Richmond Castle
Richmond Castle occupies a triangular site of no strategic importance high above the River Swale in Swaledale.
There is a Barbican at the apex of the triangular Great Court, to the east of which is the Cockpit, a walled private garden. The Keep is built on the original gatehouse, the inner archway of which still survives. The Great Hall (Scotland's Hall) is in the southeast corner of the Great Court and is thought to be the oldest domestic building of its kind in England. Unlike most 11th century castles, Richmond was built in stone from the outset and few other English Castles have such an amount of masonry from the first twenty or so years after the Norman Conquest.
Alan the Red, son of Eudes, Count of Penthievre, began the building of Richmond Castle in 1071. Alan and his two brothers held the Honour and Castle of Richmond until 1137 when his nephew, another Alan succeeded. Through his marriage to the heiress of the Duke of Brittany, Richmond and the Duchy of Brittany became closely connected. This connection lasted until 1399 when the Honour and Castle were granted to Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland.
The Honour and Earldom of Richmond then passed through various hands including Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, Edmund Tudor (father of Henry VII) and the crown. In 1462 it was granted to George, Duke of Clarence, on whose demise in 1478, it passed to Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
Ralph Taylor
