Historic Places in Yorkshire

Barden Tower is located in Barden, about 3 miles from Bolton Abbey, in North Yorkshire, England. The building is rectangular with an L-shaped addition to the south-east corner. The main house is three storeys tall. The tower used to have a courtyard surrounded by a curtain wall with two gateways. One of these gateway arches survives, and the other is in ruins. The tower was originally built in the late 15th century by Henry Clifford. The building fell into disrepair and was restored in 1658 by Lady Anne Clifford. After her death it was taken over by the Earls of Cork, and fell into decline in the late 18th century.

Bolton Castle is located in the village of Castle Bolton in Wensleydale inside the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The castle is built as a quadrangle with accommodation along each side and a tower at each corner. The single entrance to the courtyard is through a vaulted passage with a portcullis at each end. The exterior of the castle is in good condition. The interior is mostly an empty shell apart from the west range and south-west tower which are still complete. The castle is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument The Castle is open to visitors from the beginning of March until the end of October and is available for private hire throughout the year. The castle also caters for weddings, receptions and private events. The castle was built between 1378 and 1399 by Richard le Scrope, Lord Chancellor. The castle is still owned by the descendants of the Scrope family. In 1569 Mary Queen of Scots was held prisoner for a year before being transferred to Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire. During the Civil War the Scrope family sided with the Royalists. In 1645, Bolton Castle was held under siege by the Parliamentary for six months before surrendering. The castle was partially destroyed, leaving only the west range and south-west tower undamaged. The Arts Bolton Castle was used as the location for a number of television and movie productions including Ivanhoe, Elizabeth, Heartbeat, and All Creatures Great and Small.

Clifford's Tower (also known as York Castle) is located in the city of York, England. The remains of a 13th century keep known as Clifford's Tower, and parts of the curtain wall stand on the site. The keep was two stories high with a central stone pillar that supported the first floor. Some traces of the pillar can still be seen. There is a square turret on the south side between two of the lobes that was used to protect the entrance. There are defensive turrets between the other lobes. The walls of the keep still stand, but the roof and internal floor has gone. The keep has an unusual quatrefoil plan (a four-leafed clover shape). The first castle on the site was a wooden motte and bailey castle built in 1068, during the Norman Conquest. The castle be rebuilt in stone in the mid 13th century (between 1245 - 1270) on orders from King Henry III in response to threat from Scottish invasion. A curtain wall with towers and two gateways was built round the bailey, and a stone keep was built on the motte, then known as the King's Tower. The castle was used as the Treasury for King Edward I in 1298 during his campaign against the Scots. King Edward II also used the castle as a Treasury in his campaign against rebel barons in 1322. After the Battle of Boroughbridge some of the defeated barons were executed at York Castle. By 1358, the stone keep had subsided, causing a large crack to appear in the south east "lobe" of the tower. The keep was in poor condition by the end of the 15th century. During the English Civil War the Royalists under Henry Clifford, the last Earl of Cumberland, occupied the castle in 1642. Clifford repaired the castle and strengthened the walls. In 1644 anti-Royalist forces including a Scottish army and a Parliamentary force besieged York. Prince Rupert came to negotiate a lifting of the siege, but he was defeated by Parliamentary forces at Marston Moor, six miles west of York. The castle was surrendered to the Parliamentary forces who then slighted the castle. During the reign of Charles II, later in the 17th century, the Castle was partially restored. Henry Clifford, the last Earl of Cumberland, was the last to garrison the castle. It is not clear if the keep became known as Clifford's Tower after Henry Clifford, or after Roger de Clifford, one of the rebels who was hanged there in 1322. The interior of the castle was destroyed in 1684 when an explosion ripped through the artillery store reduced the tower to a shell. The explosion may not have been accidental. In the 18th century, three new buildings were built south west of Clifford's Tower - the County Gaol, the Assize Courts and the Female Prison. The Assize Courts building is now the York Crown Court. The Female Prison and the County Gaol are now the Castle Museum. In 1825, Clifford's Tower, further new buildings were added and whole castle complex turned into a prison with walls, a gatehouse and extra prison block. The prison was in use from 1835 to 1929, after which the 19th century buildings were demolished. Restoration of the castle began in 1903, and in 1925 was taken over by the Commissioners of His Majesty's Works which later became English Heritage. The Arts Clifford's Tower was used as a backdrop in the video for the N-Trance dance hit Set You Free.

