Roman Some archaeologists date the town to the
Roman occupation, when it may have been a military fortification. The discoveries of a few Roman artefacts such as the elaborate ceremonial Guisborough Helmet, support this but proof is still lacking. The Guisborough Helmet is a Roman cavalry helmet found near the town in 1864. Its original protective cheek-pieces have not survived but the attachment holes can be seen in front of the helmet's ear guards. It is lavishly decorated with engraved and embossed figures indicating that it was probably used for display or cavalry tournaments, although possibly for battle as well. It was unearthed in what appears to be a carefully arranged deposition in a bed of gravel, distant from any known Roman sites. After its recovery during roadworks it was donated to the
British Museum for restoration and display.
De Brus Gighesbore is recorded in the
Domesday Book in 1086 as a place within
Langbaurgh Wapentake or hundred. To this day the town has two spellings, the more common spelling with a "u" and the spelling without for the priory,
Gisborough Hall (16th century, demolished and rebuilt) and some other features associated with the town. The ruined
Gisborough Priory dates from the 12th century, founded by the
Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Skelton, and burial site of the lord and the next three succeeding
lords of Annandale. All four ancestors of King
Robert the Bruce (the seventh lord of Annandale).
Challoner After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, in 1540, the lands of
Gisborough Priory were given to
Thomas Chaloner. The Chaloner or Challoner name continues to be associated with the town through to present day, as employers of
Alum works in the 1600s, the names adoption by the Longe family as
barons Gisborough and various iterations of
Gisborough Hall being built. The current Gisborough Hall, a
Victorian era (built in 1856)
Jacobean revival style mansion. It is a
Grade II listed building, during WWII it was used by the army, became a nursing home then its current use as a hotel.
Iron ,
9th Armoured Division, on parade near the town, 19 August 1941. The town shared in the prosperity of the
Industrial Revolution by being close to the ironstone mines of the
North York Moors. One of the area's ironfounders, Sir
Joseph Whitwell Pease, chose as his country seat the Gothic revival
Hutton Hall designed by
Alfred Waterhouse, at
Hutton Lowcross, near Guisborough. station was on the Middlesbrough–Guisborough branch of the
North Eastern Railway; it closed in 1964. Extensive residential development occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, linked to the expansion of the chemical industry at Wilton and the steel industry at Redcar. ==Governance==