Editing Pontefract Castle

{{short description|Castle in West Yorkshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2022}}

[[File:Pontefract Castle.jpg|thumb|300px|Painting in [[Pontefract Museum]] of Pontefract Castle in the early 17th century, by [[Alexander Keirincx]]]]
{{coord|53|41|44|N|1|18|14|W|display=title|region:GB_type:landmark}}
'''Pontefract''' (or '''Pomfret''') '''Castle''' is a [[castle]] ruin in the town of [[Pontefract]], in [[West Yorkshire]], England. King [[Richard II of England|Richard&nbsp;II]] is thought to have died there. It was the site of a series of famous sieges during the 17th-century [[English Civil War]].

==History==
[[File:Reconstruction of Pontefract Castle.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Model reconstructing Pontefract Castle]]
The castle, on a rock to the east of the town above All Saints' Church,{{sfn|Pevsner|Radcliffe|1967|p=394}} was constructed in approximately 1070 by [[Ilbert de Lacy]]<ref name=DOL>{{cite web|url=http://www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk/about-the-duchy/historic-properties/yorkshire/|title=The Duchy of Lancaster – Yorkshire|publisher=www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk|access-date=19 April 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130417090049/http://www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk/about-the-duchy/historic-properties/yorkshire/|archive-date=17 April 2013}}</ref> on land which had been granted to him by [[William the Conqueror]] as a reward for his support during the [[Norman Conquest]].  There is, however, evidence of earlier occupation of the site. Initially the castle was a wooden structure which was replaced with stone over time.<ref name=RHHH>
{{cite web|url=http://www.pontefractus.co.uk/history/pontefract_castle_index.htm|title=Pontefract Castle Index|publisher=www.pontefractus.co.uk|access-date=22 July 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516180651/http://www.pontefractus.co.uk/history/pontefract_castle_index.htm|archive-date=16 May 2008}}</ref> The [[Domesday Survey]] of 1086 recorded "Ilbert's Castle" which probably referred to Pontefract Castle.{{sfn|Harfield|1991|p=383}}

Robert [[de Lacy]] failed to support King [[Henry I of England|Henry&nbsp;I]] during his power struggle with his brother, and the King confiscated the castle from the family during the 12th century.<ref name=RHHH/> [[Roger de Lacy (1170–1211)|Roger de Lacy]] paid King [[Richard I of England|Richard&nbsp;I]] 3,000&nbsp;[[mark (money)|marks]] for the Honour of Pontefract, but the King retained possession of the castle. His successor [[John, King of England|King John]] gave de Lacy the castle in 1199, the year John ascended the throne. Roger died in 1213 and was succeeded by his eldest son, [[John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln|John]]. However, the King took possession of [[Castle Donington]] and Pontefract Castle.{{sfn|Brown|1959|p=255}} The de Lacys lived in the castle until the early 14th century.<ref name=RHHH/>  It was under the tenure of the de Lacys that the magnificent multilobate [[keep|donjon]] was built.<ref name=DOL/>

In 1311 the castle passed by marriage to the estates of the [[House of Lancaster]]. [[Thomas, Earl of Lancaster]] (circa 1278–1322) was beheaded outside the castle walls six days after his defeat at the [[Battle of Boroughbridge]], a sentence placed on him by King Edward II himself in the great hall.  This resulted in the earl becoming a martyr with his tomb at [[Pontefract Priory]] becoming a shrine.<ref name=RHHH/> It next went to [[Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster|Henry, Duke of Lancaster]] and subsequently to [[John of Gaunt]], third son of King [[Edward III of England|Edward&nbsp;III]]. He made the castle his personal residence, spending vast amounts of money improving it.

