CASTLEFORD, an urban district in the Osgoldcross parliamentary division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on the river Aire near its junction with the Calder, 9 m. S.E. of Leeds, on the North-Eastern and Lancashire & Yorkshire railways. Pop. (1901) 17,386. Large glass-bottle and earthenware-jar works, chemical works, and neighbouring collieries employ the inhabitants. Here was the Roman village or fort of Lagecium or Legeolium; and though visible remains are wanting, a number of relics have been discovered.
CASTLE-GUARD, an arrangement under the feudal system, by which the duty of finding knights to guard royal castles was imposed on certain baronies, and divided among their knight’s fees. The greater barons provided for the guard of their castles by exacting a similar duty from their knights. In both cases the obligation was commuted very early for a fixed money payment, which, as “castle-guard rent” lasted on to modern times.
See J.H. Round, “Castle-Guard,” in Archaeological Journal, vol. lix., and “Castle-ward and Coinage,” in The Commune of London.
(J. H. R.)
CASTLEMAINE, a town of Talbot county, Victoria, Australia, 78 m. by rail N.N.W. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 5704. The gold-mines here were among the first discovered in the colony, and dredging for gold is carried on in Barker’s and Forrest creeks, at the junction of which the town stands. Slate and flagstone are largely quarried in the district, which also produces wine and much fruit, especially apples. Castlemaine has a reputation as a health resort in cases of pulmonary complaints.