Scarborough Castle

During the Iron Age a settlement was built on this great headland and in Roman times it was used as a look out.

Although it was raided in 1066 it by Harold Haardaade it was not until the reign of King Stephen that a stone castle was constructed on the site.

Scarborough Castle was begun in 1140 by William, Count of Albermarle and Holderness but in 1154 it was appropriated by the king. It remained a royal possession until the reign of James I.

Henry II built the great tower and probably the curtain walls and King John strengthened the fortifications. This powerful stronghold was besieged several times but it was never taken.

In 1312 Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, who took refuge here, was besieged by the barons and only surrendered on the threat of starvation.

In 1557 Thomas Stafford was so enraged by the marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain that he and a group disguised as peasants attacked the castle. However, after only a week Stafford was captured and sent to the Tower of London.

In 1645 during the Civil War the castle was attacked by the Parliamentarians but they lost their hold and had to begin a second siege in 1648.

George Fox the founder of the Quakers was imprisoned here in 1665.

In 1914 the castle was bombarded by two German cruisers and the barracks built in 1756 after the Jacobite uprising were destroyed.

The damage done during the Civil War was compounded by storms off the North Sea.

The castle has been gradually falling down the cliff into the sea.