===Richard II===
[[File:Pontefract Castle, 2010 (1).jpg|thumb|The ruins of Pontefract Castle's keep]]
In the closing years of the 14th century, [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] banished John of Gaunt's son [[Henry Bolingbroke]], Duke of Hereford, from England. Following the death of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, in 1399, Richard II seized much of the property due to Bolingbroke. Richard then shared some of the seized property around among his favourites.  The castle at Pontefract was among such properties which was under threat. These events aroused Bolingbroke to return to England to claim his rights to the Duchy of Lancaster and the properties of his father.  Shakespeare's play ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'' (Act 2, scene 1, 277) relates Bolingbroke's homecoming in the words of Northumberland in the speech of the eight tall ships:-


{{quote|<poem>NORTHUMBERLAND
Then thus: I have from Port Le Blanc,
A bay in Brittany, receiv'd intelligence,
That Harry Duke of Herford, Rainold Lord Cobham,
Thomas, son and heir to th' Earl of Arundel,
That late broke from the Duke of Exeter,
His brother, Archbishop late of Canterbury,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston,
Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and Francis Quoint—
All these, well furnished by the Duke of Brittany
With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war,
Are making hither with all due expedience,
And shortly mean to touch our northern shore</poem>}}

When Bolingbroke landed at Ravenspur on the Humber, he made straight way for his castle at Pontefract. King Richard II, being in Ireland at the time, was in no position to oppose Bolingbroke.  Bolingbroke soon deposed Richard and took the crown for himself as Henry IV.

[[File:Bolingbroke-richard-flint-castle-harley-ms-1319.png|thumb|left|Richard II was captured at [[Flint, Flintshire|Flint]] on 16 August 1399 and imprisoned.{{sfn|Tuck|2004}}]]
Richard II was captured by Henry Bolingbroke's supporters in August 1399 and was initially imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]]. Sometime before Christmas that year he was moved to Pontefract Castle (via Knaresborough) where he remained under guard until his death, perhaps on 14 February 1400.{{sfn|Tuck|2004}} [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' mentions this incident:

{{quote|<poem>Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,
Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
Within the guilty closure of thy walls
Richard the second here was hack'd to death;
And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.</poem>}}

Various chroniclers suggest that Richard was starved to death by his captors, and others suggest he starved himself. A contemporary French chronicler suggested that Richard II had been hacked to death, but this is, according to the [[ODNB]], "almost certainly fictitious".{{sfn|Tuck|2004}}

===Richard III===
[[Richard III]] had two relatives of [[Elizabeth Woodville]] beheaded at Pontefract Castle on 25 June 1483 – her son, Sir [[Richard Grey]], and her brother, [[Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers]].{{sfn|Horrox|2004}}

===Tudor Era===

In 1536,  the castle's guardian, [[Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy]] handed over the castle to the leaders of the [[Pilgrimage of Grace]], a Catholic rebellion from northern England against the rule of King [[Henry VIII of England|Henry&nbsp;VIII]].  Lord Darcy was executed for this alleged "surrender", which the king viewed as an act of treason.

[[Henry VIII|King Henry VIII of England]] stayed at the castle arriving on 23 August 1541 during his summer [[Royal entry|royal progress]] of the North. It was alleged during his visit that Henry VIII's fifth wife, [[Catherine Howard]], committed her first act of adultery with Sir [[Thomas Culpeper]] at Pontefract Castle, for which she was later apprehended and beheaded at the [[Tower of London]] without trial. [[Mary, Queen of Scots]] was lodged at the castle on 28 January 1569, travelling between Wetherby and Rotherham.<ref>''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', vol.2 (1900), p.612</ref>

===Royalist stronghold===
[[File:JohnLambert.png|thumb|upright|The garrison handed over the castle to [[John Lambert (general)|John Lambert]] on 24 March 1649.{{sfn|Rakoczy|2007|p=223}}]]
On his way south to London, [[James VI and I|King James]] rode from [[Grimston Park]] to view Pontefract Castle on 19 April 1603 and stayed the night at the Bear Inn at Doncaster.<ref>Charles Harding Firth, ''Stuart Tracts'' (New York, 1903), p. 33.</ref> The castle was included in English jointure property of his wife, [[Anne of Denmark]].<ref>[[Edmund Lodge]], ''Illustrations of British History'', vol. 3 (London, 1791), p. 207.</ref>

