Scarborough Castle/Timelines

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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 c.1157 Henry II 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: castle garrison sides with the Royalists March 1643 Castle garrison led by Sir Hugh 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 Gunner'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