In 1070 the Vikings had invaded Britain, and in an attempt to overcome William the Conqueror, the Vikings joined forces with the Saxons and the two were planning a rebellion. As William got heed of this, he marched his men North to face the rebellions head-on but, on their way they reached Pontefract and due to the River Ayre being flooded in two places (Castleford and Ferrybridge) they were forced to stay there. The men decided upon a large mound of sandstone outcrop to camp on. Once the flooded areas were able to be bypassed William and his Army travelled to his enemy’s (the Rebellions) and became victorious over them. William also burnt down all the houses North of the river Humber, this was to show his power and bravery.
Pontefract Castle had been well strategically placed when it was built as it overlooks the two crossing places in the river Ayre, it also guards ‘The Great North Road’ (the A1) which has been a major route way since the Romans. Finally, the Castle guards Ayre Valley, so all the areas which the enemy could use as a route to attack are overlooked and well protected by the Castle.
A Latin translation of ‘Pons Fractus’ is ‘broken bridge.’
THE KEEP
The Keep is a large central tower which contains, a store room, soldiers’ quarters, and a hall for the Lord and his family. The inner bailey or walled courtyard surrounds the Keep.
The Keep at Pontefract was built around 1228, and was built on the now grassy ‘Motte.’ It is one of the most controversial features of Pontefract Castle. Some People have said that is served as a model for the ‘Clifford’s Tower’ at York.
The Keep was heightened by John of Gaunt in the Fourteenth Century.
THE OTHER TOWERS.
Swillington Tower
This Tower was built between 1399 – 1400’s. It is thought to be named after Sir Robert Swillington, a steward under John of Gaunt, but recently the Tower has been cut in half due to road widening in the early 19th Century.
Constable Tower
This Tower was built between1405 –12, this was in the North-eastern curtain wall. This also influenced the repairs to many other parts of the Castle in and throughout the 15th Century.
Kings and Queens Towers
Both of these towers have a striking resemblance to the Swillington and Constable Towers in both size and looks, which may indicate that the four were built around the same time.
Gascoigne Tower and Gatehouse Tower
The Gascoigne Tower has shown evidence of extensive repairs and extensions, it’s internal walls were rebuilt and bolstered by a large angle buttress at it’s southern corner. This was performed to ensure that the Tower would not slump in the ‘Sally port access’ the only unfilled remnant of a Motte and Bailey ditch. The external wall was also extended. The Gatehouse Tower has also shown evidence of strengthening in the Medieval period. Polygonal buttresses which were added to both sides externally of the existing gateway. Even today the foundations of the buttresses and portcullis exist as garden features.
A PICURE OF ‘THE SWILLINGTON TOWER 1560
A DIAGRAM OF ‘THE SALLYPORT ACCESS’
WAS PONTEFRACT CASTLE A ROYAL CASTLE?
Pontefract Castle was a Royal Castle as fourteen of the thirty owners of the Castle were Kings or Queens, one of which came from the second De Lacy line, Three from the House of Lancaster, three from the House of York, five from the Tudors and two from the Stuarts. Pontefract Castle was also the last Royalist stronghold during the civil war.
The Royalty bar chart indicates the entire ownership of the Castle from when it was first built to 1649, the sign indicates Royalty.
The total number of years of Royalty in the Castle in 267 of the 579 years of the Castle reign.
Richard the second was held prisoner here and this is where he met his end.
ROYALTY CHART
WAS PONTEFRACT CASTLE EVER BESIEGED.
Pontefract Castle’s defences were not put to any serious test until the Castle was held by Royalists during the civil war. This in itself is a testament to it’s reputed strength.
Oliver Cromwell summarised this in a letter to Parliament after visiting the Castle during the third siege in 1648. He wrote:
‘(The Castle) is very well known as one of the strongest inland garrisons in the Kingdom, well watered, situated on rock in every part of it, and therefore very difficult to mine. The walls are very thick and high, with strong towers, and if battered, very difficult to access, by reason of the depth and steepness of the graft.’