[[Cavalier|Royalist]]s controlled Pontefract Castle at the start of the [[English Civil War]]. The first of three sieges began in December 1644 and continued until the following March when [[Marmaduke Langdale, 1st Baron Langdale of Holme]] arrived with Royalist reinforcements and the [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] army retreated. During the siege, [[Tunnel warfare|mining]] and artillery caused damage and the Piper Tower collapsed as a result. The second siege began on 21 March 1645, shortly after the end of the first siege, and the garrison surrendered in July after hearing the news of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]'s defeat at the [[Battle of Naseby]]. Parliament garrisoned the castle until June 1648 when Royalists sneaked into the castle and took control. Pontefract Castle was an important base for the Royalists, and raiding parties harried Parliamentarians in the area.{{sfn|Rakoczy|2007|pp=222–223}}

[[Oliver Cromwell]] led the final siege of Pontefract Castle in November 1648. [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] was executed in January, and Pontefract's  garrison came to an agreement and Colonel Morrice handed over the castle to Major General [[John Lambert (general)|John Lambert]] on 24 March 1649. Following requests from the townspeople, the grand jury at York, and Major General Lambert, on 27 March Parliament gave orders that Pontefract Castle should be "totally demolished & levelled to the ground" and materials from the castle would be sold off.{{sfn|Rakoczy|2007|pp=223–227}} Piecemeal dismantling after the main organised activity of [[slighting]] may have further contributed to the castle's ruined state.{{sfn|Rakoczy|2007|p=221}}

It is still possible to visit the castle's 11th-century cellars, which were used to store military equipment during the civil war.

==Preservation==
[[File:St Clement's Chapel, Pontefract Castle, 2010.jpg|thumb|left|The ruins of St Clement's Chapel within the castle]]
Little survives of what "must have been one of the most impressive castles in Yorkshire" other than parts of the [[Curtain wall (fortification)|curtain wall]] and excavated and tidied inner walls. It had inner and outer baileys. Parts of a 12th-century wall and the Piper Tower's [[postern]] gate and the foundations of a chapel are the oldest remains. The ruins of the Round Tower or [[keep]] are on the 11th-century mound. The Great Gate flanked by 14th-century semi-circular towers had inner and outer [[barbican]]s. Chambers excavated into the rock in the inner bailey possibly indicate the site of the old hall and the North Bailey gate is marked by the remains of a rectangular tower.{{sfn|Pevsner|Radcliffe|1967|p=394}}

The castle has several unusual features. The [[keep|donjon]] has a rare [[Quatrefoil]] design. Other examples of this type of Keep are [[Clifford's Tower]], [[York]] and at the [[Château d'Étampes]] in France.
Pontefract also has an ''[[Albarrana tower|torre albarrana]]'', a fortification almost unknown outside the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. Known as the Swillington Tower, the detached tower was attached to the north wall by a bridge. Its purpose was to increase the defender's range of flanking fire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.castlesofspain.co.uk/TorreAlbarrana.html|title=Torre Albarrana|publisher=www.castlesofspain.co.uk|access-date=16 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606060349/http://castlesofspain.co.uk/TorreAlbarrana.html|archive-date=6 June 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Wakefield Council]], who manage the site, commissioned William Anelay Ltd to begin repairs on the castle in September 2015, but work stopped in November 2016 when Anelay went into [[administration (law)|administration]]. The Council then engaged Heritage Building & Conservation (North) Ltd, who began work on the site in March 2017. A new visitor centre and cafe were opened in July 2017; but in April 2018 the council announced that they had terminated the contract with HB&C (North) Ltd, as no work had been done since mid-March, and they had not had any reassurances that the work would restart.<ref>{{cite news
|url =https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/3-5m-pontefract-castle-restoration-project-grinds-to-a-halt-for-a-second-time-after-scrapping-of-contractor-1-9136261
|date=26 April 2018
|title=£3.5m Pontefract Castle restoration project grinds to a halt for a second time after scrapping of contractor
|last=Drysdale
|first=Laura
|work=[[The Yorkshire Post]]
|access-date=7 July 2018}}</ref> On [[Yorkshire Day]] 2019, the restoration was completed, and the castle was removed from [[Historic England]]'s "Heritage At Risk" list.<ref> 
{{cite web
|url=https://www.pontefractcastle.co.uk/news.aspx
|title=Pontefract Castle No Longer 'At Risk'
|website=Pontefract Castle
|publisher=Wakefield Museums and Galleries
|access-date=2 November 2019}} </ref>

