st Baron de Mauley . Peter III ' s seal can be seen as one of 72 appended to the Barons ' Letter , 1301 to the Pope " sealed at the Parliament of Lincoln in January 1301 , and shows him on the reverse in the usual pose for early seals holding sword and shield astride his galloping war - horse , with the tails of his surcoat swept back by the wind . His arms within a heater - shaped escutcheon show a bend with a field diapered with scroll - work , which are blazoned as borne by him on the Falkirk Roll ( 1298 ) as : " Or , a bend sable " . His heir was Peter IV de Mauley ( d . 1348 ) . Camden states that the first Peter was succeeded by 7 others bearing his name . The castle passed to Sir John Bigot ( c . 1376 - 1426 / 7 ) of Settrington , Yorks . , on his marriage to Constance de Mauley ( c . 1385 - 15 / 12 / 1450 ) , eldest daughter & co - heiress of Peter VII de Mauley ( d . 1378 ) , whose son Peter VIII had died in 1415 without issue , when the Barony de Mauley by writ became extinct . Bigot was 5th in descent from Hugh Bigod , 3rd Earl of Norfolk ( d . 1225 ) . The property passed to the Radcliffes on the marriage of Dorothy Bigot into that family , before settling in 1625 on Lord Sheffield of Butterwick , later to be titled Earl of Mulgrave by Charles I . There is evidence that the initial construction by the Fossards was updated and altered by subsequent residents . The castle was garrisoned by royalist s during the English Civil War . Subsequently , it was dismantled by Parliamentary order in 1647 ; the lie of bricks from the destruction suggest that gunpowder might have been employed for this purpose . Present manor . The third construction , a castellated mansion , was ordered by Lady Catherine Darnley , Duchess of Buckingham , illegitimate daughter of James II of England and then wife of John Sheffield , 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby . The property passed to the Phipps family in 1718 , when the Duchess ' s daughter Lady Catherine Annesley wed William Phipps . A summer house was also built on the grounds , according to legend on the spot of a hermitage which William de Percy established in 1150 . In 1858 Duleep Singh , the last Mahararah of the Punjab , took a lease on Mulgrave Castle . As of 2010 , the property is held by Constantine Phipps , 5th Marquess of Normanby . In 2003 , supermodel Elle Macpherson took out a lease on the Mulgrave estate , considered one of England ' s finest shooting estates , including the right to live in the Phipps family ' s ancestral home , Mulgrave Castle , during the four - month shooting season .