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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.

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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.

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Explore the castle yourself using the Unity 3D game engine.

Timeline

1170

...

Construction of Middleham Castle

Middleham Castle in Yorkshire could have been built at this time. ¹

1469

July 29

Edward is captured

After the defeat of William Herbert at Edgecote, Edward was left without a strong enough army to deal with the Earl of Warwick. Either Edward's army deserted him, or he dispersed his army on purpose, but the outcome was the same; Edward was captured and taken to Middleham Castle as a prisoner.

1471

Quarter 3

Richard becomes Lord of the North

Richard (III) was given the task of bringing the north of the country under control. The conflicts between the Lancastrians and Yorkists over the previous few years had left the northern counties without any effective rulers resulting in lawlessness and unopposed Scottish raids. Richard was given the lands that the Earl of Warwick had previously possessed and he made his base at Middleham Castle.

1472

July

Richard marries Anne Neville

King Richard III married Anne the widow of Edward Prince of Wales who died in 1471 at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Anne was the daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick the 'Kingmaker', and had grown up with Richard III at Middleham Castle when he had been placed their for his education. Marrying Anne gave Richard III rights to the Earl of Warwick's northern estates.

1473

December

Birth of Edward, Prince of Wales

Edward, the son of Richard III and Anne Neville was born at Middleham Castle.

1484

April

Prince Edward dies

Richard's only son died at Middleham Castle aged only ten or eleven. Anne was unable to have any more children and she would die in the following year. This left Richard with the problem of who should succeed him after his death.

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