The following article was first presented as one of the famous ‘Scrabble’ talks to members and friends of our Branch at a General Meeting. To encourage speakers from within the Branch, some draw a Scrabble tile from a bag and are asked to prepare a ten-minute talk on a subject with a Ricardian or medieval connection beginning with the letter they have drawn.
Ludlow (for a map, click here) is believed to be one of the series of castles built to hold back the unconquered Welsh. Walter de Lacy who was second in command to William Fitz Osbern, who came over with William the Conqueror, owned land around Ludlow in Shropshire, and began the building. His sons, Roger and later Hugh, built the earliest surviving parts of the castle. Read the rest of this entry »
Skipton Castle in North Yorkshire (for a map, click here) is of special Ricardian relevance for me because this is where I first heard of the existence of the Richard III Society. However, that is not the only connection between the castle and Richard III – it actually belonged to him.
Skipton Castle (photograph by Dorothea Preis)
The history of the castle goes back to William the Conqueror, who granted the land around Skipton to Robert de Romille, who built the first wooden castle on this site. A castle at Skipton is first mentioned in 1130. The wooden structure was replaced by a stone castle between 1194 and 1241. Read the rest of this entry »
