Tourism

PONTEFRACT CASTLE:

Click on the above title and it will take you to the Pontefract Castle website with info on how to book magazine tours, school trips and opening times.



Early history
The castle was first constructed in approximately 1070 by Ilbert de Lacy on land which had been granted to him by William the Conqueror as a reward for his support during the Norman conquests. There is, however, evidence of earlier occupation of the site. Initially the castle was a wooden structure, but this was replaced with stone over time.

Robert de Lacy failed to support Henry I of England during his power struggle with his brother and confiscated the castle from the family during the 1100s. The de Lacys lived in the castle until the early 14th century. It was under the tenure of the de Lacys that the magnificent multilobate donjon was built.

In 1311 the castle passed by marriage to the estates of the House of Lancaster. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster (1278–1322) was beheaded outside the castle walls six days after his defeat at the Battle of Boroughbridge, a sentence placed on him by the King himself in the great hall. This resulted in the earl becoming a martyr with his tomb at Pontefract Priory becoming a shrine. Later John of Gaunt, a son of Edward III of England, as Duke of Lancaster was so fond of the castle that he made it his personal residence, spending vast amounts of money improving it. Richard II of England (1367–1399) was probably murdered within the castle walls, in the Gascoigne Tower. William Shakespeare's play Richard III mentions this incident:

Royalist stronghold
The castle has been a ruin since 1644 when it held as a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War and besieged at least three times by Parliamentarian forces, the last of which was responsible for the castle's present dilapidated state and many of its scars. Apparently this last raid had the full support of the surrounding population, who were grateful to destroy the castle and thus stop the fighting in their area. In their view the castle was a magnet for trouble. It is still possible to visit the castle's 11th century cellars which were used to store military equipment during the civil war.

Description of the castle
The most remarkable feature of the current site is the remains of the donjon. Very few examples of this multilobed type exist. One is Clifford's Tower in nearby York. An identical example to York can be found at Étampes, France.