Pontefract

Pontefract grew beneath one of the great castles of northern England. The fortress became a royal possession after Henry Bolingbroke took the throne in 1399; his predecessor Richard II died there in captivity in 1400. Its walls continued to dominate the market town and the routes through the West Riding. During the Civil Wars the castle held a Royalist garrison and endured three sieges. After its final surrender in 1649, the people of Pontefract had suffered years of fighting and loss. Parliament ordered the stronghold demolished that April, leaving ruins where a formidable fortress had once stood.