iddleham Castle is a large stone-built castle
located to the west of the River Ure in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The first castle was constructed shortly after the Conquest of England on the current site
or possibly nearby by Alan, the Earl of Richmond or by Ribald, one of Alan's brothers. At this time the design of the castle would have been a motte and bailey
type. A hundred years later, sometime between 1170 and 1190, the
castle was remodelled by Robert Fitzralf (Fitz-Ranulf), the grandson of Ribald, who built the large stone keep. Robert's grandson did not have a male heir
and when his eldest daughter married Robert de Neville, lord of Raby, the castle bacame the property of the Neville family. The castle remained in the Neville
family for some 250 years and became the main residence of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick the 'Kingmaker'. In 1471,
after the death of Warwick at the battle of Barnet, the castle's ownership passed to the Crown and became the proprty of Richard, Duke of Gloucester afterwards,
Richard III, who spent a lot of time at the castle. 
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- Introduction and simple keep example
- Tower of London plans and 3d model
- Middleham Castle floor plans
- Hedingham Castle floor plans
- Dover Castle floor plans
- Timeline of Square Keep construction
- Explore 3d reconstructions
Medieval Castles
Types of castles
- Early Fortifications
- Castles of William the Conqueror
- Keep and bailey castles
- Motte and bailey castles
- Square keeps
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- Concentric Castles
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Castles
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Middleham Castle
The Keep at Middleham Castle
iddleham Castle is a large stone-built castle
located to the west of the River Ure in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The first castle was constructed shortly after the Conquest of England on the current site
or possibly nearby by Alan, the Earl of Richmond or by Ribald, one of Alan's brothers. At this time the design of the castle would have been a motte and bailey
type. A hundred years later, sometime between 1170 and 1190, the
castle was remodelled by Robert Fitzralf (Fitz-Ranulf), the grandson of Ribald, who built the large stone keep. Robert's grandson did not have a male heir
and when his eldest daughter married Robert de Neville, lord of Raby, the castle bacame the property of the Neville family. The castle remained in the Neville
family for some 250 years and became the main residence of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick the 'Kingmaker'. In 1471,
after the death of Warwick at the battle of Barnet, the castle's ownership passed to the Crown and became the proprty of Richard, Duke of Gloucester afterwards,
Richard III, who spent a lot of time at the castle.
The walls that surround the castle form a parallelogram measuring some 240 by 180 feet. At the corners of this
curtain wall are four strong towers, three being square and one being semi-circular. The east and west curtain walls also have towers at their centres. The keep is
divided into two halves down its length by a large dividing wall, a common design in keeps built at this time. It had two floors and possibly a third that was
constructed at a later date. On the eastern side is a long flight of stairs leading to the entrance and barbican on the first floor. The ground floor, divided
in two by the central wall, was vaulted. The first floor had state rooms, a large hall and garderobes built into the butresses. Many buildings were constructed
around the perimeter of the inner ward.
Ground Floor
Middleham Castle, located in Wensleydale north Yorkshire, was founded in around 1190 by Robert FitzRanulf. The focus of the construction at this time was the large central rectangular keep made of coursed rubble. At each corner of the keep is a tower.
Down the length of the keep is a cross-wall dividing the building into two. On the lower level can be found the storeroom and the kitchens with one or more wells. The roof of this basement level was vaulted in stone. The only access to this level was by a spiral staircase in the south-east corner.
Click the image to see a larger version.
First Floor
Access to the keep was via a long flight of stairs running along the east side of the building up to the first floor. A wall enclosed the stairs but they were open to the sky so that visitors could be monitored, and attacked if necessary, from above. Several doors and guards stood between the foot of the stairs and an anteroom where guests were greeted.
The Great Hall was where the banquets, meetings and court hearings took place. At the southern end of the hall are two passageways, one leading to a toilet and the other to stairs leading down to the basement. At the north end is a passage to a chapel built into the north-east tower and a passage through the centre wall to the western half of the keep.
Click the image to see a larger version.
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