Castle tipped for heritage stardom

A medieval castle in Yorkshire is being tipped to become one of northern England's premier heritage attractions.

Doncaster Council and English Heritage are consulting residents in Conisbrough on what improvements they would like to see made to the site of Conisbrough Castle to ensure that residents and visitors can benefit fully from the castle's rich heritage.

A castle has stood on the site for 1,000 years and the current fortress is 800 years old.

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It is one of the few Norman castles left in the UK and has the finest Norman circular keep tower outside France. King John stayed there in 1201 and King Edward II was a visitor in 1322.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has given the green light to the council to work up plans to encourage greater community use of the castle, enhance the experience for visitors and improve access.

A development grant of just over 60,000 has been awarded by HLF to the partnership to help keep the plans moving. Over the next 18 months the partnership will be working on a bid for up to 1m of investment.

An open day will be held on Saturday to give residents an opportunity to say how they think the site should develop.

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The day will also include junior jousting, crossbows, willow weaving as well as a chance to meet the curators and handle some real medieval artefacts.

Mayor of Doncaster Peter Davies said: "Conisbrough Castle is a unique ancient monument and one of the borough's greatest tourism assets. It is the most impressive castle to be seen anywhere in the region.

"I would welcome any developments which would help draw more visitors into Doncaster and boost our local economy."

The head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Yorkshire and the Humber, Fiona Spiers, said: "We're extremely pleased to give initial support to this project to transform the visitor experience at Conisbrough Castle.

"Whilst this is just the beginning of the journey, the award of this development money will now enable plans for a full grant to be worked up in the future."