Agnes Ratcliffe

Notes

From http://www.boyntons.us/yorkshire/places/trailof/fromengland13/frome...

If plotting was afoot the Scropes were likely to be there. Agnes was the daughter of Henry, the fourth Baron Scrope, and was the brother of John, the fifth Baron Scrope, who supported Richard III and then supported an uprising against Henry VII after he became king. She first married Christopher Boynton [the second Christopher] and Henry was her son. Christopher died in 1376 and she married Richard Ratcliffe who was among the closest of the inner circle of Richard III.

The castle was built over a 10 year period at the end of the 14th century. So it was practically new when Agnes was born there early in the 15th century. It was designed as a fortress. The family needed protection from the Scots challenging from the north and the king challenging from the south -- from time to time. Unlike the castle at Scarborough, at Richmond , and at Alnwick it was not designed with a large enough space [wall] to include a village. It was just a building designed to be a fort. What is most impressive about the castle is up and down -- two floors down and three up. Stairs were a very important part of the life of Agnes as she was growing up.

The intriguing of the Scropes often got them into trouble and several times their enemies destroyed parts of the castle -- a bit by Henry VIII and then substantially in the civil war. The Scropes just went on and on, for centuries, cooperating with and intriguing against central authority.