Excavations led by [[DigVentures]] in 2019–20 in the castle's [[drawbridge]] pit uncovered numerous mason's marks on the structure, as well as lead shot dating to the Civil War.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jackson|first1=Nat|last2=Casswell|first2=Chris|last3=Forster|first3=Manda|title=A Medieval Drawbridge Pit and the Stories it Tells Us, Excavations at Pontefract Castle, 2019–2020|journal=Internet Archaeology|date=2023|issue=62|doi=10.11141/ia.61.4|doi-access=free|url=https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue61/4/index.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jago|first1=Indie|last2=Forster|first2=Manda|title=Archaeological Excavations and Social Impact at Pontefract Castle (data paper)|journal=Internet Archaeology|date=2023|issue=62|doi=10.11141/ia.61.9|doi-access=free|url=https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue61/9/index.html}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Castles in Great Britain and Ireland]]
* [[List of castles in England]]
* [[Pontefract cakes]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation |last=Brown |first=Reginald Allen |title=A List of Castles, 1154–1216 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=74 |date=April 1959 |pages=249–280 |jstor=558442 |issue=291 |doi=10.1093/ehr/lxxiv.291.249}}
*{{citation |last=Harfield |first=C. G. |title=A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book |journal=English Historical Review |volume=106 |year=1991 |issue=419 |pages=371–392 |jstor=573107 |doi=10.1093/ehr/CVI.CCCCXIX.371}}
*{{cite ODNB |last=Horrox |first=Rosemary |year=2004 |chapter=Grey, Sir Richard (d. 1483) |chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11547 |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/11547 |access-date=30 August 2010}}
*{{citation | last1 = Pevsner| first1 = Nicholas| author-link = Nikolaus Pevsner| last2 = Radcliffe| first2 = Enid| year = 1967| title = Yorkshire: The West Riding| edition = 2 | series = The Buildings of England| publisher = [[Penguin Books]]| isbn = 0-14-071017-5<!--| access-date =19 April 2013-->}}
*{{citation |last=Rakoczy |first=Lila |title=Archaeology of Destruction: a Reinterpretation of Castle Slightings in the English Civil War |url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/11092/ |year=2007|publisher=University of York |type=phd }}
*{{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-23499|title=Richard II (1367–1400), king of England and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine|last=Tuck|first=Anthony|date=2004|series=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/23499|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Pontefract Castle}}
* {{official website}}
* [http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/3493.html Bibliography of sources related to Pontefract Castle]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/sense_of_place/unexplained/pontefract_castle_history.shtml Bloody Pomfret]
* [http://www.wildyorkshire.co.uk/naturediary/docs/pomfmap.html A walk on the wild side]
*[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/190513 Siege money dated 1648, depicting Pontefract castle]

{{Pontefract}}
{{Duchy of Lancaster}}
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 1070s]]
[[Category:1070s establishments in England]]
[[Category:11th-century fortifications]]
[[Category:1649 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1649]]
[[Category:Duchy of Lancaster]]
[[Category:Castles in West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in the City of Wakefield]]
[[Category:Military history of Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Ruins in West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in the City of Wakefield]]
[[Category:Scheduled monuments in West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Pontefract]]
[[Category:De Lacy family|Castle, Pontefract]]
[[Category:Anne of Denmark]]
[[Category:Richard II of England]]
[[Category:Richard III of England]]
[[Category:Catherine Howard]]
[[Category:Henry VIII]]