Guidebook: Middleham Castle

Middleham Castle stands above the small market town of Middleham in North Yorkshire. To the south-west is an earth mound, all that is left of the first castle, which was built during the Norman Conquest by Alan the Red, one of William the Conqueror’s right-hand men. By the late 13th century the Nevilles held Middleham and, over the next 200 years, while they dominated the north of England they turned it into a castle fit for a king. Indeed, after the death of the Earl of Warwick, the mighty ‘Kingmaker’, during the Wars of the Roses, the castle passed to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III. Richard had spent many years of his childhood at Middleham as part of Warwick’s household. It was Warwick’s younger daughter, Anne Neville, whom he married, and it was at Middleham that their only son, Prince Edward, died. Middleham’s fortunes declined after Richard’s death at Bosworth in 1485. It was probably leased out for farming and industrial purposes and in 1926 came into the care of the State. Yet its great tower, one of the largest in the country, and its staunch walls, recall its days as the residence of some of the most powerful men in the land. This beautifully illustrated new guidebook to Middleham Castle gives a full tour and history of the remains of this important site, once home to England’s most controversial king. Key Features: 48 pages Paperback Published in 2015