Image: Model of reconstructed Pontefract castle (Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Model_of_Pontefract_Castle_in_Pontefract_Museum.JPG).
Acquired: 1509 (by inheritance)
A key stronghold in the north, Pontefract had played a key strategic part in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, when its constable surrendered to the rebels, claiming it was not defensible. This was probably true, although the Crown had paid for repairs to the building. Further repairs and refurbishments were provided in 1538–40 before the king’s northern progress, when he and Catherine Howard stayed at newly constructed apartments at the site. She was later accused of holding an adulterous assignation with Sir Thomas Culpeper here.
The castle’s great keep has an unusual lobed design, and is not central to the main castle mound, but coursed into the inner curtain wall. Additional towers in this wall make a dramatic skyline, visible in images of the building. It was slighted in the Civil War. Pontefract is now a registered historical site and open to the public.