Middleham Castle

Middleham Castle in Wensleydale, in the county of North Yorkshire, was built by Robert Fitzrandolph, 3rd Lord of Middleham and Spennithorne, commencing in 1190. It was built near the site of an earlier motte and bailey castle. In 1270 it came into the hands of the Neville family, the most notable member of which was Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known to history as the "Kingmaker", a leading figure in the Wars of the Roses. Following the death of Richard, Duke of York at Wakefield in December 1460, his younger sons, George, Duke of Clarence and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, came into Warwick’s care, and both lived at Middleham with Warwick’s own family. Their brother King Edward IV was imprisoned at Middleham for a short time, having been captured by Warwick in 1469. Following Warwick’s death at Barnet in 1471 and Edward’s restoration to the throne, Richard married Anne Neville, Warwick’s younger daughter, and it was at Middleham that they made their main home. It was also at Middleham that…

Mount Grace Priory

Mount Grace Priory is today the best preserved and most accessible of the ten medieval Carthusian houses (charterhouses) in England. Founded in 1398 by Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, the son of King Richard II’s half-brother Thomas, earl of Kent, it was the last monastery established in Yorkshire, and one of the few founded anywhere in Britain in the period between the Black Death (1349 – 50) and the Reformation. Upon the abdication of King Richard, Surrey and others of the king’s supporters attempted to assassinate his recently crowned successor, Henry IV, at New Year’s, 1400, but were captured and executed. Holland’s body was eventually recovered and, in 1412, re-buried in the charterhouse that he had founded. The orphaned priory of Mount Grace, bereft of its founder and the income that had been granted to it by Holland and King Richard,…

Pickering Castle

Piercebridge Roman Bridge

Piercebridge Roman Bridge was a Roman bridge, now…

Richmond Castle

Richmond Castle in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England, stands in a commanding position above the River Swale, close to the centre of the town of Richmond. It was originally called Riche Mount, ‘the strong hill’. The castle was probably constructed from 1071 onwards as part of the Norman Conquest of Saxon England as…

Rievaulx Abbey

Rievaulx Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey headed by the Abbot of Rievaulx. It is…

Scarborough Castle

Scarborough Castle is a former Medieval Royal fortress situated on a rocky promontory…

Spofforth Castle

Spofforth Castle in the village of Spofforth, North Yorkshire, England comprises the ruins of a hall range and is all that remains from a fortified house. The current castle was built by the Percy family in the early 13th century, with alterations made in the 14th/15th centuries. The Percy estates were confiscated after the rebellion against King Henry IV of England in 1408, restored and then lost again in 1461 when the Percys supported the losing side in the War of the Roses. Spofforth was eventually returned to the family and inhabited until…

Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications

Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications (also known as ‘Stanwick Camp’), a huge Iron Age hill fort comprising over 9 kilometers (6 miles) of ditches and ramparts enclosing approximately 300 hectares (700 acres) of land, are situated in Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, England. They are located 8 miles (13 km) north of the town of Richmond and 10 miles (16 km) south west of Darlington, close to Scotch Corner and the remains of the Roman fort and bridge at Piercebridge. Rising to a height of almost 5 metres (16 ft) in places, the ramparts completely surround the village of Stanwick…

Steeton Hall Gateway

A fine example…