6d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Fleece Hotel," etc.
=Alternative Route.=--Train from St. Pancras _via_ Sheffield. Midland
Railway.
Richmond was a place of considerable importance at the time of the
Norman Conquest, when William I. gave the title of Richmond to his
kinsman, Alan Rufus, on his obtaining the estates of the Saxon Earl
Edwin, which then extended over nearly a third of the North Riding of
Yorkshire. When Henry VII., who was Earl of Richmond, came to the
throne, these possessions reverted to the Crown, and many years later
Charles II. gave the title to the Lennoxes, with whose descendants it
still remains.
The castle, which is the most striking feature of Richmond, stands on an
almost perpendicular rock, 100 feet above the level of the Swale, and in
its best days must have been practically impregnable. The structure is
now in ruins, though the Norman keep with pinnacled corner towers is
still intact, the walls being over 100 feet high and 11 feet thick. At
the south-east corner is the ruin of a smaller tower, beneath which is a
dungeon 15 feet deep, and at the south-western corner is another lofty
tower. The castle originally covered five acres, and from its
magnificent position commanded the whole of the surrounding country.
The church, standing on the hillside near the castle, is full of
interest, and has been admirably restored by Sir Gilbert Scott, who used
the old materials as far as possible. The greater part of the choir and
the tower are Perpendicular, the rest Decorated, and two of the old
Norman piers remain at the west end.
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