Scarborough Castle

Several years ago as part of our summer holidays, I convinced my other half to come with me to the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, a massive medieval interdisciplinary conference spanning five days, hundreds of sessions and thousands of papers given by academics from early postgraduates to lauded professors. I was giving a paper, we know a solid group of attendees through the St Andrews Department of Medieval History, and every evening ends up in the pub – it seemed like a win-win.

In exchange for his attendance at the IMC, I agreed to spend the second half of our week visiting Scarborough and Whitby, where he had spent summers when he was younger. I was really not sure what to expect of Scarborough, but I was delighted to discover that along with the quaint seaside streets, it also boasted a castle. Even better? A castle whose heyday was in the 12th century, the time of King Henry II.

Firstly, I must admit that I enjoyed the town of Scarborough itself a lot more than I thought I might. It reminded me in feel of the fishing towns of New England – though of course it looked nothing like them – and the streets and buildings were all steeped in the centuries of people who had lived and visited.

Now on to the castle.
The location is strategically a no-brainer – atop a cliff overlooking the sea, with views in all directions and an obvious spot to protect the harbour below. Henry II was far from the first person to recognise the headland as a good place to build; there is evidence he was building in the same place as an Anglo-Scandinavian settlement, a Roman signal station, and even Iron Age hill fort.

One caveat I suppose is that there is not a huge amount of the structure left – other than some walls and the remnants of the keep, it is up to the visitor to imagine what it might have looked like in its prime.

Most of the pictures are focussed on the keep for that reason – even with what you can see, you get a good feel for the style of building that Henry constructed at other castles – a solid, imposing keep, more than 100 feet high, the focal point for anywhere else in the castle grounds. What is left of the interior architecture shows clear windows, alcoves, staircases and fireplaces.

But probably the most impressive part of Scarborough Castle is the view.

I could have spent most of the day taking pictures from this spot, looking down at the town and beaches on both sides, but it was an intensely hot summer and the pub was calling us! Both for the pure enjoyment of this trip and for the link to Henry II, this remains one of my favourite spots in the north of England, and well worth a visit for any proper medieval castle enthusiast!