Guidebook: Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle is one of the great fortresses of northern England, sited on a cliff above the River Tees. Originally built after the Norman Conquest by the Baliol family, its defences were successively developed during the Middle Ages to create the castle we can see today. After the death of its most famous owner, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III, the castle was gradually neglected in the hands of the Crown, even though it managed to hold out for 11 days against rebels during the rising of the North in 1569.