Silver Searcher
Gold Member
Took the wife out for a drive today out in the beautifull North Yorkshire Dales, were we visited Richmond Castle
The castle was originally built to subdue the unruly North of England it is one of the greatest Norman fortresses in Britain. It was constructed from 1071 onwards as part of the Norman Conquest of Saxon England as the Domesday Book of 1086 refers to 'a castlery' at Richmond in that year.
William the Conqueror had put down the 1069 rebellion at York which was followed by his "harrying of the North" - an act of ethnic cleansing which depopulated large areas for a generation or more. As a further punishment he divided up the lands of north Yorkshire among his most loyal followers. Alain Le Roux de Ponthievre of Brittany received the borough of Richmond [1] and began constructing the castle to defend against further rebellions
We then moved to Easby Abbey next to the River Swale, with it's beautifull wall paintings from the 12th century
SS