THE ruins of Sheriff Hutton castle near York are for sale as part of a £1.1 million estate.

The remains of the castle are situated on around 11.5 acres of land which also includes a large house, a cottage, assorted outbuildings, pasture and gardens. The lot is for sale by agents Boulton & Cooper Stephensons.

Henry Scott from the agents said: “It’s a very rare thing to come on the market.

“You are owning the view of the castle, and that’s the beauty of it.

“But you are also buying a lovely four bedroom house with annex so it’s a good residential property, together with the farmland as well.”

The estate was last put up for sale in 2007 by long-term owners Dr Richard Howarth and his wife Jenny, but it was then withdrawn from the market in 2011 after the sale fell through. The family have now made the “difficult” decision to sell the estate.

Dr Howarth wrote a history of Sheriff Hutton castle in 1993.

In it he described how it was built in the late 14th century from sandstone quarried in Terrington, and how it became a key royal residence in the north of England for several centuries.

It was home at various times to Richard Neville, known as ‘Warwick the Kingmaker’, as well as Richard III and Henry VIII.

The castle was an important seat in the north for Richard III. The last Plantagenet king helped establish the ‘Council of the North’ here in 1484.

Dr Howarth added: “For two hundred years, the castle was extended and modernised, but from the middle of the 16th century, Kings Manor in York became the more convenient and preferred seat of the Council of the North.

“The stone was plundered to build neighbouring houses including Sheriff Hutton Hall and by the late 1700s it was pretty well in its present state.”

According to the agents, Sheriff Hutton Castle is a Grade-II listed building and the remainder of the land is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

In addition to the sale of the estate, there will be a sale of motor vehicles, tractors and farm equipment on Saturday, June 3.