Not to miss - Day 1
Anne Clifford places to see: The Castle and Holy Trinity Church, Skipton and Barden Tower.
SKIPTON CASTLE
Anne Clifford was born here on 30th January 1590. The castle stands at the top of the high street and had been the ancestral home of her family, the powerful Cliffords, since 1310. On the death of her father in 1605, the castle and associated estates went to Anne's uncle, her father's brother, contravening the usual rules of inheritance. The result was an almost 40 year battle by Anne in an attempt to regain her rights to both buildings and lands in both Yorkshire and Westmorland.
During the Civil War the castle was a Royalist stronghold, but fell to the Cromwell's forces after a three-year siege in 1645. Cromwell ordered the castle to be 'slighted' but was significantly restored by Anne after winning her legal battle, and once the end of the Civil War made it safe to travel north.
In the courtyard at the heart of the castle there is a yew tree, planted by Anne in 1659 to mark the restoration of the castle. Over the entrance door there is an inscription in stone giving her titles and celebrating her work. It ends with an Old Testament reference to Isaiah 58:12:
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
The castle is open every day (except 23rd-25th December) from 1000 and a visit takes around 90 mins.
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH
The church stands beside the castle and Anne was baptised here on 22nd February 1590. She ordered the rebuilding of the steeple, the installation of new windows and the re-leading of the roof following the Civil War. The windows contain her initials (AP: Anne Pembroke, from her marriage to the Earl of Pembroke) and the date 1655.
The main Clifford family tombs are here in the chancel: that of her father, her great-grandfather and her younger brother, Francis who died when he was five. Anne herself is buried at the parish church in Appleby.
The church is generally open 0830-1700. The café is open Wednesday to Friday 1000-1400 and Saturday 1000-1500. A visit would normally take about 30 mins.
BOLTON PRIORY AND BARDEN TOWER
boltonabbey.com/what-to-see/barden-tower/
Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1540, Bolton Priory (the church in the ruins of Bolton Abbey) was the original burial place for the Clifford family. After the abbey was dissolved, the family had to move their burial vault to Holy Trinity Church in Skipton; but the priory, a small, surviving section of the abbey, still serves as the local parish church. A visit would take about 15 mins.
Anne restored Barden Tower in 1659, but the building fell into disuse in the late 18th century. Rebuilding Barden Tower was deeply sentimental for Lady Anne. Her stone inscription on the tower walls notes that she repaired it because it had been ruinous ever since 1589, when her mother stayed there while "greate with child with her". It also ends with a reference to Isaiah 58.
Again a visit would take about 15 mins.
The Tower is free to visit and there is a restaurant next door in the old Priest's House. thepriestshouse.com/