Helmsley Castle, also known as Hamlake, is a medieval, decaying castle located in the market town of Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England, inside the North York Moors National Park. Walter l’Espec erected a wooden fortification in the year 1120. Walter had no children, so when he died in 1154, the castle was passed down to his sister Adelina, who had married Peter de Roos. In 1186, Robert de Ros, son of Everard de Ros, began construction on the castle’s stone conversion. He constructed the circular corner towers and the great entryway on the castle’s south side.
Helmsley Castle, also known as Hamlake, is a medieval, decaying castle located in the market town of Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England, inside the North York Moors National Park. Walter l’Espec erected a wooden fortification in the year 1120. Walter had no children, so when he died in 1154, the castle was passed down to his sister Adelina, who had married Peter de Roos. In 1186, Robert de Ros, son of Everard de Ros, began construction on the castle’s stone conversion. He constructed the circular corner towers and the great entryway on the castle’s south side.
Helmsley Castle remained in the de Roos family’s ownership until 1478, when Edmund de Roos sold it to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, subsequently Richard III. Richard made no changes to the castle and instead stayed in Middleham Castle. Henry VII returned Helmsley Castle to Edmund de Roos following Richard III’s death at the Battle of Bosworth.
Edmund died childless in 1508 and the castle passed to his cousin Sir George Manners of Etal, who died in 1513 and left it to his son Thomas. In 1525, he was made Earl of Rutland. When Thomas died in 1543, his son Henry replaced him, but the castle was not renovated until his grandson Edward took it. He had the old hall renovated into a Tudor palace, the 13th-century chapel transformed into a kitchen linked to the old hall by a covered gallery, and the new hall demolished. At this time, the south barbican was turned into a more luxurious house.
A letter from April 1578 discusses the sluggish development of the mason’s work and the availability of lumber for a gallery in the mansion’s attic. When Edward died in 1587, his brother John Manners inherited the castle, followed by John’s son Roger, and finally by Roger’s younger brother Francis. The castle went to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham by his marriage to Katherine, Francis’ daughter, after Francis died in 1632.
Sir Thomas Fairfax besieged the fortress in 1644 during the English Civil War. Sir Jordan Crosland held it for three months before surrendering to the king. Parliament ordered that the castle be slighted to prevent continued usage, and parts of the castle’s walls, gates, and east tower were demolished. The mansion, however, was spared. George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who married Mary, daughter of Thomas Fairfax in 1657, had inherited the castle at this time.
The castle was sold after his death in 1687 to Charles Duncombe, a banker and politician who was knighted in 1699 and became Lord Mayor of London in 1708. When Charles died in 1711, his sister Mary’s husband, Thomas Brown, inherited the castle. Thomas renamed himself Duncombe. He engaged John Vanbrugh to build a country home in Duncombe Park overlooking the castle and abandoned it. The castle is still held by the Feversham family of Duncombe Park, although it is presently managed by English Heritage.