Conisbrough Castle is located in the town of Conisbrough near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The most impressive feature of the ruins is the hundred foot high circular keep supported by six buttresses giving it a star shaped cross section - it is one of the finest and most unusual Norman keeps in England. The keep is at the eastern side of a central courtyard surrounded by a curtain wall. The southern part of the wall has now collapsed. The gateway is on the south side of the courtyard. Along the north side of the courtyard are remains of a number of buildings including the Great Hall, buttery, kitchens and bake house. Along the east side of the courtyard are the remains of the accommodation blocks and the Great Chamber. Restoration work on the keep commenced in 1992, and a wooden roof and internal floors were rebuilt. The castle re-opened to the public in 1995. The castle now has a visitors centre with audio visual displays. Conisbrough Castle is one of South Yorkshire's main tourist attractions. It 1988 operation of the site was taken over by The Ivanhoe Trust under a management agreement between English Heritage and Doncaster Council who own the land. In April 2008 day-to-day operation of the site was handed back to English Heritage. The first castle on the site was built by William de Warenne, the first Earl of Surrey (son-in-law of William the Conqueror). The original castle was probably a motte and bailey design built around 1070. The present castle was built by Hamelin Plantagenet, the fifth Earl Warenne. The cylindrical stone keep of the castle was built around 1180. King John, the nephew of Hamelin, stayed at the castle in 1201. The stone curtain walls were built not long after the keep. The other stone buildings within the bailey may been added in the early 13th century. The Warenne ownership of the castle ended with John was thus the eighth and last Earl Warenne, when it was seized by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster in 1316 in retaliation for Earl John abducting Lancaster's wife Alice. Lancaster did not last long in Conisbrough, though - in 1322 he led a rebellion against the King Edward II. Lancaster was captured and found guilty of treason, then executed outside the walls of his castle at Pontefract. Conisbrough was then held by Edward II until 1326 when it was handed back to John de Warenne in 1326 and died heirless in 1347. Conisbrough reverted to the Crown and Edward III conferred the estate on his youngest son Edmund and his family who held it until 1446. The castle then passed to Richard Duke of York, then to his son who in 1461 became Edward IV. By the end of the 15th century, Conisbrough was falling into disrepair. By the time of Henry VIII, records from 1538 show that the gates of the castle, the bridge, and about 55m of wall between the tower and the gate had collapsed, and one floor of the keep had fallen in. The remains of the castle were granted by Henry VIII to the Carey family. During the Civil War of the seventeenth century (1642-1651) when many other English castles were destroyed or damaged, Conisbrough Castle was left untouched because the gate and walls had already partly collapsed. It was bought by Conisbrough local council in the 1940s, and is now in the care of English Heritage. The Arts "Coningsburgh Castle" in the Sir Walter Scott novel, Ivanhoe, is based on Conisbrough Castle. Conisbrough Castle Conisbrough Castle Keep. Gatehouse, Conisbrough Castle

