32 



RUINS IN YORKSHIRE. 



BY J. O. 



WRESSLE CASTLE. 



On a gently rising ground near the east bank of the river Der- 

 went, and about four miles north-west from Howden, stands this 

 relic of feudalism. 



" The mouldering walls 

 Black with the rust of age, and all within 

 Silence and waste, while not a sound in heard 

 But the wind mourning ; not a form beheld 

 Save one, that fancy images to the mind ; 

 The spirit of Destruction !" 



From the Hull and Selby Railway, which passes within three 

 hundred yards of it, a clear unobstructed view may be had of what 

 originally formed the south front of the building, and which is the 

 only part that the democratical miscreants, acting by the commands 

 of Cromwell, had the grace to spare, of that once stately and mag- 

 nificent Castle. 



The exact date of its erection is not precisely ascertained ; but 

 Leland, in his Itinerary, ascribes its foundation to Thomas Percy, 

 Earl of Worcester, in the time of Richard II., in which opinion 

 Mr. Savage coincides, and thinks that its date must be fixed to 

 some part of the period between the years 1380 and 1390, when that 

 nobleman was in great favour with the king, and filled several high 

 offices of the state. This earl rebelling against King Henry IV., 

 was taken prisoner at the battle of Shrewsbury, on the 22nd July, 

 1403, and beheaded at that place the following day, in consequence 

 of which the lordship of Wressle, along with his other estates, 

 became confiscated to the king, who retained possession of it for some 

 time, and at length gave it to his son, John, Duke of Bedford, who, 

 at his decease, which took place in 1434, left it to Henry VI., his 

 nephew and heir. 



Its next possessor appears to have been Thomas Percy, knight, 

 son of Henry Percy, second Earl of Northumberland, who, in 1457, 

 obtained a grant of the Castle and lordship of Wressle, for the term 



