heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

THE CLIFFORDS. 259
The western, or more ancient portion of the castle, which stands
back some 150 feet from the gate, and which was probably erected by
Robert de Clifford, who entertained Edward II. on October ist and 2nd,
1323, is about 60 yards in length, with irregular sides, each corner flanked
by a massive round tower. The northern wall stands on the brink of a
perpendicular rock washed by a torrent, to the bed of which from the
battlements is 200 feet. In the glen beneath was the pleasure-ground of
the Cliffords, consisting of fish-ponds, walks, &c. Within is the inner or
conduit court, shaded by an ancient yew tree, said to have been planted
here in 1642, in the place of one destroyed by the siege; but which, however
pleasant in summer, must have rendered the rooms, the windows of which
all look into the very picturesque court, inconveniently dark during the rest
of the year. The banqueting hall, on the north side, is a fine lofty room,
50 feet by 28 feet, with the kitchen on the one side and the withdrawing
room on the other; and there are many other rooms one said to have
been tenanted by Mary Queen of Scots, whose visit here is
very apocryphal ;
and one called " Fair Rosamond's inner chamber," who, however, had
been dead and buried years before Skipton
Castle came into
the hands of
her family.
The eastern portion, about 160 feet long, and flanked by a massive
octagonal tower, was built by Henry first Earl of Cumberland, in 1536,
for the reception of Lady Eleanor Brandon, who married his son Henry,
1537. As daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, and his wife
Mary, sister of Henry VIII., and widow of Louis King of France, such
an enlargement of the castle was deemed " necessary. The Lady Eleanor's
" " grace," says Whitaker, appears to have been received by the family
" (who, no doubt, were proud of such an alliance), with the honour of
" royalty, and a long gallery was then considered as a necessary appendage
" to every princely residence." The long gallery has, however, been cut
up into bedrooms ; the old pictures have been removed to Appleby Castle ;
and there is nothing of interest in this part of the building, except the
upper room in the octagonal tower, hung with ghastly but good tapestry,
representing the tortures of the Inquisition, used as a bedroom by Lady
Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset and Pembroke, the last of the direct
line of the Cliffords, during her residence here.
Three curious inventories are extant, which give us some idea of the
furnishing thereof at different periods of the tenancy by the Cliffords.
In that of 1572, taken after the death of the second Earl, there is a
curious list of " My Lord's app'ell."
The ordinary habit of a nobleman at that time consisted of a doublet
and hose a cloak, or sometimes a long gown ; sometimes a short gown
with sleeves.