Helmsley Castle is situated in the market town of Helmsley on the outskirts of the North Yorkshire Moors. The medieval ruins of Helmsley Castle are surrounded by banks and huge double ditch cut from solid rock. The site is surrounded by a low curtain wall with circular towers, a tall D shaped tower on the eastern side of the inner bailey; thought to have been a keep, and two barbican entrances. Facilities The castle is open daily between March and October from 10am and Thursday to Sunday from November to February. Visitors to the castle can take an audio tour from the visitors centre or visit the mansion range which has a hands on exhibition. On display are also a wide range of exhibits and finds from the Civil War from tableware to canon balls, and an exhibition showing the different aspects of life within the castle from domestic, social and military positions. The first castle on the site was around 1120 and was constructed of wood and in 1186 Robert de Roos, a relative of the original owner started work on converting the castle into a stone building. The castle remained in the de Roos family until 1478 and between them the family members were responsible for building the castle's, towers, gateways, chapel and defenses. They were also responsible for building a dividing wall between the north and the south of the site. In the southern part they built a new hall and the east tower in an area used as exclusively for the family; now granted the title 'Lords of Helmsley', and the northern half with the old hall was used by the castle's stewards and officials. In 1478 the castle was sold to Richard, Duke of Gloucester; later Richard III, although he preferred to stay at Middleham Castle. After his death the castle was given back to the de Roos family and it was under Edward de Roos that the old hall on the north side was converted into a Tudor mansion and the chapel into a kitchen, linking the two by a covered walkway. He demolished the new hall and converted the south barbican to comfortable living quarters. The castle suffered damage during the Civil War and was slighted with much of the eastern tower, its walls and gates being destroyed. The castle then passed through more hands including those of the Lord Mayor of London, Charles Duncombe in 1678, and after being handed down again though his family was left uninhabited to decay. The castle is now under the care of English Heritage.

Knaresborough Castle is a ruined fourteenth-century royal castle perched dramatically above the gorge of the River Nidd in the historic spa and market town of Knaresborough in North Yorkshire. The castle was built by the English Crown in the early fourteenth century and played a role in several significant events of medieval English history including the imprisonment of Richard II before his murder and the administration of the extensive Duchy of Lancaster estates. The keep and parts of the curtain wall survive in good condition, and the castle now contains the Knaresborough Museum interpreting the town's rich history. The town of Knaresborough is one of the most attractive in Yorkshire, with its medieval market square, medieval viaduct over the Nidd gorge, Mother Shipton's Cave and the Royal Pump Room museum providing an excellent range of heritage attractions.

Middleham Castle is situated 2 miles south of Leyburn, near the edge of the Yorkshire Dales in Wensleydale. Although the castle is in ruins most of the large walls are still intact and consists of a two storey Norman keep with turrets at each corner and the midway points and the remains of residential buildings surrounded by a curtain wall. The entrance to the keep is via a staircase to the first floor. There is a further spiral staircase up to the top of the south west tower which has views over the town and countryside beyond. Only the foundations of the original eastern gatehouse and curtain wall are still visible, but the rest of the wall is still intact. Despite some restoration the lower parts of the keep, windows, doorways and battlements are badly damaged and eroded. Facilities The castle is open to the public daily between March and September 10am to 6pm and between October and March until 4pm Saturday to Wednesday. There is an exhibition about the castle's important occupants and includes a copy of the 'Middleham Jewel'; a large 15th century sapphire pendent, as well as family friendly activities and a shop selling souvenirs and snacks. The castle was constructed on the site of an earlier motte and bailey castle in the late 1100's by Robert Fitzrandolph, and consisted on a three storey keep with chapel, living quarters and bailey. During the 13th century a 250 foot curtain wall was built around the castle and during the 14th and 15th centuries, stables, stores and a garrison were also built within the castle walls. It was also during the 15th century that some of the most powerful Lords in England, including Warwick, Salisbury, the Duke of Gloucester and King Richard III all lived at Middleham Castle; with it being the most favorite of all the Kings castles. 'The Princes Tower', a round tower at the south west of the curtain wall is where Price Edward was said to have been born and where he died. The castle came into the hands of Henry VII after King Richard's death in 1485 was abandoned and fell into ruins. In 1604 the castle was granted to Sir Henry Linley who renovated and lived until his death in 1610. During the Civil War the castle was used as a prison, but in 1646 the parliamentarians ordered the wall of the east range and other parts of the castle to be destroyed and again it was left abandoned. The castle changed hands for the last time in 1925 when English Heritage acquired it from Lord Masham.