Pontefract Castle was besieged three times. The first of which began on Christmas day 1644 but it was some three weeks (17th January 1645) before the Castle was subjected to its first serious attack’ Parliamentary batteries began to bombard the Castle. They mainly focused on the South-western curtain wall. 1367 shots were recorded by Nathan Drake of having hit the Castle during the five days the bombardment lasted. Although the Piper Tower fell on the 19th January the bombardment failed to reduce the Castle’s defences and the bombardment therefore stopped on the 21at January. Nathan Drake only recorded 33 shots fired between 2nd January and 12th February. On the 24th January the besiegers attempted to mine under the castle’s defences.
Picture of the mining and countermining during the first siege
Again here is an extract from Nathan Drake’s diary of 24th January:
‘…they come to be p’tners with the Guydo Faulks to die downe towards to the divell, to undermine us and to blow us up by theire sevrall mines… but, we p’ceiving theire intentions, we answered them at theire owne weapones and myned as fast as they, sinkinge in s’vrall places within the Castle and mining from thence….’
This diary entry was made retrospectively, which shows that the bombardment was a cover up for this to occur. The success of the undermining depended upon being able to dig a tunnel under the defences of the Castle, then to locate, reveal and underpin the foundations with timber supports, then add gunpowder to the mine and ignite it. This would cause the supports to collapse and (hopefully) simultaneously collapse the defences above. The besieged countermined whilst the seigers were mining. These counter- mines were made for sounding or listening shafts, so that they could hear and combat the enemy underground. It was however difficult to determine the depth of the enemy, and the direction was equally difficult to find. Although there is no archaeological evidence to prove that the mines at the inner face of the curtain wall inside the Bakehouse, Elizabethan Tower and Constable Tower, their locations are consistent with the time and locations of the mining by the enemy.
A countermine shaft found
Under the Elizabethan Tower,
It’s diameter is 1m
A pickaxe found under the
Gatehouse.
There is no evidence of mining and countermining in the next two sieges. The first siege ended on 1st March 1645, due to the arrival of the Royalist Forces of Sir Marmaduke Langdale, his victory over the besiegers at the Battle of Chequerfield effectively ended the first siege.
The second siege of Pontefract Castle started on 11th March 1645, just ten days after the first siege ended. The second siege was totally different tactically to the first, this time the besiegers blockaded the Castle with intricate earthwork systems with interval forts and redoubts for men and artillery. Eventually the siegeworks gradually closed upon All Saints Church, which at this time was the only Royalist stronghold outside the Castle. This was the only place that the besieged could forage for animal fodder, but this was becoming more and more hazardous. As time went on the men could no longer forage and so on the 20th July 1645 the Royalists surrendered The All Saints Church. After four months of incessant cannonades, attacks and sorties the Parliamentarians took over the town. As the surrender had been an honourable one, the Parliamentary General Poyntz, allowed them to march away to Newark.
A projected plan of the Royalist ditches
An imaginary picture of the
Royalists ditch
Just three years later in 1648 the Royalists successfully retook control of the Castle, they had gained support from the Scottish Presbyterians.
The third siege, as well as the previous one, was recorded by Captain Thomas Paulden, one of the four Royalist brothers, his evidence is so reliable as he was an eyewitness to most of the goings on. The Royalists thought that they would need to retake the Castle, as up north in Scotland the Duke of Hamilton and Marmaduke Langdale were planning an attack and as the Castle overlooked the Great North Road, it was a highly important piece of land to own.
Before the third siege, an attempt was made to storm the Castle. The Royalist sympathiser Corporal Floyd who was in the Castle, attempted to ensure that the sentry on guard was also a Royalist sympathiser. This never happened however and he got so drunk that he fell asleep and the Royalists scaling the wall were see by the guard and raised the alarm. Because of this, General Cotterell decided to bring all of this troops into the Castle which was about 100 men. William Paulden and Morris with about nine others made an audacious attempt, they pretended to be delivering extra beds for the garrison, this enabled them to enter the fortress, and surprise the guards who ended up being locked in the dungeons with the governor (Cotterell). Once this had occurred around 500 men entered the Castle and gathered provisions for yet another siege.
The third siege was supervised by Major General Lambert, this was the most successful of all the sieges as the Royalists ‘honourably’ surrendered after five months, again mainly due to famine. Although the execution of their King, Charles the first, was also a major influence, they only lasted two months without him. They surrendered on 22nd March 1649.
