Knaresborough Castle

I visited the lovely little Yorkshire town of Knaresborough again this week, and unlike the last time I was there in September 2008, managed not to delete all my photos of the place from my camera before I'd uploaded them to my laptop.  ;-)  Knaresborough was one of the many castles and lands given by Edward II to Piers Gaveston when the king made Piers earl of Cornwall on 6 August 1307.  The two men were there from 9 to 12 September 1307, and met there on 13 January 1312 after Piers' return from his third exile (and see also here for the aftermath of his return).

The ruins of the castle stand in a public park.  Both times I've been there, plenty of local inhabitants have been using the space, walking their dogs, sitting on the benches, paying their respects at the war memorial which is also there, kids playing football, and so on.  I really like the way it feels as though the castle is part of the community.

Beneath the castle: the River Nidd, railway bridge and Marigold Café and Boating.

A latrine shaft :-)

The railway bridge; the castle ruins are on a hill on the other side of it.

Two pics of the parish church of St John the Baptist in Knaresborough, which was first mentioned in 1114, so was already at least 200 years old in Edward II's time.