Pickering Castle is situated on the edge of the North York Moors in the town of Pickering, 15 miles from Scarborough in the north of England. The ruins of Pickering Castle are in varying stages of decay although parts have been well restored and the motte and ditches are still very much in evidence. The site is surrounded by an almost full height curtain wall with three square towers and the 'Old Hall', the oldest surviving building dating back to the 12th century. The chapel is the only building to have a roof; the foundations of the remaining buildings and a small section of wall from the shell keep are also visible. Facilities The castle is open daily from 10am until 6pm from March until September. There are a range of family friendly activities and books, as well as an exhibition on the castle's chapel. Pickering Castle was originally a Norman motte and bailey castle, built in 1069 by William the Conqueror it consisted of a central keep with outer wooden defenses which were replaced by stone in the following years. In 1180 King Henry constructed a curtain wall around the inner bailey and continued to improve its defenses with the addition of a circular shell keep but it wasn't until the beginning of the 14th century that the outer wooden defenses were changed for a stone outer bailey curtain wall. By the 1530's the castle had already started to fall into ruins and within the next century the only building that had a roof was the chapel. In 1926 the castle was in the hands of the state and today is under the care of English Heritage.

Richmond Castle rises above the spectacular gorge of the River Swale in North Yorkshire with a commanding presence that has dominated this hillside town for nearly a thousand years. Built by Alan Rufus, the first Earl of Richmond, shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066, it is one of the earliest stone castles in England and one of the best preserved examples of early Norman military architecture anywhere in the country. The combination of historic castle, medieval market place and dramatic Swale gorge scenery makes Richmond one of the most attractive and satisfying small towns in northern England. The castle was begun in the 1080s and the great square keep that towers above the town was added in the twelfth century. At 30 metres high it remains the most imposing feature of the ruins and provides sweeping views from its roof across the town and the surrounding Swaledale countryside. The keep's construction in large, well-cut stone blocks demonstrates the resources and ambition of its builders at a time when most English construction still relied heavily on timber. Scotland's Hall, within the castle's great court, is believed to be the earliest surviving secular hall in England, a remarkable survival that gives an unparalleled sense of the domestic and ceremonial spaces within an early Norman fortress. The hall's large windows, rare in military architecture of this period, suggest that the castle was conceived from the beginning as a centre of display and hospitality as well as a defensive stronghold. During the First World War the castle served as a military detention centre, and the story of the sixteen conscientious objectors imprisoned here for refusing to fight has become an important part of the castle's more recent history. Some of these men, members of the No-Conscription Fellowship and the Society of Friends, were later court-martialled and sentenced to death, sentences that were commuted to imprisonment just before they were to be carried out. Their names are inscribed on the walls of the guardroom cell and a small exhibition within the castle tells their story. The town of Richmond itself is one of the gems of the Yorkshire Dales. The cobbled Market Place is among the finest in England, surrounded by Georgian buildings and dominated by Holy Trinity Church with its extraordinary collection of shops built into its ground floor walls.

