Skipton Castle. The home of Lady Anne Clifford.(1590-1576). And so how come it has taken me ten years to visit this castle? Well ...It costs quite a lot of money to go inside. We did come to this castle on our honeymoon eleven years ago with Casper dog . We stayed at a hotel in Harrogate, back in the days when we had a big white van. This White van then became the subject of my blog called life on a rusty old van. Mind you the van was not rusty then. that came on slowly and one day I looked out of the window and had to rename the van Rusty.
Rusty van was so rusty in the end that parts of his body work were missing along with the floor.....any way. Those days are gone, and this day we visit a castle.
Not just any castle...this one is complete and almost as it would have been back in the days of our civil war, as Lady Anne Clifford had it restored after it was badly damaged.
They held out for three years? well yes I have been all round the public parts here and I am sure no one could break through this castle. I take it that there were secret ways in and out of this place as there are woods behind. I am guessing that is how they survived......
High above the battlements in Norman french is carved DESMORMAIS (henceforth) and there are four watch towers over the main gate.....
The gates were open today and Lee paid for us to go inside. I had looked up the prices but decided to keep quiet. Lee saw the entrance fee on the way in and began to baulk! I told him to "just zap the machine with a debit card..." so this he did. almost painless to him it was.
The guide told us that there is a chapel from the 12th century in the grounds. We headed there first. It is gorgeous and I had worked out how I was going to move in practically before I got inside.
12th century? the time when Alice de Romille was Lady of Skipton castle. The chapel is dedicated to St John the Evangelist.and was for the use of Lord and Lady of the Manor, their servants and the garrison stationed at Skipton. The last two times it was used were when Elizabeth Clifford married Lord Dungarvan in 1635 and when their daughter Katherine was baptised in 1637......the font has recently been restored to the chapel too......
Lee and I first came to this castle eleven years ago on honeymoon. This is the first time we have been inside since. I had with me my dog Casper who came with me from Cornwall. Over this time alot of restoration has gone on....and this chapel has had a lot of stonework repaired.
The chapel was damaged and fell into total disuse after the civil war, and was used as a byre and stables for a while.
If you can read it all here it is!
Gorgeous though isn't it?
I had with me the obligatory "bag of dolls"..........
This was the home and garrison of the Clifford family. The lands were granted to the family by Edward 11 in 1310 and Robert Clifford became Lord Clifford of Skipton and guardian of Craven.
Baron de Clifford was created in 1299 for Robert Clifford. The Norman family which took the name de Clifford came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066, First they settled in Clifford Castle in Herefordshire. The first Baron served as Earl Marshall of England as was killed at the battle of Banockburn in 1314. His eighth generation descendant the eleventh Earl was created Earl of Cumberland in 1525.Upon his death in 1605 the earldom passed to his younger brother.
The Barony was claimed in 1628 by his only daughter Lady Anne Clifford. She faught for the next forty years for her inheritance.
It is this court yard and the Lady Anne Clifford that brings me back to this castle after eleven years. ....I have wanted to come back every time we visit Skipton. This costs over £8.00 each! so it just was not happening.
Lady Anne Clifford was born in this castle in 1590 and spent most of her life claiming this castle. ....She became Countess of Pembrook, Dorset and Montgomery. She kept a fascinating diary and owned and lived in a string of castles which she lived in in turn. Once she received her rightful inheritance.
Lady Anne . Daughter of George Clifford and his wife Margaret Russell.
Her father was an experienced Courtier in the court of Queen Elizabeth 1. Little Anne was a favourite at court and much loved by the Queen.
She was educated by her mother and her tutor Samuel Daniel, studying Literature, history, the classics and religion.
When Anne was fifteen her father died. She expected to inherit her fathers vast estates. The Clifford lands included Skipton ,Brougham, Brough, and Apperley. These were left to Francis Clifford who was her father's brother. Anne was given £15,000 as compensation.
This was not good enough for Anne. The lands should have been hers. Anne determinedly carried on a complex legal battle . Even though it was decided by court judges that Anne was the rightful heir, her uncle refused to give up the estates.
In 1609 Anne married Richard Sackville 3rd Earl of Dorset and he joined her in the fight for her lands. It was then decided by court judges that Anne should be awarded half of the lands. Anne wanted all her rightful lands and refused. Her husband wanted her to accept as he just wanted the money anyway.
She defied her husband and the advice of king James 1 and continued to fight for all of her inheritance.
Her mother died in 1616. Mother had been her only allie, so her husband,and the king, James tried bullying her into accepting a reduced inheritance. after her mother's death there was no one to turn to for support. This caused her much ill health and she withdrew from social life.
Worse happened in 1617 when she again refused to accept an agreement and her lands were awarded to Earl Frances and his male heirs and Anne was given £17,000. Her husband took this for himself.
1643 Francis died and she eventually received her full inheritance.
By 1649 Anne was 60 years old. The civil war had happened. and only now as an old lady she had all the lands and castles of her inheritance.
Skipton castle is a vast warren of rooms and steep stairs. we were given a plan to follow. This is just as well because it is complicated!
banqueting hall....
This would have been the social centre of this medieval castle. The Lord and Lady Clifford, their guests and retainers would have dined here every day.
Lady Eleanor Brandon was the daughter of Charles Brandon (Henry V111 's best friend) and Mary Tudor Queen of France for a short while and sister to king HenryV111. In 1533 she was married to Henry Clifford and came to live at Skipton castle. On her marriage she became Countess of Cumberland.
Lee and the map of this castle warren......
Lee was in charge of the map. If it had been up to me we would still be there. I would have just moved in and not bothered to find my way back out.
This is the part where it got from slightly complicated following the map to very old and worn stairs . My balance is never good at the best of times. There are warnings that parts of this castle are hard to negitiate. Well this is that part. Going down the steep winding worn out stone steps I was going, even if I had to go on my backside! They are possibly 900 years old....so that will give you a clue as to how wonky this was.
once at the bottom.....
Then.....we went down again......
another lot of very characterful stairs to the dungeons......
Once down the characterful stairs we had to then go back up. this was a whole different challenge. I have trouble with up and down!!!!
And there we were. Nearly at the end of the adventure. This is what the insides of a castle would have looked like back in it's day.
We were on our own in this part of the castle.....so out of my bag came Gene doll......
Out of the castle we came into the bright warm sun light. We were just in time too. The place was filling up with school kids in crocodiles wearing flash coats with a throng of teachers. This is how they go out now? It amazes me a survived to adulthood. We had nothing like that. we were lucky if we had a teacher and a prefect with us.....I remember a trip to Flamingo Park zoo when I fell under one of the rides. I had to flatten myself on the floor so that a waltzer could go over me. If I had been fat I would have been a splat! no one much took any notice. I got out on my own rather quick before the next part of the ride came around, It wasn't stopped...as I say no one noticed.
Any way.....we took photos....
And then discovered we had nearly run out of parking time.
We watch out for that now...as we got a big fine at Asda last week.....
We quickly headed back to the Fonz car. Castle tours take a lot more time than you think!
No comments:
Post a Comment