Knaresborough Castle

We journeyed today to Knaresborough, a market town between the Yorkshire cities of York and Harrogate. Although the castle is now largely in ruins, it was an imposing fortress set high above the River Nidd in the early 14th century, one held by the Earl of Cornwall himself.

In She Serves the Realm, the fourth novel in the No Man is Her Master series, this castle is very important to the plot.

Having never been to the castle previously, I felt it essential to walk the grounds myself, so I could write about it from first-hand experience. One of the things not mentioned in any of the written sources I consulted was an underground sally port entered from the upper bailey.

Now, did it exist in 1312, or was it added at a later date? that is the question to which I am going to try to discover an answer tomorrow!