Middleham

Close to the market town of Leyburn in the North Riding of Yorkshire, Middleham is today a centre for the training of race horses, leading to it being known as the ‘Newmarket of the North’. Very little remains of its medieval grandeur when, as a market town it was a seat of one of the most powerful families in the country, the Nevilles.

It has three principal sites of interest to the Ricardian visitor: the Castle, the Church, and the Market Cross.

The Castle Keep was originally built in the 12th century as a stronghold of the Neville family and it was here that Richard of Gloucester was sent to learn how to be a knight. It was at Middleham that Richard met his future wife, Anne, daughter of his cousin Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, later known as the Kingmaker. In later years, when Richard was given the governance of the north of England by his brother Edward IV, it was his favourite residence, Richard’s son, Edward of Middleham, was born here between 1473-1478, and died here in April 1484.

Although ruined, much still stands, especially the curtain wall and the keep with the great hall. There is a stairway that can be climbed to get views of the surrounding countryside. Nearby is the Prince’s Tower, so-called because the young Edward lived there.

A few years ago, a rather controversial statue of Richard III was erected in the bailey, close to the entrance. The sculptor, Linda Thompson, has tried to portray various descriptions of Richard, including the good king and the Shakespearian villain. A basilisk is partially visible behind Richard, its tail curling over his right shoulder to form part of the livery collar.

The church at Middleham, dedicated to St Alkelda, a Saxon woman murdered for her beliefs, was embellished by Richard III. It was here, in 1477, that he founded a college, where priests were endowed to say masses for the House of York. Richard’s college did not survive his death, but a college of canons under a different statute did continue and was only brought to an end in the Victorian period. One of the last of these canons was the author Charles Kingsley. Buried in the church is the author and playwright Caroline Halsted who wrote an early biography of Richard III.

The church has been the recipient of several gifts from the Richard III Society (or its predecessor the Fellowship of the White Boar) with a stained glass window portraying Saints Richard and Anne, and a heraldic altar frontal, bearing the Plantagenet and Neville arms.

Close to the castle is the base of the old market cross. Known as Swine Cross, it is a rather shapeless lump of stone today and thought to have been a statue of a boar, erected to commemorate a grant obtained by Richard of Gloucester in 1479 for Middleham to hold a twice yearly fair and market. However, it might equally have been a bear, the heraldic animal of the Nevilles.

Middleham is 13 miles south of Richmond on the A6108.