The massive county of Yorkshire is traditionally split into three parts - the Ridings, and so we are also following the same method of breaking this massive county into manageable chunks.

The East Riding and York - The North Riding - The West Riding

Click on the Castle name below the maps to see a picture and some text about the Castle.

SKIPSEA

WITHERNSEA

WRESSLE

YORK

The East Riding is mostly flat land with the Yorkshire Wolds rising in the centre, partly reclaimed from the sea and bounded in the south by the massive Humber River.  For many years it languished under the unpleasant name of Humberside (along with part of northern Lincolnshire) but it has now been restored to its rightful name.

The East Riding is poor Castle-hunting territory, particularly for Northern England. It contains two major towns, Beverley in the centre of the county and Kingston-upon-Hull on the Humber.

The City of York has always been a separate entity from the Ridings, but for ease it has been placed with the East Riding here.

Click on the Castle name below the map to see a picture and some text about the Castle.

BOWES

CASTLE BOLTON

CASTLE HOWARD

COWTON

DANBY

GILLING

HELMSLEY

KILTON

MAIDEN

MARMION TOWER

MIDDLEHAM

MULGRAVE

RICHMOND

PICKERING

SCARBOROUGH

SHERIFF HUTTON

SLINGSBY

SNAPE

WHORLTON

WILTON

The North Riding contains some of Yorkshire's most beautiful countryside - the North York Moors, part of the Yorkshire Dales and the Vale of York, plus the wonderful coastline from Flamborough Head to the Tees Estuary. It also contains some of the counties most beautiful towns and cities; Richmond, Helmsley, Pickering, Scarborough and Whitby to name just a few. The far north east has the industrial heartland of the Tees around Middlesbrough.

It is also blessed with the best of Yorkshire's Castles from Castle Bolton in the west, through Richmond, Middleham, Pickering and Helmsley to Scarborough on the coast.

Click on the Castle name below the map to see a picture and some text about the Castle.

ALMONDBURY

BURTON-IN-LONSDALE

CAWOOD

CLIFFE

CONISBROUGH

HAREWOOD

HAZLEWOOD

KNARESBOROUGH

RIPLEY

PONTEFRACT

SANDAL

SHEFFIELD

SKIPTON

SPOFFORTH

STAINBOROUGH

The third of the Ridings of Yorkshire makes up the south and west of the county.  The south of Yorkshire from the mighty steel city of Sheffield to Leeds and Huddersfield is one of England's industrial heartlands - and the survival of such Castles as Conisbrough, Pontefract and Sandal is nothing short of remarkable.

In the north and west of the county the land rises to the Pennines and the south of the Yorkshire Dales national park.  Here are some more of the great Castles of the North - Ripley, Knaresborough and Skipton amidst a landscape that is Yorkshire at its most Yorkshire-y.

All in all Yorkshire is the most amazing of all England's counties.  Everything is here, from industrial sprawl to uninhabited wilderness.

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© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton
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2024