PONTEFRACT CASTLE
REPRODUCED FROM THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE,
AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
Vol. XIX. No. 531. JANUARY 28, 1832.
An engraving depicting Pontefract
Castle in the year 1648
Pontefract,
a place of considerable note in English history, is situated about two
miles southwest from Ferrybridge, nine miles nearly east from Wakefield,
and fifteen miles northwest from Doncaster, in Yorkshire. The origin of
the town is unknown; and the etymology of its name has been a matter of
dispute, in which figures a monkish legend ascribing the name of
Ponsfractus, or Pontefract, to the breaking of a bridge, and the fall of
many persons into the river Aire, who were miraculously saved by St.
William, Archbishop of York. The river Ouse and the city of York,
however, put in a stronger claim as the scene of this miracle, and
unfortunately for Pontefract, the town is so named in charters of
fifty-three years' date before the miracle is pretended to have been
performed. Still the etymology is referable to the breaking down of
"some bridge," (pons, bridge; fractus,
broken,) but this unravelment is not antiquarian. Camden says, that in
the Saxon times, the name of this town was Kirkby, which was changed by
the Normans to Pontefract, because of a broken bridge that was there.
But as there is no river within two miles of the place, this bridge
appears to have been built over the Wash, which lies about a quarter of
a mile to the east of the Castle. Other researches prove Pontefract to
have been a secondary and subordinate Roman station.
The history of the Castle is, of course, involved in that of the manor. The
town is stated to have been a burgh in the time of Edward the Confessor;
but how long it had enjoyed this privilege is uncertain. After the
Conquest, this manor, with 150 others, or the greatest part of so many
in Yorkshire, besides ten in Nottinghamshire, and four in Lincolnshire,
were given by William to Hildebert, or Ilbert de Lacy, one of his Norman
followers, who built the Castle. The work occupied twelve years,
and it was finished in 1080. The labour and expense of its erection was
so great, that no person unless in the possession of a princely fortune,
could have completed a work of such magnitude.
Hildebert was succeeded by his son Robert, commonly called Robert de Pontefract,
from his being born at that town. Robert enjoyed his vast possessions in
peace during the reign of William Rufus but after the accession of Henry
I he, with more ambition than prudence, joined with Robert, Duke of
Normandy, the King's brother, who claimed the crown of England. In
consequence of this transaction, Robert de Lacy was banished the realm,
and the castle and honour of Pontefract were given by the King to Henry
Traverse, and afterwards to Henry De-laval. Robert de Lacy was however,
restored after a few years exile and the property continued in the Lacy
family till the year 1193, when another Robert de Lacy dying without
issue, the estate and honour of Pontefract devolved on his uterine
sister Aubrey de Lisours, who carried these estates of the Lacys by
marriage to Richard Fitz-Eustace, constable of Chester. Thence they
descended to John Fitz-Eustace, who accompanied Richard I in his
crusade, and is said to have died at Tyre in Palestine. Roger, his
eldest son, also in the crusade, succeeded to his honour and estates. He
was present with Richard at the memorable siege of Acre. On his return
to England he was the first of his family that took the name of Lacy, in
which Pontefract Castle continued till 1310, when Henry de Lacy, through
default of male issue, left his possessions to his daughter and heiress,
Alice, who was married to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster; and, in case of a
failure of issue from that marriage, he entailed them on the King and
his heirs.
The Earl of Lancaster, it will be remembered, became embroiled with Edward
II and his minion Gaveston, who partly through the interference of
Lancaster, was beheaded at Warwick after a siege in Scarborough Castle.
