Pontefract:

Its Name, its Lords,
and its Castle.

A CONCISE HISTORY,

BY

RICHARD HOLMES.

"Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses,
whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future pre-
dominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of
thinking beings."-Dr. Johnson.

THE ARMES OF THE TOWNE OF PONTFRACT,-1585.
(Harl MSS., Glover's Visitation.)

Pontefract :

1878.

Gough suds York 83

PREFACE.

WHILE IT IS VERY NATURAL to desire to learn somewhat of the previous history of any place in which one's lot is cast, such a desire is largely increased when dwelling in a town like Pontefract, which has been the world-renowned theatre of the most important

events.

As one result of the study and research employed in the preparation of the following pages, we are emboldened to say that the domestic history of the whole Kingdom, religiously and politically, may be written with Pontefract as a centre. How much its history and that of its Lords are interwoven with the history of the country the following pages will partly show. That they should require an index containing above three thousand references is in itself some measure of the very wide field that would be covered by anything like the complete history of the town and borough towards which we venture to offer this humble contribution.