There has been a castle of some kind on the site since 1120. The first version was started by the Norman baron Walter Espec aka Walter the Woodpecker—ironic nickname since he was said to be of "gigantic stature." The Woodpecker also donated a portion of his land nearby to the monks who founded Rievaulx Abbey.
Later on, the castle was home to the Lords of Helmsley and was used as the capital, or law-making center, of their lands. Most of the visible parts of the castle are medieval and part of the west tower is an Elizabethan mansion.
We thought the most incredible part was the earthworks around the castle. It would have required a pretty impressive amount of manpower and, from what I remember, it was the earliest part of construction. There is some debate on whether or not it was ever used as a moat, but it seems doubtful. Not only is there a big ditch outside of the heavily fortified barbicans (aka entrances)...
...but there's also a serious ditch inside the entry around the entire plateau the castle sits on. The idea of running up and down those things would sure make me think twice about storming the castle :)
The 3-story west tower contained the bedrooms for the Lord's family and his guests. You can see some of their fireplaces here. The rooms were accessed by a spiral staircase and the slotted doorways on the left are bathrooms (a slightly more sophisticated version of a port-o-let). The diminishing window sizes correspond with rooms of diminishing importance i.e. if you're the Lord's family, you get the big windows on the ground floor. If you're his second-cousin's brother-in-law, you get the shortie windows in the attic.
The Elizabethan mansion is an addition to the side of the west tower. In the best preserved parts, you can see some of the original details of the plaster ceiling and carved wood paneling. Ornate, but spartan.
We weren't expecting much from this castle which is why we hadn't stopped before, but we were very impressed. Besides our feet and hands being numb, we had a good time. They called for sun, but we sure didn't see it. We walked out of the castle and wondered through the small market town of Helmsley next door. It's very picturesque and would have been even more enjoyable if it had been warmer.
Then we headed to Rievaulx for Christmas carols (for more info on Rievaulx, click on this link for the archived post). It was nice atmosphere and we were surprised by a whole band playing in the nave of the old abbey.
Some carols we knew, some we didn't. We stayed for a couple of songs or until our feet were numb, then stopped inside for some hot tea and went back out again to meet some local inhabitants.
It was nice to be out and about again. We're looking forward to longer days and warmer temperatures :)
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