A visit for a few days to stay with my mum after her latest hospital visit for her monthly eye check gave me the opportunity to visit the impressive old castle at Conisbrough.
The present 13th-century and later stone castle of Conisbrough probably stands on a site first fortified with earthworks by King William's trusted supporter William of Warenne, soon after the Norman Conquest. Warenne's great-grandaughter married Hamelin Plantagenet - an illegitimate son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, and thus half-brother of King Henry II - who built the existing castle at some time between 1163 and 1202, probably during the 1180s. The magnificent keep is very finely built of high-quality stone, and of very unusual and advanced design. Cylindrical keeps, stronger than earlier rectangular keeps with their vulnerable corners, were becoming fashionable in the late 12th century, but only Conisbrough's also features a ring of wedge-shaped buttresses, whose tops may have served as turrets for archers. The curtain walls, built soon after the keep, feature very early examples of semi-circular turrets, another advanced development in castle-building.
Conisbrough Castle hosted short royal visits from King John in 1201, and Edward II in 1322. From 1347 it became part of the estates of the royal Dukes of York: Richard 'of Conisbrough', Earl of Cambridge, younger son of the first duke, was probably born here, and after his execution for plotting against Henry V in 1415 it was occupied by his widow until her death in 1446. Thereafter however it gradually fell out of use, and by 1538 it was already ruinous and indefensible. Thus it avoided damage during the English Civil War.
As a child I remember the keep as a ruined shell, but a few years ago it was re-roofed, and floors put in at the various levels, with period recreations in each room.
Though the castle's famous appearance in Sir Walter Scott's novel 'Ivanhoe' has made Conisbrough famous throughout the world, the events described there are of course purely fictitious.
The shot on the left shows the exterior of the castle keep, while that on the right shows the Lord's chamber inside the keep.
A site well worth a visit, although you will have to wait eight months before it is open again - new visitor facilities are being created close by, and some changes made to the recreations in the various rooms.
Further information from
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/conisbrough-castle/history/ and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conisbrough_Castle
Ian
Thank you Richard - I do enjoy exploring and photographing historic sites
Ian
Thank you Graham - it is a fascinating historical site.
Ian
Thank you Gayanne, glad you like them.
Ian
Thank you Bob - it is a very unusual design, in fact unique in Britain although there is a smaller and much-ruined keep of similar type and date at Mortemer near Dieppe in northern France.
Ian
Thank you Ferry - I do love investigating historical sites!
Ian
Thank you Padlock - glad you like it!
Ian
Thank you Therese - I did take rather a lot of photos and it was hard to know what to share!
Ian
Thank you Hazel - the full background story is fascinating!
Ian
Thank you Sarah - it was amazing how the light changed from my first shot of the outside and this shot taken after I'd spend some time getting shots of the interior, and the panorama from the roof.
Ian
Thank you Malc - the full story of this castle is quite fascinating.
Ian
Thank you Molly. This is the first time I've taken digital photos in Conisbrough, and it was a fascinating town centre to explore.
Ian
Thank you Karen - I love exploring historical sites!
Ian
Thank you Brian - it's a fascinating building and the full story of it's history is quite absorbing.
Ian
Thank you Lee - it looks most impressive from across the valley too, but I didn't have chance to get across there on this trip.
Ian
Thank you Colie - I was torn between showing the inside or outside, so I thought I'd better include both!
Ian
Thank you Laura - it was an interesting place. I'm looking forward to seeing the new visitor centre when it reopens next spring.
Ian