I’d forgotten how big Bolton Castle is. I’d been here a few times as a child/teen, but it’s been a while since I visited. Approaching the monumental castle and ruin I was taken aback with how I’d somehow managed to shrink it in my mind. It’s monumental, and dominates the landscape on the North side of the Wensleydale Valley, with sweeping views to the South and East, whilst protected from the North by grumbling hills.
“Oh wow! That’s a wild boar!” was one of the first things I exclaimed as we drove into the car park. Sure enough, in a securely fenced in forested area alongside the car park, a sounder of boars is in residence (sounder being the collective noun for a group of boars). I’d never seen a boar before. They were hunted to extinction in England in the seventeenth century, but have now started to return due to a mixture of illegal dumping of animals, or by animals escaping from farms. Needless to say, the group at Bolton Castle are neither of these things, but they do provide an excellent illustration of the fiercesome animal that would have once widely roamed through England’s forests. Definitely wouldn’t want to meet one a casual stroll!
The ruined part of the estate makes up about 2/3rds of the space, whilst the surviving medieval rooms occupy the remaining third. Maps and diagrams around the castle make it clear just how this place would have sprawled in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, after the initial building phase post 1399; dozens of rooms covering five-six floors (six if you count the guard rooms at the top of the towers). The location has also had a pretty turbulent history, with the occupants (the Scropes of Bolton and their descendants) managing to find themselves in one scrap or another over the years. I will try to give you something of a whirlwind history tour below.
The Scropes actually featured quite heavily in my Undergraduate dissertation, which I wrote about latent support for the Ricardian/Yorkist cause in Yorkshire after his death at Bosworth Field in 1485. It’s “common knowledge” that the Wars of the Roses ended in 1485 after the death of Richard III. I would argue (along with plenty of other historians) that it actually dragged on well into the late 1480s, with the Battle of Stoke in 1487 – in support of the pretender Lambert Simnel – being the last pitched battle on English soil of that particular Civil War. The Yorkists weren’t ready to just give up and roll over after Bosworth, and looked for ways to make new Tudor King Henry VII’s life as difficult as possible. John, 5th Lord Scrope of Bolton at this time could be found in the thick of all this, supporting Simnel’s bid for the throne. He escaped his endeavours with his life, but had to pay a heavy fine and stay within the London area for many years (therefore away from other pesky Northern rebels with whom he could collude) after the failure of that particular rebellion.
Siding with Northern rebels was something of a habit for the Scropes of Bolton (as was perhaps understandable given their location and tendency for Yorkshiremen to abhor outside interference). John, 8th Lord Scrope of Bolton (the above John’s great-grandson) got mixed up on the wrong side of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, John supported the Catholic rebels and gave sanctuary to the Abbot of the nearby Jervaulx Abbey. As a consequence, John was chased across the Yorkshire countryside to Skipton, pursued by the King’s Men. Following his arrest, the castle was torched and badly damaged in places and John was forced to pay a large fine, with his seat in Parliament forfeit. The unfortunate Abbot was executed.
If you like posts like this and would like to support The Northish Lass, please sign up below (it’s free!) for a regular newsletter all about Northern happenings!
The next major event to affect Bolton was the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots, when she fled to England from Scotland in May 1568. At first she was imprisoned in Carlisle Castle, but was swiftly moved to Bolton in July 1568 as it was further from the Scottish borders. She stayed at Bolton for over half a year, whilst the English crown tried to figure out what to do with her. She was allowed to ride out into the surrounding countryside because, at this time, her status as “prisoner” would have been unclear. Was she to be treated like an honoured guest? Or was something more secure required? It would have been a very fine line for the Scropes to tread; after all, they had an anointed Queen in their home. Yet, equally, they were the loyal subjects of another anointed Queen, and it was very important not to upset her by appearing too favourable to their infamous guest! Mary was moved on from Bolton in early 1569 when again it was decided that it would be better to have her further away from Scotland. She was moved from Bolton to Tutbury, in Staffordshire.
The last event I wish to cover was the downfall of Bolton Castle as it was. At the outbreak of the English Civil War*(1642-1649) the residents of Bolton sided with the King, Charles I. Yet another John Scrope held Bolton for the King for several years, but in 1645, after a protracted siege in which the residents of the castle were at risk of starving to death, he was forced to surrender to the Parliamentarians. In 1646 John died and the castle was passed to his sister Mary (and therefore out of the Scrope name). The Castle was “slighted” on the orders of Cromwell in 1647. This was a practice of destroying a castle, to the point of making it militarily useless (the same thing happened to the nearby Skipton Castle, although they were allowed to keep their roof (as long as it couldn’t support cannon!)). About 2/3rds of Bolton castle were subsequently destroyed. By a stroke of luck, or perhaps the soldiers thought they had gone far enough to complete their aims, the south and west residential area were left standing and in decent repair, allowing inhabitancy in what remained of the castle until well into the twentieth century.
*Which one? It’s one of my historical pet peeves that the war of 1642-1649 is called the “English Civil War” when there have been several. Even if we count the civil conflicts since the invasion of William the Conqueror (and here I’m counting protracted wars, not just rebellions), then you can easily identify at least two more – The Anarchy of Stephen and Matilda in the twelfth century, and The Wars of the Roses in the fifteenth. Other historians would probably convincingly argue to add the rebellion of Simon de Montfort, and the protracted struggles of Edward II in there as well, but the first two are undoubtably civil wars.
As you can tell, Bolton Castle has been in the middle of things many times, with history constantly happening within its walls, so much so they almost cry out with stories to be told. The modern custodians of the castle do their all to bring this history life, with myriad living history weekends, the knight’s school (where children can learn what it takes to be a medieval knight!), various exhibitions, and shows. There is an exhibition on Mary, Queen of Scots, being shown at the castle from March 2027, which I will definitely be returning for.
I will be zooming back to Bolton Castle this weekend for their Tudor Living History Weekend. The year is 1588, and Lord Bolton is preparing to potential have to defend his country against a Spanish Armada…