Scarborough Castle occupies one of the most dramatic castle sites in England, a rocky headland jutting into the North Sea between the town's two bays with sheer drops on three sides that made it the most naturally defended position on this stretch of the Yorkshire coast. The views from the headland sweep across the North Bay to the north, the South Bay with its famous beach to the south, and the open sea to the east, creating a panorama that makes clear why humans have fortified this headland since the Bronze Age. The medieval castle was established by William le Gros, Count of Aumale, around 1136 and subsequently taken over by the crown when Henry II purchased it in 1155. Henry invested heavily in the site, constructing the great keep that still stands to a height of over 30 metres despite losing its upper stories and one corner wall in a dramatic collapse during the seventeenth century. The keep was one of the largest and most expensive built by Henry II in the north of England and, together with his works at Newcastle, Richmond and elsewhere, demonstrates the strategic importance he attached to controlling Yorkshire. The castle played a role in some of the most turbulent episodes in English medieval history. Piers Gaveston, the controversial favourite of Edward II, used the castle as a refuge in 1312 and was besieged here by nobles who were determined to end his influence over the king. After negotiating what proved to be an illusory safe conduct, Gaveston was captured and executed, an episode that contributed directly to the political crisis culminating in Edward's own deposition and murder. During the Civil War the castle endured two long sieges before eventually surrendering to Parliamentary forces in 1645. The German naval bombardment of Scarborough in December 1914, which killed 18 civilians and damaged buildings across the town, provided one of the most effective British recruiting posters of the First World War under the slogan Remember Scarborough. The castle itself was damaged by German naval shells during this attack. English Heritage manages the castle and the site includes an excellent visitor centre, exhibits about the castle's long history and access to the headland promontory with its extraordinary coastal views.

Skipsea Castle near Skipsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire is a large and well-preserved motte-and-bailey earthwork castle of the late eleventh or early twelfth century, one of the finest surviving examples of early Norman earthwork castle construction in northeast England. The castle was built by Drogo de la Beuvrière, one of William the Conqueror's companions, and the large circular motte rising to a considerable height above the surrounding flat coastal plain remains clearly visible and accessible. The castle site overlooks Skipsea Mere, a former lake now reduced to a small wetland area, which historically provided additional natural defence for the castle. The East Yorkshire coast at Skipsea is subject to rapid erosion, and the castle stands as an important monument in an area of significant coastal change. The site is managed by English Heritage and freely accessible.

Skipton Castle is situated in the town centre of Skipton, 18 miles north west of Bradford in the north of England. Skipton Castle is a well preserved medieval castle surrounded by an outer curtain wall. The entrance to the site is through a gatehouse flanked by two stout drum towers, the east tower containing a 17th century shell grotto. The main building, built over two storey's, consists of six drum towers, domestic buildings on the northern side, the ruins of a chapel and a Tudor style courtyard. Facilities The castle is open daily from 10am until 6pm; from midday on Sundays, March until September and until 4pm October to February. Included in the admission cost is a tour sheet giving pictures and information on the castle's most interesting features. The shop specializes in historical books relating to the castle as well as cards, prints, gifts and light refreshments. The Clifford Tea rooms offer specialty tea and coffee and homemade items, and for those who prefer to picnic in the grounds the secluded picnic area has views over the town. The first motte and bailey castle on the site was built by Robert de Romille in 1090 but it was soon replaced with a stronger stone keep to help protect against the attacks of the Scots. Edward II granted Skipton Castle to Lord Clifford who set about making many improvements including adding four huge drum towers in the inner bailey and creating a curtain wall with gatehouse and bastions. During the Civil War in December 1645, the castle was finally surrendered following a three year siege, after which Oliver Cromwell ordered the castle's roofs be removed. The castle remained the Clifford family until the death of Lady Anne Clifford. She was responsible for ordering the repairs after the siege and also planting the yew tree which still stands in the central courtyard today.

Spofforth Castle near Spofforth in North Yorkshire is a ruined medieval castle associated with the Percy family, one of the most powerful noble dynasties of northern England throughout the medieval and early modern periods. The castle dates from the thirteenth century and was a significant Percy family seat before Alnwick Castle in Northumberland became their principal residence. The remains include the hall block standing to considerable height and various ancillary buildings, managed by English Heritage and freely accessible in the attractive village of Spofforth. The Percy family's central role in the history of medieval northern England, including their involvement in the Wars of the Roses and the northern rebellions against Tudor rule, gives Spofforth a historical significance beyond its modest surviving remains. The surrounding Harrogate district provides attractive walking country.