On the floor of the chancel is the brass to Sir Simon de Wenselawe, a
priest of the fourteenth century. There is no trace of any inscription,
and the name was only discovered by a reference to the brass in the will
of Oswald Dykes, a rector who died in Jacobean times, and desired that
he might be buried under the stone which now bears his name above the
figure of the priest. This brass is the best in the North Riding, and it
closely resembles the one to Abbot de la Mare in St. Albans Abbey.
A charming lane, overhung by big trees, runs above the river-banks for
nearly two miles of the way to Middleham; then it joins the road from
Leyburn, and crosses the Ure by a suspension bridge, defended by two
very formidable though modern archways. Climbing up past the church, we
enter the cobbled market-place, which wears a rather decayed appearance
in sympathy with the departed magnificence of the great castle of the
Nevilles. It commands a vast view of Wensleydale from the southern side,
in much the same manner as Bolton does from the north; but the castle
buildings are entirely different, for Middleham consists of a square
Norman keep, very massive and lofty, surrounded at a short distance by a
strong wall and other buildings, also of considerable height, built in
the Decorated period, when the Nevilles were in possession of the
stronghold. The Norman keep dates from the year 1190, when Robert Fitz
Randolph, grandson of Ribald, a brother of the Earl of Richmond, began
to build the Castle. It was, however, in later times, when Middleham had
come to the Nevilles by marriage, that really notable events took place
in this fortress. It was here that Warwick, the ‘King-maker,’ held
Edward IV. prisoner in 1467, and in Part III. of the play of ‘King Henry
VI.,’ Scene V. of the fourth act is laid in a park near Middleham
Castle. Richard III.’s only son, Edward Prince of Wales, was born here
in 1476, the property having come into Richard’s possession by his
marriage with Anne Neville. The tower in which the boy was born is
pointed out to-day, but how the knowledge has been preserved I am quite
unable to say. When he was only eight years old, this little Prince died
in the castle in which he had first seen the light.
The efforts to blow up the projecting towers of the Norman portion of
the castle are most plainly visible, but the splendid masonry, like that
of Corfe, in the Isle of Purbeck, has held together, although great gaps
have been torn out below, so that one can scarcely understand why the
upper part has not collapsed. The church contains some interesting
details, but they are not very apparent to the uninformed, to whom the
building might appear somewhat dull. All can, however, be interested in
the old cross in the market-place, and also in the Swine Cross in the
upper market, which shows the battered shape of some animal, carved
either in the form of the boar of Richard III. or the bear of Warwick.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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