The manor of Cnaresburg is mentioned in Domesday as the private demesne of the Conqueror, as it had been of the Confessor. Nothing is said of an “Aula” or a castle there; but, as eleven Berewicks depended upon it, it is clear that it was, during, and probably long before, the time of Edward, the centre of a considerable estate, and if, as was usual, its early lord had there a fortified residence, it would naturally be placed upon the rugged and knotty platform that bore the descriptive name of Cnaresburg.

William granted the manorial lands, returned in Domesday as “wasta,” to Serlo de Burg, Burg being probably the manor now called Boroughbridge. Burg was a territorial designation, not a regular surname, and does not appear to have been used by the family. The Pipe Roll, 31 Henry I., 1130, mentions Serlo as holding lands in Notts and Derby, and gives the names of Osbert, his son, and of another Osbert, his “nepos” or nephew, both of whom seem to have died before their respective fathers. The successor and heir of Serlo was John the One-eyed, whose son, Eustace Fitz-John, was a Yorkshire Justiciar. He appears in the same Pipe Roll as farming Burg and Chenardesburg, and to him was then allowed £11 for the king’s works, evidently upon the castle, at the latter place. Eustace married Beatrice, a De Vesci heiress, and their son William assumed that name. Richard FitzEustace, another son, married Albreda, the daughter and heir of Robert de Lisours, by Albreda, sister of Ilbert and Henry de Lacy, and aunt and heir of Robert de Lacy of Pontefract, who died childless, 1193. In consequence, Roger, Constable of Chester, the son of Richard FitzEustace and Albreda, took and transmitted the name of Lacy. Eustace had also a brother, Pain Fitz-John, a considerable Herefordshire landowner, and ancestor of the Barons FitzPain. With Eustace, who fell in the Welsh wars in 1159, the family occupation of the castle ceased, and it was from time to time granted by the Crown to various castellans. One of these, Hugh de Morville, took refuge here after the murder of Beckett. It was held also by the Estotevilles, and, in the reign of John, by Brian de Lisle, who is reputed to have excavated the castle ditch, and to have repaired or added to the buildings. Henry III. granted the castle to Hubert de Burgh in fee. Before that time the manor had been erected into an Honour, and the Honour, the Peculiar, and the forest of Knaresborough are from time to time the subject of royal grants. In 1257, Henry III. gave them to his brother Richard, who founded a priory on the river bank below the castle. Edward II. repeated the grant to Gaveston, about which time the Slingsbys appear as keepers of the forest. In 1327, the castle was taken for the Earl of Lancaster, but only to be resumed by Edward III., who, in 1371, granted it to John of Gaunt, and it has ever since formed a part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Richard II. was imprisoned here in 1399, and the keep has since borne the name of the king’s tower, it is said, in consequence. In 1642 the castle was held for the king, and was the head-quarters of an active and somewhat unscrupulous body of soldiery. It was, in consequence, besieged and taken by Fairfax in 1644, and in 1648 was, by the Council of State, ordered to be slighted, which seems to have been effected by removing the curtain wall, and blowing away one angle of the keep.

The castle occupied the whole area of the platform up to the edge of the ditch, the crest of the ravines, and the river cliff. In figure the plan is an irregular oval, in the proportion of about three parts east and west, to two parts north and south, and containing about 2½ acres. Close south of, and dependent upon, the castle, was the town. The area within the line of the town ditch measures about 500 yards north-east and south-west by 850 yards north-west and south-east, and includes all the older part of the town. About 170 yards of the ditch, where it divided the castle from the town, has been filled up since the dismantling of the castle. The castle was contained within a great curtain wall 7 feet to 8 feet thick, and of the unusual height in places of from 30 feet to 40 feet. The keep forms a part of the enceinte, being built upon the crest and slope of the northern ravine, not far from the centre of that front. The curtain abutted upon its two ends, so that the building was partly within and partly outside the area. Connected with its southern angle are some fragments of masonry showing that the area was divided by a cross wall into an eastern and western part, the one being the outer and the other the inner ward, and the keep is so placed that its south-eastern face looks upon the outer, and its south-western and north-western faces upon the inner ward.

Very nearly the whole both of the curtain and cross wall are gone, but the projection from the northern angle of the keep shows that the curtain, at that point at least, was about 40 feet high and at least 11 feet thick. It would seem that the curtain had originally no mural towers, for these, in the shape of half-round or segmental solid buttresses, have been added, built against the face of the curtain, the removal of which has laid bare the rough face of the applied work. Leland speaks of eleven or twelve of these buttress towers. There remain at present only six. They have all been faced with ashlar. Upon one is a good stringcourse of Perpendicular date, and on another is seen the shaft of a garderobe, the upper part of which must have been on the battlements. Two of the largest of the buttresses are placed opposite to the town, about 21 feet apart, forming a sort of solid gatehouse, and flanking the main entrance to the castle through the outer ward. The gateway was 18 feet wide and at least 18 feet high to the springing. The arch is gone. The square groove for the portcullis remains, and within is a rebate for the door. Outside in the northern jamb is a hole as for the heel of a drawbridge, but there is no corresponding hole on the other side, so that the indication is probably deceptive. A drawbridge there must have been, but it was possibly more advanced. Leland also mentions a subterranean passage opening upon the slope of the ditch, but this, of which nothing is now known, was probably a sewer. In the inner ward is the house in which are still held the courts for the Honour. This is a modern building, but it contains an original Decorated doorway, and a large fireplace, plain, but probably of the same date. There is said to have been a well near this, now lost, and local tradition describes a chapel as having stood near the courthouse.

A.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

Fig. a.

PLAN OF DUNGEON.