We are now pleased to confirm that our tours and talks at Pontefract and Sandal Castles for 2023 have been confirmed as follows;

Saturday 18th March – Pontefract Castle, 2.00pm – ‘Three Tumultuous Months, From Wakefield to Towton, Dec 1460 – March 1461’.

Saturday 17th June – Pontefract Castle , 2.00pm – ‘Friends and Enemies, Pontefract and Sandal Castles 1070 – 1650’.

Sunday 10th September – Pontefract Castle – 2.00pm – ‘Truths, Myths and Lies – Key Events in the History of Pontefract Castle’.

Sunday 10th December – Pontefract Castle – 2.00pm – ‘The ‘English’ Civil War in Yorkshire’.

We will also be delivering a tour/talk on Saturday 22nd April at Sandal Castle, for members of the Battlefield Trust and the Boroughbridge Historical Society, in conjunction with Richard Atkinson, on the various theories surrounding the Battle of Wakefield. Richard will then deliver a talk in the Chantry Chapel on the history of that building. We hope to see you at some or all of these events.

Our next talk will be delivered on the above date and will be titled ‘Wakefield to Towton – Three Tumultuous Months; Dec 1460 to March 1461″.

With the Yorkist defeat at Wakefield and the death of the heir to the throne Richard Duke of York, the House of Lancaster was wholly in the ascendancy. Learn about the key events in the following three months that would lead to the catastrophic Lancastrian defeat at Towton and the establishment of the Yorkist king, Edward IV.

We look forward to seeing you there and tickets will be available either from the castle or via Ticketsource.

We wish all our readers a very happy new year and we hope to see you at some of our forthcoming events in 2023. Please keep a watch for more information in the coming weeks regarding tours and talks we have planned for 2023 in relation to the great castles of Pontefract and Sandal and the intriguing events that encompassed them. Until then, very best wishes to you all.

We wish all our followers a very merry Christmas and happy and prosperous New Year. Please keep tuned for more talks and information in 2023 about Pontefract and Sandal Castles’ intriguing histories and the people who ‘put them on the map’. Anyone interested in free personal tours of these fascinating cauldrons of historical events, please contact us via this website.

Thanks to everyone who came to our above talk this afternoon and we really appreciate all the positive feedback – it was great to see you all. We will be delivering a whole new programme of talks/tours in 2023 so please keep a look out on the website for further information in the new year. In the meantime, may we wish everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year and we look forward to seeing you all soon.

We are pleased to confirm that tickets are going fast at www.ticketsource.co.uk, for our FREE forthcoming talk at 2.00pm on Sunday December 11th 2022 at Pontefract Castle Visitor Centre entitled ‘The Battle of Wakefield’. The Battle of Wakefield in December 1460 was one of the most pivotal battles of the Wars of the Roses.

Learn more about this conflict and the events that led to the death of Richard, Duke of York, in the fields outside Sandal Castle.

On Sunday 11th December we will be giving our final talk of 2022 at Pontefract Castle on the ‘Origins of the Wars of the Roses and the Battle of Wakefield’. The talk will take place in the Visitor Centre, commencing at 2.00pm and will once again be free of charge. Ticket information will follow shortly, but again numbers will be limited so book early to reserve your place.

Thanks to everyone who came to our talk on Richard II and John of Gaunt on 11th September as part of the Pontefract Castle heritage weekend. It was great to see everyone and thank you for all the positive feedback and we hope to see you soon on another tour/talk as we have a number of such events in the pipeline, with dates to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

On 8th September 2022, King Charles III became the Duke of Lancaster on the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II. Pontefract Castle is part of the estate of the Duchy and is managed by Wakefield Council on the monarch’s behalf.

We are pleased to confirm that our forthcoming talk ‘Richard II & John of Gaunt – Loyalty & Distrust’ will take please on Sunday 11th September 2022 at 2.00pm in the visitor centre at Pontefract Castle. Tickets for this talk are free and are for those aged 12 and over and booking can be made via Wakefield Museums and Castles website or by contacting the castle directly on 01977 723440. We hope to see you there.