- Pontefract Castle 13th Century
- 1283 - On 3rd October 1283, the ‘rebel’ Welsh lord Dafydd ap Gruffud, Prince of Wales, was hanged, drawn and quartered in Shrewsbury on the orders of Edward I: the first prominent person recorded to have been executed in this manner. Dafydd and his younger son, Owain ap Dafydd, had been captured on 22nd June and his other son, Llywelyn ap Dafydd, on the 28th of that month. On 15th July 1283, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, had been issued with letters patent to have custody of, and deliver, as hostage, Llywelyn to Richard de Boys. Both of Dafydd’s sons were imprisoned at Bristol Castle; Llywelyn dying in mysterious circumstances in 1287 or 1288 whilst his brother lived at least until August 1325.
- Pontefract Castle 19th Century
- 1830 - On 3rd October 1830, a cow belonging to Mr Sudbury, of Pontefract, gave birth to a full-grown calf with two heads, two breasts, two necks, four fore-legs, two hearts, two livers and lights, two back bones separated as far as the sixth rib then joining into one back, two tails and only two hind legs, with each body possessing perfect and distinct intestines.
- Sandal Castle 13th Century
- 1263 - In early October 1263, John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and lord of Sandal, along with Henry of Almain, the Earl of Norfolk and his brother, Hugh Bigod, and many Marcher lords, deserted Simon de Montfort and rejoined the court party of Henry III at Windsor Castle. After the king’s proclamation that summer that he would observe the Provisions of Oxford, de Montfort’s unworkable demand to expel all foreigners from England and refusal to allow any of his supporters to be brought to justice for that summer’s violence caused many of his supporters to drift away.