Pontefract Castle

Some way east but still within Wakefield’s city limits, Pontefract Castle had a fearsome reputation in Medieval times.

The castle was laid low in the Civil War in 1649 as it had been a Royalist stronghold and withstood a series of sieges.

But large pieces of the curtain wall are still standing, as well as the lower portions of the multi-lobed keep and the basement of the tower where Richard II was imprisoned at the end of the 14th century after being captured by his successor Henry Bollingbroke.

Richard is believed to have died at this place in 1400, most likely through starvation.

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