- Pontefract Castle 13th Century
- 1294 - On 28th October 1294, Alice de Lacy and Thomas Earl of Lancaster married. Alice was 13 and Thomas about 16. The marriage was not successful and they lived quite separate lives. Whether they divorced or not (possibly in 1318) is debatable. During his lifetime Thomas had control of her inheritance from her father, Henry de Lacy. By the terms of their marriage settlement, the bulk of her great inheritance from her father, which included the earldom of Lincoln and many other estates, was to go to Thomas, with reversion to Thomas's heirs. Her father also came to an agreement with the king that should Alice have no children, her father's Earldom of Lincoln would pass into the royal family on her death.
- Pontefract Castle 16th Century
- 1536 - On 28th October 1536, Lord Darcy and Robert Aske, at Pontefract Castle, proclaimed a truce to the besieging ‘commons’ of the Pilgrimage of Grace and ordered the rebels to return home. Albeit their captains, Lord John Scrope, 8th Baron Scrope of Bolton, Sir Christopher Danby and others were willing to accept the truce, the rebels were reluctant to go home empty-handed but did eventually comply.
- Pontefract Castle 17th Century
- 1631 - On 28th October 1631, Sir Richard Beaumont died. He had been knighted by James I on 23rd July 1609, had been given a commission to command two hundred soldiers by James in 1613 and in 1618 was a justice of the peace and treasurer in aid of lame soldiers in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1625, he was returned as MP for Pontefract and in 1628 created a baronet by Charles I. His estates, including Whitley Beaumont and Sandal Castle were bequeathed to his cousin.
- 1648 - A letter dated 28th October 1648 from York gave a graphic account of the siege and the Royalist activities at Pontefract Castle: ‘….They are very strong in Pontefract Castle, and go where they list; they are some 500 foot, and 140 horse; some 30 of them ride armed cap-a-pe. They are desperate men, and fall often on our guards; they have wounded Capt. Clayton…they have fallen on Major Ivers, wounded his lieutenant dangerously, killed ten on the place, took both horse and men, fell upon Capt. Greathead….They have since I came from London taken at least 200 head of cattle, above 100 oxen frm grasiers. They sound a parley for a cessation, and make a fair of their horses near the castle, and sell them to Sir Henry Cholmley’s troopers and in the cessation they drink to one another. …..They have and do take much salt, corn, beasts and horses from the country; they prepare for a better siege; ‘or this day Lieut.-General Cromwell is expected to come with forces to block them up…’ The tenet of this letter reflects very much feelings amongst many Parliamentarians that Colonel Cholmley was conducting the siege inadequately albeit his militia forces were mostly raw and untrained, with the castle’s major besieging forces having been re-assigned to assist Cromwell and Lambert in Lancashire.
- Pontefract Castle 19th Century
- 1892 - On 28th October 1892, ‘The Builder’ reported: ‘MASONIC LODGE FOR PONTEFRACT— Contracts have just been let for the erection of Masonic Lodge buildings in Ropergate, Pontefract. The buildings are to be built of brick, with terra-cotta panels and stone facings. On the upper storey will be a lodge-room, 34 ft. by 2: ft., with ante-rooms adjoining, and downstairs will be a dining-hall, 51 ft. by 21 ft., which may be also used for a ball-room, and will be fitted with movable partitions to make it into three small rooms for other purposes. A caretaker’s house will be attached. Mr. J. H. Greaves, of Pontefract, is the architect. The cost will be £1,000.’
- Sandal Castle 15th Century
- 1484 - On 28th October 1484, Richard III, lord of Sandal, ordered the Earl of Oxford’s transfer from imprisonment in Hammes Castle, in the Calais Pale, to the more secure gaol at the Tower of London. John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, had proven a redoubtable opponent of the Yorkists for some time having escaped to France from the Battle of Barnet in April 1471 and, thereafter, orchestrated raids on Calais and the Essex coast, holding St Michael’s Mount for twenty-two months. Imprisoned in 1474 and attainted the following year, Oxford persuaded his gaoler to change his allegiance to Henry Tudor’s cause, thereby escaping and ultimately commanding part of Tudor’s army at the Battle of Bosworth.