Scarborough Castle/Timelines

Click on dates for sections of the main article

Date	Event
c.900-500 BCE	Possible Iron Age settlements and hill fort
c.500 BCE	Bronze Age; sword unearthed at the Castle dates from this time
Fourth century CE	Roman signal station established
c.1000	Anglo-Saxon chapel built
1066	Possible settlement at Scarborough destroyed by Harald Hardrada using bonfire at the later Castle site
1138	William　le　Gros, 1st Earl of Albemarle builds a wooden castle at the site
1157	Henry II of England begins building a new stone castle, possible after demolishing William's
1159	Work begins on the Castle keep
1169	Keep completed
1179	William　le　Gros dies
1202	King John upgrades the castle with a new curtain wall; builds the 'King's Chambers'
1212	Most upgrades complete; keep roof repaired
1237	Storm damages keep roof
1243-1244	New barbican gateway building begins under the orders of Henry III
c.1250s	Governorship of Geoffrey de Neville; corruption and natural wear lead to decline of Castle
c.1270s	Governorship of William de Percy; garrison imposes illegal tolls on the townsfolk, steals pigs
1275	Edward I holds court at the Castle
1280	Edward I's second court at Scarborough Castle
1311	Edward II imprisons Scottish enemies at the Castle
1312	Piers Gaveston awarded governorship of the Castle by Edward II and besieged by barons; town's royal priviliges revoked following Gaveston's murder
1318-1635	Hundred Years War: Scarborough, a centre of the wool trade, attacked several times
1318	Castle sacked and burnt by Robert the Bruce and Sir James Douglas
1343	Barbican completed
1424-1429	Henry VI　orders major repairs to the Castle
1536	Pilgrimage of Grace: Robert Aske's forces unsuccessfully try to take the Castle
April 1557	Thomas Wyatt the younger's forces take the castle disguised as peasants; Thomas Stafford executed on Tower Hill after holding the Castle for three days
1569	Castle garrisoned against a predicted Scottish invasion during the Rising of the North; attack never comes
1642-1651	English Civil War: Scarborough sides with the Royalists; Castle garrison led by Sir Hugh Cholmley
March 1643	Cholmley briefly loses the Castle to his cousin, Captain Browne Bushell
August 1644	Parliamentary forces reach Scarborough following Royalist defeat at Marston Moor and the fall of York; Cholmley stalls with surrender negotiations
18th February 1645	First siege of the Castle by Parliamentary forces begins
1st May 1645	Parliamentarians' Committee of Both Kingdoms orders that the Castle be taken at all costs
25th July 1645	Castle garrison surrenders following five-month siege that sees the keep partially destroyed
27th July 1648	New castle garrison goes over to the Royalist side
19th December 1648	Second siege brings Castle back under Parliamentary control; later used as a prison
April 1665 - September 1666	Imprisonment of George Fox, founder of the Quakers
1745-1746	Castle refortified during the Jacobite Rebellion; keep used to store gunpowder
1748	Master Gunners's House built as accommodation
1779	Scarborians watch a sea battle from Castle Hill between American and British ships during the American Revolutionary War
1796	French prisoners held at the Castle during the Napoleonic Wars; permanent garrison stationed at the castle until the mid-nineteenth century
16th December 1914	Keep damaged by German warships during the Bombardment of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool; barracks later demolished due to damage from shelling
1920	Castle taken into public ownership by the Ministry of Works
1980	Bronze Age sword unearthed from the site; this can be seen in the Castle's exhibition
1984	English Heritage awarded the site