R is for Raby Castle, County Durham

The castle was built by John Nevill, 3^rd Baron Neville de Raby about 100 years after they were called to Parliament as Barons of Raby, construction was completed by 1390.

Raby Castle from the south

Cecily Nevill, who was the mother of the Kings Edward IV (1442 – 1483) and Richard III (1452 – 1485), was born here.  Both brothers ruled during this turbulent period of history.

Richard’s defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field was the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses and is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England.  He is the subject of the eponymous play by Shakespeare.

Raby Castle set in its landscape  painted by
J.M.W. Turner at the beginning of  the 19th century

Over the next 170 years the Nevills became one of the powerful families in northern England, comparable to the House of Percy. 

The Nevills were Catholic and were leaders in the failed Rising of the North in 1569 against England’s Protestant Queen Elizabeth I.  The Nevills forfeited their lands to the Crown.

Treasures at Raby

Raby Castle was purchased by the Barnards in 1626, who also own the now ruined Barnard Castle nearby.  It is the home and seat of John Vane, 11^th Baron Bernard, who is the present lord of the castle.

The Castle is known for its GREAT hall in which some 700 knights mustered for the failed uprising ...

Restored Medieval Kitchen

Every room in Raby, from the magnificent Barons’ Hall, where the knights gathered to plot the ‘Rising of the North’, to the medieval kitchen which was used until 1954, gives an insight into life throughout the ages.

Behind the powerful exterior of the towers and fortifications, Raby has splendid interiors and houses a fantastic art collection. 

Treasures include an important collection of Meissen porcelain, tapestries, furnishings and paintings by leading artists such as Munnings, De Hooch, Teniers, Van Dyck and Reynolds.

Then there is the Coach House containing 18^th and 19^th century coaches and carriages to look and marvel at, as well as the excellent display of harnesses and trappings in the Tack Room.

That is R for Raby Castle one of the finest medieval Castles in England, built in the beautiful countryside of Teesdale ... part of the ABC series Aspects of British Castles.

Bob Scotney’s castle yesterday was Quatford Castle, Shropshire

Some of the pictures came from the Raby Castle website; the main artworks are listed in the Wikipedia site, while information on the statue "The Greek Slave" by the American sculptor, Hiram Powers in 1844, has its own Wiki site - and I was going to post .. but forgot!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

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