Coningsborough, on the Don, is no less from its position than its architecture one of the most remarkable of Yorkshire castles. Its grand cylindrical tower, supported by buttresses of great depth and height, is superior in design and workmanship to that of Pembroke, and almost rivals Coucy. It stands on the summit of a steep rocky knoll, and has been inserted into an earlier Norman wall, which is built upon the steep edge of the rock and encloses a court of moderate area. Upon the slope are the remains of the entrance and fortified approach, and at the base of the hill is a ditch, or rather a ravine, and on one side beyond it an outwork in earth. Probably the hill has been occupied as a place of strength from a very early time, but the masonry is the work of the Warrens Earls of Surrey, and is worthy of their greatness. Knaresborough Castle, on the Nidd, visited by Henry II. in 1181, occupies the top of a rocky promontory. Here the keep, though of Norman form and dimensions, is of Decorated date, and remarkable for the excellence of its details. The adjacent town has also been fortified, though apparently by a ditch and bank only. Pontefract, another celebrated Yorkshire castle, is also peculiar. Here the castle encloses a large and elevated platform of rock, scarped and revetted all round, and at one end of which, enclosing an earthen mound, is the circular keep. Much of its masonry is of the eleventh or the early part of the twelfth century. Its subterranean passages and chambers, of Norman date, are curious. Besides these, Yorkshire contains many other castles connected for the most part with great baronial families, and playing their part in the defence of the country against the Scots. Harewood, reputed a Danish seat, was the castle of Robert de Romeli; Skipton, also built by that family, contains some early parts, and has always been inhabited. Kilton was a castle of Cleveland, as was Castleton, where the Bruces fortified a moated mound. Burton was granted by the Conqueror to the same family, having been a seat of Earl Morcar; Danby was also a Bruce castle, and Skelton Castle, built in 1140, was the head of their barony. There was also the Archbishop’s castle of Cawood, and Crake, a castle of the Bishops of Durham, said to be mentioned in the seventh century. Baynard was a castle of the Lords Wake of Cottingham; Leeds Castle was besieged by Stephen in 1139; Wilton was an early castle of the Bulmers; Guisborough was founded in 1120; Sandal Castle, under the walls of which was fought the battle of Wakefield, was a late Warren castle, but the mound and earthworks are on a large scale and old. Yorkshire contained also a considerable number of fortified houses, some of which bore the names of castles, though whether of early date is uncertain; such were Ryther and Slingsby. There is said to have been a castle at Upsal, and one at Hilderskelf, in the grounds of Castle-Howard. Wressill and Sheriff Hutton in their