Sandal Castle is one of Wakefield’s historic attractions and is an interesting place to explore and walk around. Although not all parts of Sandal Castle are suitable for pushchairs or for wheelchair users there is a decent path around the perimeter of the castle. There is a small, free car park for visitors open from 9am - 5.30pm . Dogs are allowed. There is a small cafe but it isn't open every day.
1. History of Sandal Castle
The first castle at Sandal was probably built by William de Warenne in the
early 12th century after he had been granted possession of the Manor of
Wakefield. This first castle was built of timber and the site was not rebuilt in
stone until the early 13th century. Apart from a brief period following the revolt
of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, the castle was in the hands of the Warennes
until 1361 when it became a Crown possession. In 1460 the area to the north
of Sandal Castle was the site of the battle of Wakefield at which the Duke of
York was slain.
Although Richard III had plans for the redevelopment of the castle, they were
never carried out due to his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. After this
the castle seems to have been allowed to fall into disrepair, although parts of
it were used as the administrative centre for the constable of Wakefield and
as a prison in Tudor times. In 1645 during the English Civil War the castle was
briefly reoccupied by Royalist troops. Parliamentary forces besieged the
castle and the Royalists were forced to surrender after a few months. The
subsequent year the castle defences were demolished on the orders of
Parliament.
2. The Remains
Sandal is large motte and bailey castle situated on high ground overlooking
the Calder Valley. It is surrounded by a deep ditch and the crescent shaped
bailey is also separated from the motte by a ditch. Traces of the stone keep
can be seen on the top of the motte but the most imposing structure is the
base of the barbican tower which blocked access to the keep. The bastion is
flanked by defensive walling and there is further upstanding walling in the
bailey.
3. To claim this cache
A) The posted coordinates will take you to the remnants of the Great Hall - explore the 2 remaining sections of the stone walls. Message us to say how many "Please don't Climb" signs there are on these 2 sections of wall. Please don't include this answer in your log. There is no need to wait for our reply before logging the cache.
B) Take a photo of yourself (or with something clearly showing your caching name) with a prominent feature of Sandal Castle in the background and submit it with your log.
We hope you enjoy your visit to Sandal Castle!
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.