Survey of English Place-Names

Etymology

Brass Castle, 1849TA ; this name occurs several times (iii, 15 supra , 173, v, 70, vi, 61, 125 infra ), and is supposed to be that used for Roman watch-towers, since some of the sites are near the Roman road from Ilkley to Manchester (J. A. Busfield in BfdAnt i, 112). All are found only in the latest sources and mostly refer to small farms on the moorland; Brass Castle in Morton is merely the name of some moorland enclosures. In no case are they associated with antiquities. The name is therefore likely to be no more than a jocular and pretentious name for a poor farm.