Ella Sophia Armitage was an English historian and archaeologist. She was born Ella Sophia Bulley in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, the second daughter of Samuel Marshall Bulley, a cotton merchant, and Mary Rachel Raffles. In October 1871 she was one of the first students to enter Newnham College, Cambridge, and in 1874 she became the college's first research student. In the same year she married the Reverend Elkanah Armitage, with whom she would have two children. From 1877 to 1879 she taught history at Owens College

Victoria University of Manchester

The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...

, Manchester, and developed her interest in mediaeval earthworks and castles. In 1887 she became the first woman on the school board at Rotherham

Rotherham

Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...

, and in 1894 she was appointed assistant commissioner to James Bryce

James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce

James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce OM, GCVO, PC, FRS, FBA was a British academic, jurist, historian and Liberal politician.-Background and education:...

 on the Royal Commission on Secondary Education to investigate girls' education in Devon.

Armitage—along with John Horace Round

John Horace Round

Horace Round was a historian and genealogist of the English medieval period. He translated the Domesday Book for Essex into contemporary English. As an expert in the history of the British peerage he was appointed Honorary Historical Adviser to the Crown.-Family and early life:Round was born on 22...

, George Neilson, and Goddard Henry Orpen

Goddard Henry Orpen

Goddard Henry Orpen was an Irish historian. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin.Orpen was the son of John Herbert Orpen....

—proved in a string of publications that British motte-and-bailey

Motte-and-bailey

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...

 castles, which had previously been assumed to be of Anglo-Saxon origin, were not constructed until after the 1066 Norman conquest of England

Norman conquest of England

The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...

; her book The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles is considered a seminal work on the subject.