Historic%20Yorkshire
Historic%20Yorkshire
Historic%20Yorkshire
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CHAPTER XX.<br />
THE STORY OF PONTEFRACT CASTLE.<br />
ONTEFRACT town and castle areof great,<br />
though uncertain, antiquity. The origin of<br />
either, and even the very etymology of the<br />
name, are alike unknown, the legends and<br />
conjectures of both ancient and modern historians<br />
being unreliableand unsatisfactory. It may<br />
"y have hadits foundation in the timeofthe Celts,the<br />
Romans, or the Saxons. Accordingto Camden'saccount,<br />
the name of Pontefract was given to it by the Romans in<br />
the placeof an earlierBritish appellation. During Saxon<br />
supremacyit was known as Kirkby, andit is not improbable<br />
that in the vicinity was erected one of the first<br />
Christian churches of England. After the Norman<br />
Conquest the place was included in a grant made by the<br />
Conqueror to Ilbertde Lacy of a vast tract of land. He<br />
built at Pontefract his stronghold, which united in<br />
structure the qualities of castle, fortress, and palace.<br />
According to some authorities, it was he who gave the<br />
present name to the place,being reported to have called<br />
it Pontfrete through some imaginarylikeness to his birthplace<br />
in Normandy so called. The castle, princely and<br />
magnificent, was placed upon the topmost part of an<br />
elevated and nearly isolated rock of great extent. Its