Richmond Castle

Richmond Castle stands on a steep hill above the River Swale in the market town of Richmond, North Yorkshire. Built by Alan Rufus soon after the Norman Conquest, it was originally called Riche Mount. The Domesday Book of 1086 already records a ‘castlery’ here. Conan, Alan’s great-nephew, enlarged the fortress in the 12th century and added the massive sandstone keep. Although it fell into ruin by the 16th century, later restorations saved the keep and its thick walls. The castle is one of the best-preserved early Norman fortresses in England and remains an important visitor site. The keep, rising about thirty metres, was strengthened by Henry II with eleven-foot-thick walls and a barbican. Inside, Edward I’s improvements can still be seen. The castle also served as a prison for conscientious objectors during the First World War, including the Richmond Sixteen. Visitors enter through the original 11th-century gate arch now exposed in the keep’s basement. The keep’s summit offers wide views across Richmond and the Swale valley. The Cockpit, a riverside enclosure once used as a garden, has traces of a balcony overlooking the water. Scolland’s Hall, the great medieval hall, once had its own riverside balcony. In the cell block, over two thousand examples of graffiti remain, carved by prisoners from the 19th century to the 1970s.