The most important castle in the north was the mighty Pontefract, a fortress so powerful that, during the Civil War, it took three sieges to capture it. It was founded by the Normans as part of their strategy to subdue and rule the north and it was held by 29 lords during its history, sixteen of whom were monarchs of England. From the reign of Henry IV it became a royal property and the Queen, as Duke of Lancaster, still owns it today.
The royal lodgings were built in the early fifteenth century. There was a substantial great hall with a tower at each end. Both towers were square and of four stories above a basement. On the king’s side his bedchamber, which was on the first floor of the tower, was approached by a guard chamber and presence chamber. Above it were two rooms. The queen’s tower had five levels: a room on the principal floor and two rooms above it, below it a room in the seventeenth century known as the nursery and below that a cellar.
The last royal visit was in 1541 when Henry VII and Catherine Howard stayed for a fortnight in the most extensive northern progress of his reign. £70 had to be spent in advance of the royal arrival and every stick of furniture and scrap of textile had to be imported as there were no permanent furnishings there.
During the Civil War the castle was held by the royalists against two Parliamentarian sieges. Eventually, in 1645 the Royalists were starved out. Recapturing the castle the Royalists were again besieged and the castle was the last royal stronghold to fall to parliament two months after Charles I was executed. It was slighted in 1649.