Channel4.com Text Only
[ News
| Homes
| Life
| Entertainment
| History
| Science
| Community
| Shop ]
| Sport
| Culture
| Cars
| Money
| Broadband
| Learning
| Health
| Dating
| Games ]
[ Text Only: Homepage ]
[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
Pontefract
Once Pontefract, in West Yorkshire, was the site of one of the most impressive
castles in Britain. The castle is mentioned in the Domesday
Book, and one of its many famous prisoners was Richard
II, who languished here after his overthrow in 1399. Richard subsequently
died in the castle.
Today all that remains are a few lumps of wall. The rest was reduced to rubble
after the English
Civil War of the 1640s. The scale and speed of the demolition is testament
to how hated castles became during the course of the conflict.
A tale of three sieges
Founded shortly after the Norman
Conquest, Pontefract grew over six centuries to become one of the most impressive
castles in Britain. A picture of the castle painted between 1625 and 1630 gives
some idea of how magnificent it must have looked on the eve of the its destruction.
Today, aerial photographs give a good impression of the enormous size of the castle's
site.
Pontefract was besieged three times during the English Civil War. In each case
it was held by a Royalist garrison and besieged by a Parliamentary army. The first
two sieges (really one long siege with a 10-day interruption) ended in the summer
of 1645. After the fall of the castle, Parliament decided to repair and garrison
Pontefract rather than destroy it. This proved to be a mistake, as the castle
was retaken by local Royalists in July 1648.
Third time unlucky
We know a great deal about the third siege because, many years later, one of
the Royalists, Captain Thomas Paulden, then aged 78, wrote a detailed account
of what happened. In a letter to a friend, Paulden explained how he and his
comrades had first tried to take the castle by climbing over the walls using
scaling ladders under cover of darkness. This plan, however, failed when they
were spotted and the alarm was raised.
Realising that a Royalist plot was afoot, the Parliamentary governor of the
castle summoned more troops from the town, and at the same time ordered more
beds for them to sleep on. Paulden and his friends then disguised themselves
as bed delivery men and walked straight into the castle. Once inside, they threw
off their disguises and imprisoned the surprised parliamentary garrison in the
castle's cellar. Some of their names can still be seen carved on the cellar
walls.
Enter Cromwell
Parliamentary troops immediately began to besiege the castle, but their initial
efforts were frustrated by the incompetent and divided leadership of local commanders.
The situation did not improve until the arrival of Oliver Cromwell in October
1648. Cromwell was under no illusion about the difficulty of breaking Pontefract.
'The castle is very well known as one of the strongest in the kingdom,' he wrote
to Parliament, at the same time ordering 500 barrels of gunpowder, 1,800 cannon
balls, six cannon and three mortars.
Remarkably, even when Cromwell's mighty arsenal arrived, the garrison inside
the castle refused to give up. However, their position became increasingly hopeless
after the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649, and by March they had been
persuaded to surrender.
Demolition work
Immediately after the siege, Parliament voted to demolish the castle and went
to work with astounding thoroughness. In this they were helped by the people
of Yorkshire, who greatly desired to see the castle destroyed after the misery
it had brought them throughout the Civil War.
The castle today
The castle site was converted into a park in the late 19th century and opened
to the public as an ancient monument in 1988 after extensive archaeological investigation.
The site is still owned by the Queen.
Graphic version
Includes layout and images.
Top
of page
[ Text Only: Homepage ]
[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Access Advice ]
[ HTML 4.01 TR Approved ]