The King swore vengeance for the death of his favourite, which led this
weak sovereign into a long series of dissension’s with the barons, at
the head of whom, was the Earl of Lancaster. Both parties now flew to
arms, but Lancaster soon found himself ill supported by his compeers,
and marching northward for reinforcements from the celebrated Bruce,
King of Scotland, the King in the meantime, sent the Earl of Surrey and
Kent to besiege the castle of Pontefract, which surrendered at the first
summons. Lancaster was next closely pursued by the king with great
superiority of numbers. The Earl, endeavouring to rally his troops, was
taken prisoner, with ninety-five barons and knights, and carried to the
castle of Pontefract, where he was imprisoned in a tower which Leland
says he had newly made towards the abbey, This tower was square: its
wall of great strength, being 10-1/2 feet thick; nor was there any other
entrance into the interior than by a hole or trap-door in the floor of
the turret: so that the prisoner must have been let down into this abode
of darkness, from whence there could be no possible mode of escape; the
room was twenty-five feet square.
A few days after, the King being at Pontefract ordered him to be arraigned
in the hall of the castle, before a small number of peers, among whom
were the Spencer’s, his mortal enemies. The earl was condemned to be
hanged, drawn, and quartered; but the punishment was changed to
decapitation. After sentence was passed, he said, "Shall I die
without answer?" He was not, however, permitted to speak; but a
certain Gascoign took him away, and having put an old hood over his
head, set him on a lean mare without a bridle. Being attended by a
Dominican friar as his confessor, he was carried out of the town amidst
the insults of the people; and there beheaded. Thus fell Thomas, Earl of
Lancaster, the first Prince of the Blood, being uncle to Edward II who
condemned him to death. Several of his adherents were hanged at
Pontefract.
The next royal blood that stained Pontefract castle was that of King Richard
II who was here murdered or starved to death; though there is a
tradition that it was merely given out that Richard had starved himself
to death, and that he escaped from Pontefract to Mull, whence he shortly
proceeded to the mainland of Scotland, where, for nineteen years, he was
entertained in an honourable but secret captivity. The matter remains in
tragic darkness. In the succeeding reign of Henry IV, Richard Scroope,
Archbishop of York, being taken prisoner, was in Pontefract castle,
condemned to death. Next in the calendar of atrocities committed within
these drear walls, were the murders of Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers;
Richard, Lord Grey; Sir Thomas Vaughan; and Sir Richard Hawse, in 1483;
by Richard III., whom Shakspeare makes to whine forth:
O
Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison!
Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
Within the guilty closure of thy walls,
Richard II here was hack'd to death;
And for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give to thee our guiltless blood to drink.
We may now pass over matters of minor importance in the history of
Pontefract to the time of Charles I. In the King's contest with his
Parliament, this was the last fortress that held out for the unfortunate
monarch. At Christmas 1644, Sir Thomas Fairfax laid siege to the castle
and on January 19, following, after an incessant cannonade of three
days, a breach was made: the brave garrison would not surrender; the
besiegers mined, but the besieged counter-mined, and the work of
slaughter went on till the garrison were greatly reduced. At length the
Parliamentarians were attacked and repulsed by a reinforcement of
Royalists from Oxford, and thus ended the first siege of Pontefract. In
March 1645, the enemy again took possession of the town, and after three
months cannonade, the garrison being reduced almost to a state of
famine, surrendered the castle by an honourable capitulation on June 20.
Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed governor, and he, thinking the royal
party to be subdued, appointed a colonel as his substitute, with a
garrison of 100 men. The royalists next by stratagem recovered
Pontefract, of which Sir John Digby was appointed governor.
The third and final siege of this fine castle commenced in October 1648.
General Rainsborough was appointed to the command of the army, but he
being previously intercepted at Doncaster, Oliver Cromwell undertook to
conduct the siege. After having remained a month before the fortress,
without making any impression on its massy walls, Cromwell joined the
grand army under Fairfax, and General Lambert, being appointed commander
in chief of the forces before the castle, arrived at Pontefract on the
4th of December.
The ENGRAVING represents the castle precisely at this period. It is copied
from a large print taken from a drawing found in the possession of a
descendant of the Fairfax family of Denton; in one angle is the
following memorandum: "Governor Morris commanded in the Castle.
