Conisborough Castle.

This majestic fortress is, by some writers, considered an early British work; and by others the most important of the few remaining strongholds of our Saxon ancestors yet to be found in this country. In our own time, Conisborough has acquired a new interest from its having been chosen by Sir Walter Scott for one of the principal scenes in his romance of Ivanhoe.

The origin of the castle, which is situated in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is unknown. Tradition assigns it to early British times; whilst modern antiquaries attribute the foundation of the present structure to William the first Earl Warren, to whom the surrounding estate was granted by William the Conqueror. It is, however, indisputable that a stronghold of some sort existed here in the time of the Saxons. Geoffrey of Monmouth, and some of our old historians, indeed, have carried back its origin to a period preceding the Saxon invasion of England. According to these writers, Hengist, the first Saxon invader, being defeated in this neighbourhood by the British commander, Aurelius Ambrosius, in the year 467, was obliged to take refuge in this castle, and hazarding a second engagement, was killed below its walls. Near the entrance to the castle is a tumulus, which is said to cover the body of this chief; but Mr. Sharon Turner, the eminent historian of the Anglo-Saxons, as well as other writers of authority, are of opinion that he never, at any time, penetrated into the northern counties at all.

The Conisborough estate subsequently passed from the family of Warren to Richard Earl of Cambridge, who assumed the name Richard of Conisborough, in consequence, it is said, of the castle having been his birth-place. After his death, it passed into the hands of his grandson, King Edward the Fourth, and remained in the possession of the Crown for more than two centuries, when it was given by James II. to Lord Dover. It afterwards became the property of the family at present possessor, the Duke of Leeds.

The plan of the castle, which must have been of considerable extent and importance, is irregular, though inclining to form an oval. The entire stronghold, which forms the summit of an elevation, was surrounded by a fosse, or ditch, still in many places forty feet deep, but now destitute of water, and full of lofty oaks and elms. Before the invention of artillery, this fortress must have been almost impregnable; but in later times, in consequence of the superior height of the neighbouring eminence on which the village of Conisborough is situated, it must have been greatly reduced in consequence, to which we may attribute its ultimate desertion.

The remains, as far as they can be traced, extend about 700 feet in circumference; but the chief object of interest is the magnificent keep, or round tower, which is thus described in Gough’s edition of Camden’s “Britannia”:—“At the corner of the area, which is of an irregular form, stands the great tower or keep, placed on a small hill of its own dimensions, on which lie six vast projecting buttresses, ascending in a steep direction, to prop and support the building, and continued upwards up the sides as turrets. The tower within forms a complete circle, 21 feet in diameter; the walls 14 feet thick. The ascent into the tower is an exceedingly deep flight of steep steps, 42 feet wide, on the south side, leading to a doorway, over which is a circular arch, crossed by a great transom stone. Within this door is the staircase, which ascends straight through the thickness of the wall, not communicating with the room on the first floor, in whose centre is the opening to the dungeon. Neither of these lower rooms is lighted except from a hole in the floor of the third storey; the room in which, as well as in that above it, is finished with compact smooth stonework, both having chimney-pieces, with an arch resting on triple-clustered pillars. In the third storey, or guard-chamber, is a small recess with a loop-hole, probably a bed-chamber, and in that floor above a niche for a saint or holy-water pot.” Thence there is a flight of twenty-five stone stairs to the summit of the tower which commands a very fine prospect. The buttresses rise higher than the walls; three contain an alcove, and in another is a broad place resembling an oven, on a level with a passage, which seems to have run round the tower. The wall is here 10½ feet thick, so that it diminishes 18 inches at every floor. The total height of the buttress is 86 feet.

The village of Conisborough is of very high antiquity; by the Britons it was called Caer Conan, and by the Saxons Cyning, or Conan Burgh, both signifying a royal town. It must once have been a place of importance, as it is handed down that it was of a civil jurisdiction which comprised twenty-eight towns. This picturesque village lies about six miles south-west of Doncaster, in a rich and wooded country, watered by the river Don.

The castle was of old reported to have in its neighbourhood six large market towns, 121 villages, three stone bridges, 40 water-mills, six noblemen’s seats, 60 seats of gentlemen, 50 parks, and two navigable rivers.—Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England and Wales, by John Timbs.