Bolton Castle

Bolton Castle stands in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, a fourteenth-century quadrangular castle built between 1378 and 1399 by Richard, 1st Baron Scrope. The castle remains in the hands of the Scrope family’s descendants and is a Grade I listed building. During the English Civil War it was damaged and partly slighted but much of the structure survived. The licence to build was granted in July 1379 and the mason John Lewyn oversaw construction. The castle’s walls were once the highest of any private house, according to Sir Francis Knollys. The castle’s history includes a dramatic episode when Mary, Queen of Scots, was held prisoner here for six months in 1568. Her keeper, Sir Francis Knollys, described the castle as very strong, fair and stately in the old manner of building. Mary occupied Henry Scrope’s apartments in the South-West tower with a household of thirty men and six ladies-in-waiting. Local tapestries, rugs and furniture were borrowed to make the castle fit for a queen, and Elizabeth I loaned pewter vessels and a copper kettle. Visitors walk through restored sections of the castle and see the ruined parts alongside. A garden on the site contains a maze, herb garden, wild flower meadow, rose garden and a vineyard. Falconry displays take place in some months. The surrounding village of Castle Bolton takes its name from the castle, and nearby cliffs called The Shawl recall Mary’s lost shawl during her brief escape attempt. The castle has also served as a film location for productions such as Ivanhoe and All Creatures Great and Small.