The manor was subsequently granted to John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, who died in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth.

[2] Prints of drawings of the 18th and early 19th century show the gatehouse standing to full height but roofless, and fragments of a ruined building on its left.

[2][3] John Taylor Ramsden (1835–1916), owner of the Stone Trough Brewery in Halifax in Yorkshire, acquired Middleton Towers in 1904, and in 1905 added a west wing to the house.

The gatehouse, at the centre of the south side of the island, is of brick with stone dressings; it has three storeys, embattled parapets and polygonal corner turrets.

The first floor has a central oriel window and bears the coat of arms of Anthony Woodville.