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.

As part of the Heritage Open Day, we will be delivering a talk on Sunday 11th September entitled ‘Richard II & John of Gaunt – Loyalty and Distrust’. These were two of Pontefract Castle’s most important residents for very different reasons. We will be investigating the life and key events of Richard’s reign and his turbulent relationship with his uncle and Lord of Pontefract, John of Gaunt. Please watch out for further details including how to book.

Thanks to Linda Dooks and the Boroughbridge Historical Society for coming down to Pontefract Castle today to undertake a tour with us, detailing the general history of the castle with particular emphasis on Thomas of Lancaster and the Civil War sieges. We really hope that you enjoyed your afternoon and we look forward to seeing you again.

Today we gave a talk to twenty-one people at the castle on one of Pontefract’s key barons, John de Lacy, who was instrumental in the sealing of, and adherence to, Magna Carta in 1215. John had a varied life, amongst other things serving two kings at both home and abroad, was excommunicated by the Pope, and went on crusade for two years. He died in 1240 at the relatively ’old’ age, for the time, of forty-eight.

Please stay tuned for details of our next talk in September on Heritage Open Days, most likely on Richard II and John of Gaunt.

On Saturday 11th June, we will be delivering a free talk on ‘John de Lacy – Life and Times’ at 2.00pm in the Visitor Centre at Pontefract Castle. This is an opportunity to learn more about the man in general and his contribution to the development and aftermath of one of history’s most iconic legal documents, Magna Carta. We look forward to seeing you there.

We attended a fascinating talk given by Chris Berendt of the Towton Battlefield Society yesterday on ‘How Many Men Fought at Towton’. Chris argued very persuasively that both the number of participants and deaths on both the Yorkist and Lancastrian sides has been greatly exaggerated given the logistics of moving large medieval armies vast distances across the country. Chris argued that a Yorkist army of 10000 men leaving London on the 12th of March 1461, would have taken 15-16 days to arrive on the battlefield, and therefore it is hard to visualise their army being much greater than these numbers. The Lancastrians may have had a few thousand more, but you cannot see any way in which the oft quoted figures of 80000-100000 combatants and 28000 deaths being anything more than a exaggeration by the chroniclers.