General Lambert commanded the Siege, being appointed thereto on the
death of General Rainsborough, who was intercepted and killed at
Doncaster, by a party from the Castle, as he was going to take
command."
General Lambert raised new works, and vigorously pushed the siege; but the
besieged held out. On January 30, 1649, the King was beheaded; and the
news no sooner reached Pontefract, than the royalist garrison proclaimed
his son Charles II and made a vigorous and destructive sally against
their enemies. The Parliamentarians, however, prevailed, and on March
25, 1649, the garrison being reduced from 500 or 600 to 100 men,
surrendered by capitulation. Six of the principal Royalists were
excepted from mercy: two escaped, but were retaken and executed at York;
the third was killed in a sortie; and the three others concealing
themselves among the ruins of the castle, escaped after the surrender;
and two of the last lived to see the Restoration.
This third siege was the most destructive to the castle: the tremendous
artillery had shattered its massive walls; and its demolition was
completed by order of Parliament. Within two months after its reduction,
the buildings were unroofed, and all the materials sold. Thus was this
princely fortress reduced to a heap of ruins.
The Castle of Pontefract was built on an elevated rock, commanding extensive
and picturesque views. The north-west prospect takes in the beautiful
vale along which flows the Aire, skirted by woods and plantations. It is
bounded only by the hills of Craven. The north and east prospect is more
extensive, but the scenery is not equally striking and impressive. The
towers of York Minster are distinctly seen and the prospect is only
bounded by the limits of vision. To the east, while the eye follows the
course of the Aire towards the Humber, the fertility of the country, the
spires of churches, and two considerable hills, Brayton Barf, and
Hambleton Haugh, which rise in the midst of a plain, and one of which is
covered with wood, increase the beauty of the scene. The southeast view
includes part of the counties of Lincoln and Nottingham. To the south
and southwest, the towering hills of Derbyshire, stretching towards
Lancashire, form the horizon, while the foreground is a picturesque
country variegated with handsome residences.
The Castle, by its situation as well as by its structure, was rendered
almost impregnable. It was not commanded by any contiguous hills, and it
could only be taken by blockade.
By referring to the Engraving, the reader will better understand this
defence. The outworks are there distinctly shown with the respective
posts and guards: indeed, these lines exhibit a fine specimen of
fortification. The quadrangular enclosure on the crest of the hill, in
the lower part of the Engraving, represents Lamberts' Fort Royal. To the
right is the approach to the castle by the south gate to the barbican,
crossed by a wall, with the middle gate, with the east gate at the
extremity of the line. We next approach the ballium, or castle yard
through the Porter's Lodge of two towers with a portcullis. The wall of
the castle yard, it will be seen, has a parapet, and is flanked with
towers, and the chapel to the right of the Lodge. East and West of the
yard is seen the semi-circular moat or ditch; and on an eminence near
the western extremity of the ballium, stands the keep or round tower,
the walls of which are said to have been twenty-one feet thick. The
staterooms are on the second storey. The dungeons of the towers are
terrific even in description: one was about 15 feet deep, and scarcely
six feet square, without any admission of light. The whole area occupied
by the Pontefract fortress seems to have been about 7 acres, now
converted into garden ground.
The church seen within the work is that of All Saints, or Allhallows,
a Gothic structure, probably of the time of Henry III, and almost
destroyed in the sieges of the castle.
Pontefract must be numbered in our recollections of childhood; since here were
grown whole fields of liquorice root, from the extract of which are made
Pontefract Cakes, impressed with the arms - three lions passant
gardant, surmounted with a helmet, full-forward, open faced, and
garde-visure. We have likewise seen them impressed with the celebrated
fortress, and the motto "Post mortem patris pro filio," -
after the death of the father - for the son - denoting the loyalty of
the Pontefract Royalists in proclaiming Charles II at the death of his
father.
Reproduced from
‘The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction’
Vol. XIX. No. 531. January 28, 1832
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