THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| Vol. XIX. No. 531.] | SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1832. | [PRICE 2d. |
PONTEFRACT CASTLE, 1648.
PONTEFRACT CASTLE.
Pontrefact, a place of considerable note in English history, is situatedabout two miles south-west from Ferrybridge, nine miles nearly east fromWakefield, and fifteen miles north-west from Doncaster, in Yorkshire. Theorigin of the town is unknown; and the etymology of its name has been amatter of dispute, in which figures a monkish legend ascribing the name ofPonsfractus, or Pontefract, to the breaking of a bridge, and the fall ofmany persons into the river Aire, who were miraculously saved by St.William, Archbishop of York. The river Ouse and the city of York, however,put in a stronger claim as the scene of this miracle, and unfortunatelyfor Pontefract, the town is so named in charters of fifty-three years'date before the miracle is pretended to have been performed. Still theetymology is referable to the breaking down of "some bridge," (pons,bridge; fractus, broken,) but this unravelment is not antiquarian.Camden says, that in the Saxon times, the name of this town was Kirkby,which was changed by the Normans to Pontefract, because of a broken bridgethat was there. But as there is no river within two miles of the place,this bridge appears to have been built over the Wash, which lies about aquarter of a mile to the east of the Castle. Other researches provePontefract to have been a secondary and subordinate Roman station.
The history of the Castle is, of course, involved in that of the manor.The town is stated to have been a burgh in the time of Edward theConfessor; but how long it had enjoyed this privilege is uncertain.1After the Conquest, this manor, with 150 others, or the greatest part ofso many in Yorkshire, besides ten in Nottinghamshire, and four inLincolnshire, were given by William to Hildebert, or Ilbert de Lacy, oneof his Norman followers, who built the Castle. The work occupied twelveyears, and it was finished in 1080. The labour and expense of its erectionwas so great, that no person unless in the possession of a princelyfortune, could have completed a work of such magnitude. Hildebert wassucceeded by his son Robert, commonly called Robert de Pontefract, fromhis being born at that town. Robert enjoyed his vast possessions in peaceduring the reign of William Rufus; but after the accession of Henry I. hewith more ambition than prudence, joined with Robert, Duke of Normandy,the King's brother, who claimed the crown of England. In consequence ofthis transaction, Robert de Lacy was banished the realm, and the castleand honour of Pontefract were given by the King to Henry Traverse, andafterwards to Henry De-laval.2 Robert de Lacy was, however, restoredafter a few years exile, and the property continued in the Lacy familytill the year 1193,