Middleham Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Midleham; Myllam

In the civil parish of Middleham.
In the historic county of Yorkshire North Riding (Modern Authority of North Yorkshire, 1974 county of North Yorkshire).

The standing remains of a Norman keep, begun in the mid-C12, C14 curtain wall and later domestic buildings. The keep is of the rarer type of tower keep, known as a hall keep. It is rectangular in plan, measuring 32m by 24m, with ashlar faced walls up to 3.7m thick. Although the keep must have had outer defences, the only standing remains at Middleham are of the curtain wall round the inner ward, which was first built in the early C14. The earliest sections consist of a 7.3m high wall with a parapet walk, extant on all four sides of the enclosure, and the bases of the main gatehouses and three corner towers. The tower keep was begun by Ralph FitzRanulph. After being forfeited to the Crown in 1471, Edward IV then gave it to his brother Richard of Gloucester, later Richard III. After Richard's death, Middleham passed to Henry VII and remained Crown property until 1604 when it was given by James I to Sir Henry Lindley.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle
Palace.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Major remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 321659)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SE12678762

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 50873

• Web site links
  • http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/castles/middleham%20castle.htm
    http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/england/middleham/middleham.php
    http://www.dales-castles.org.uk/middleham.htm
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/99/middlehamcastle.htm
    http://www.touruk.co.uk/castles/castle_Middleham.htm
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.371
    http://www.norman-world.com/angleterre/Patrimoine_architectural/Angleterre/Castles/middl/Middlhm.htm
    http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/easy_results.asp?index=1&main_query=middleham%20castle
    http://www.sine.newcastle.ac.uk/view_structure_information.asp?struct_id=186
• Books
  • Jackson, M.J., 2001, Castles of North Yorkshire (Carlise) p42-46
    Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p60-3
    Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p62-3
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p368
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p292-3
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p521
    Morley, B.M., 1981, ‘Aspects of fourteenth-century castle design' in A Detsicas (ed), Collectanea Historica: Essays in Memory of Stuart Rigold (Kent Archaeological Society) p104-13
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p259-1
    Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1975, The history of the King's Works, vol3: 1485-1660 (part 1) (London) p226, 232n
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p243-4
    Garlick, Tom, 1972, Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p21
    Pevsner, N., 1966. The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: the North Riding (London, Penguin) p245-7
    Illingworth, J.L., 1938 (republished 1970), Yorkshire's Ruined Castles (Wakefield) p64-7
    Page, Wm (ed), 1914, VCH York, North Riding Vol1 p251-5
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p77-82
    Allcroft, A. Hadrian, 1908, Earthwork of England (London) p444-6
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p236-7
    Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England  (Wyman and Sons) Vol2 p293-300
    Whellan, T., 1859, History and Topography of the City of York and the North Riding of Yorkshire Vol2 p122-9
    Grainge, W., 1855, Castles and Abbeys of Yorkshire p332-40
    Britton, John, 1835, The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain (London) Vol4 p121-4
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol6 p132-42
• Journal Articles
  • Butler, Lawrence, 1992, 'The Origins of the Honour of Richmond and its Castles' Chateau-Gallard Vol16 p69-80 [Reprinted in Liddiard, Robert, (ed), 2003, Anglo-Norman Castles (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)]
    Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' Archaeological Journal Vol143 p320
    Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' Archaeological Journal Vol138 p217
    1971, Archaeological Journal Vol128 p190
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p249-280]
    Speight, H., 1897, Romantic Richmondshire p285-97
    1901, The Reliquary Vol7 p164-5
    Pritchett, 1887, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol43 p227-9
    1884, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol8 p74-7
    1874, The Builder Magazine Vol32 p624-5
    Clark, G.T., 1872, The Builder Magazine Vol30 p284-5 [reprinted in MMA]
    1814, Gentlemans Magazine Voll84 pt2 p318-9
    1806, Gentlemans Magazine Vol76 pt2 p627
• Guidebooks
  • Weaver, J., 1998 Rev edn, Middleham Castle (English Heritage)
    Weaver, J., 1993, Middleham Castle (English Heritage)
    Peers, C., 1978 [2edn], Middleham Castle (HMSO)
    Peers, C., 1943 [abridged], Middleham Castle (HMSO)
    Peers, C., 1933, Middleham Castle (HMSO)
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/yorkseng.html#yorks58]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p554, 564, 568, 570
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p79; Vol4 p26