Friday, March 18, 2011

Castle Bolton, North Yorkshire Dales

Castle Bolton, west of Leyburn in the Yorkshire  Dales

Castle Bolton, just west of Leyburn, in the heart of Wensleydale

I thought the various layers of stone were so interesting!


Looking across the valley toward Pen Hill


American Tourist in Castle Courtyard

Bolton Castle was built by Sir Richard le Scrope, Lord Chancellor of England to Richard II. The licence to crennelate [build a fortification, evidently] was granted... and building commenced in 1379 and was completed in 1399. The family had raised to prominence a generation before under Sir Henry Le Scrope who was Chief Justice of The Kings Bench, Chief Justice of The Common Pleas and father of Sir Richard. - from www.boltoncastle.co.uk



The portcullis. Wouldn't it be cool to have one of these in your home!





Mary, Queen of Scots fled to England after losing The Battle of Langside in April 1568. She landed at Workington, travelling from there to Cockermouth and from thence to Carlisle. Scrope was at court at the time, but hurried north with Sir Francis Knollys to take charge of her. They moved her to Bolton on 16 th July. She arrived only with the clothes she stood up in. Sir George Bowes sent her tapestries and turkey rugs to make her stay more comfortable. The Earl of Northumberland sent her venison. Scrope wrote to James Stuart, Earl of Moray, asking him to send on Marys' belongings which she had left behind in Loch Leven Castle. He sent pack horses and several car loads but 'there was but one gown of taffeta, the other riding cloaks and the such-like'. Scrope wrote again and the remainder of her belongings were despatched. This next consignment contained 'Her Cloth of Estate, ' which she hung in the Great Chamber. - from www.boltoncastle.co.uk



Mary Queen of Scots
Imprisoned at Bolton from July 1568 to January 1569


It was during Mary's stay at Bolton that The Commission sat at York to discuss what should happen to her. The Earl of Moray wanted Mary returned to Scotland to face a charge of being involved in the murder of her husband Lord Darnley. ibid.


Apparently no one was fond of cleaning toilets back then either.


The amazing maze as seen from the near-roof of Bolton Castle


The gardens with Pen Hill in the distance

And just in case you want to build your own Bolton Castle out of Legos, I found this cool web site:
Legos are wonderful things, unless you accidentally kneel on one.

For more of the account of Mary Queen of Scots and her imprisonment at Bolton Castle, read here.

Won't someone please clean that toilet!



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12 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures. Did you go into the Wensleydale Heifer Pub? James Wight (aka James Herroit)went there a lot. It has great food.

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  2. Great post, as usual! Love the stones in the fence. And yes! Someone please clean that toilet is right! LOL

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  3. I love these little history lessons! Actually, history was one of my favorite subjects in school :) I love the pictures...as always, thanks for sharing!

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  4. What a fascinating history! And a fascinating castle!

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  5. Wow! Remarkable! So amazing to see it live and in person. I'm so jealous.

    Lots of yummy love,
    Alex, aka Ma What's For Dinner
    www.mawhats4dinner.com

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  6. Beautiful photos, Judy! Well, except that one--can't exactly call it beautiful, not till someone cleans that thing! Did you have any Wensleydale cheese when you were in the area?

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  7. Your toilet reminded me of a castle we saw in Germany where they all moved to a different castle to solve the cleaning issues!?

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  8. Judy, your photos are so wonderful! I'm always transported to a faraway place and learn so much while I'm there. Thank you for sharing! I hope you get to go back across the pond someday soon and that you take us all with you. Blessings for the coming week, Candace

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  9. STUNNING! So relaxing and beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

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  10. I find it embarrassing to admit that although I have passed the building visible on the other side of the Wensleydale valley and from the railway, I still have to pay it a visit. Last year I tried to re-connect with Yorkshire after spending a lot of time in the south west. Your pictures of the internal courtyard wooden architecture inspires me and add the need to add this to the growing list of "to do". I did a walk last year that I organised with church friends from Wensley - Leyburn - Preston under scar triangle and managed to get a picture of Pen hill to put on an early blog post. It seems that Mary Queen of Scots leaves her trail everywhere and this is one place that she chose not to visit ! Cool lego castles ... can't believe they put number 6 on there which reminds me that I need to go and do some camera work there soon. Lastly, it's nice to know that the Northumbrians look after people ;-) .... even though it didn't stretch to cleaning the toilets !!

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  11. Thanks for showing me some more of the country I live in ;) great post
    See Yea George xxx

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