An estate survey from 1360 recorded that " there is one ruined castle called Buckeden and of no value " ; this is the earliest surviving reference to the castle . At the time , the lordship of Longdendale was the property of Edward , the Black Prince , and the castle was derelict . The site of the castle may have been used as a beacon in the 16th century , first during the Pilgrimage of Grace of 1536 – 37 , and later in the 1580s when the country was under threat of invasion from Spain , particularly with the Spanish Armada in 1588 . This usage may have been reprised in 1803 when a beacon hut is recorded near Mossley , a settlement less than a mile west of the castle
Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
Buckton Castle