Barnard Castle

On our way to Yorkshire we had a stop at Barnard Castle to stretch our legs.

Barnard Castle is a market town in County Durham named after the castle around which it is was built.

The history of the ruined castle begins in the 11th century after the Norman Conquest of England. It was ‘modernised’ in the 12th and 13th centuries by the Balliol family. From 1471 it belonged to Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester who became King Richard III in 1483 (yes him - my Kingdom for a horse, crooked back). He was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

Barnard Castle is often named as one of the most attractive towns in England but it only passed my radar for the first time in May 2020 during the infamous Cummings Gate! Dominic Cummings, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Chief of Staff was caught breaking Covid rules. His explanation for his behaviour included the needed for a drive to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight! I’m not sure there was a person in the land who believed a word of it. It was November 2020 before he resigned for an unconnected reason.