History Is Present

Sheriff Hutton Castle

The Ruins of Sheriff Hutton

Sheriff Hutton Castle is in the village of Sheriff Hutton in North Yorkshire. The castle is now a ruin but it was once it was a magnificent dwelling, of princely proportions; a classic quadrangle, with a magnificent hall.

Sheriff Hutton was once held by Bertram de Bulmer, the Sheriff of York who died in 1166. It was then passed to the Neville family and in 1382, John Neville, secured a license to crenellate the walls making it a castle.

The original castle was built by Bertram de Bulmer who was Sheriff of York during the reign of King Stephen. The stone castle was later built at the western end of the village by John, Lord Neville in the late fourteenth century. In 1377, John obtained a charter for a market on Monday and an annual fair on the eve of the exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14).

The castle passed to John's son, Ralph Neville, the first Earl of Westmorland. Upon Ralph's death in 1425, the Neville estates were partitioned. The younger Ralph retained the title and the Durham estates and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, later known as "Warwick the Kingmaker", inherited the Yorkshire estates, including Sheriff Hutton.

Upon the death of Richard Neville at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, his lands were given to Richard, Duke of

King Richard III in The White Queen

Gloucester, brother of Edward IV. Richard often stayed at the castle during his tenure as Lord of the North and its proximity to York made it convenient to Richard.

In 1484, Richard III (Duke of Gloucester) established a royal household for his nephewsthe young Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of George of Clarence, and John, Earl of Lincoln. In July 1484, Richard established the Council of the North that lasted for 150 years, with its chief headquarters at Sheriff Hutton and Sandal Castle.

In 1485, while awaiting for the invasion of Henry Tudor, Richard sent his niece, Elizabeth of York, her sisters, and the Earls of Warwick, Lincoln, Lord Morley and John of Gloucester, to the castle as he knew that if Tudor won he would never dare go to Yorkshire.

The castle became the property of Henry VII and, in 1525, Henry VIII granted it to his son, Henry Fitzroy, who had been newly created as Duke of Richmond and Warden-General of the Marches.

In 1537 Thomas Howard, the second Duke of Norfolk made repairs to the castle but, following the Council's relocation to York in the mid sixteenth century, the castle went into decline. In 1572 Henry, Earl of Huntingdon paid for repairs on the castle in the hope that the President of the Council would use the castle as a residence, and he described it as an 'olde Castell aamoste ruinated.'

In 1618 Sheriff Hutton was acquired by the Ingram family in 1622, and stone from the castle was used to build Sheriff Hutton House. The castle remained in the Ingram family until the early twentieth century, by which time the ruins were being used as a farmyard. It was designated a scheduled ancient monument in the 1950s, and has recently undergone some repairs by English Heritage.

The years haven't been kind to this great building, and although it's scale is still impressive, it has fallen to virtual ruin.

I have never been to Sheriff Hutton nor Yorkshire but it is defiantly on my list of places to visit.