Helmsley Castle

We are down in North Yorkshire, and stopped off at the very pleasant market town of Helmsley on the way down. While my wife toured the shops, I made for the excellent castle, one of the largest in the area. I haven't visited it for more than 15 years.

The castle was constructed of wood around 1120. In 1186, Robert de Ros began work on converting the castle to stone. It was to stay with the family throughout the Middle Ages. It was sold in the Tudor period, and a mansion was built within the walls.

The castle was built on an outcrop of rock on the north bank of the River Rye. The main ward, roughly rectangular, was surrounded by high curtain walls with towers at the corners. The castle keep, known as the East Tower, lay about halfway along the east wall. The castle was surrounded by two deep, steep-sided ditches separated by a bank. The main gate to the castle was in the south-east corner of the curtain wall. This gate was protected by the massive Southern Barbican, which stood on an enlarged section of the bank between the two ditches.

Southern barbican 

It was a Royalist stronghold in North Yorkshire during the First English Civil War. It was besieged by Parliamentarian forces in September 1644 and surrendered on 22 November after a two- to three-month siege. The damage you can see today is largely a result of the deliberate slighting of the castle after the siege. It was later sold to the Duncombe family, who built a nearby mansion, and the castle was allowed to deteriorate, with locals helping themselves to much of the stonework.

Despite that, there is still plenty to see, including the keep and Tudor mansion. You can also get a good impression of how strong this castle was. This is good farming country that, in the Middle Ages, could have supported a large castle. Well worth a look.