Trains to Scarborough Castle

About Scarborough Castle

Scarborough Castle sits on a rocky promontory with spectacular views of Scarborough's bays and the North Sea. The site was important long before the castle arrived - remains of a late Bronze Age fort, including a 3,000-year-old sword, are on display in the museum. In the 4th century a Roman signal station was built here to warn of approaching hostile vessels, and around the year 1000 the Anglo-Saxons built a chapel on the site. Stone fortifications only arrived in the 12th century, and King Henry II added to them with a great keep. King John maintained the castle as a comfortable residence and a bastion of his power in an unfriendly north, strengthening it with an outer wall.

The castle underwent major renovation in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and was subjected to a five-month siege during the English Civil War. Parliamentary forces pounded it with what was then the largest cannon in the country, the Cannon Royal, and scurvy, a lack of water and near-starvation eventually forced the Royalist defenders to surrender.

Visitors can enjoy the panorama from the Castle headland, view the exhibition in the Master Gunner's House, and grab a bite to eat in the tearoom.