Pontefract Castle - A Tour of the Keep Cellar

[@SimonDeBelleme1]

Is this the oubliette?

[@raptorbadger3131]

"We don't know what this was used for" riveting history, guys.

[@bremnersghost948]

Dry Well or an Oubliette?

[@ellanv]

There is also an underground chamber which is accessed via a trapdoor level with the ground situated in the open grassy area at the centre of the castle. This was left open when I visited as a teenager, sometime in the late 60s or early 70s. I visited the castle again in the early 80s, when I found the trapdoor again, and saw that it had been padlocked shut. The chamber is quite small; in width I recall that the gap between the steps leading into the chamber and the wall opposite is less than 2', and the steps themselves perhaps 3' wide. The length of the chamber is approx. twice the length of the steps, or 6' to 8'. The walls were lines with stone blocks and the masonry was precisely cut. As this chamber was clearly too small to be a storeroom, perhaps it was built to imprison Richard II? If he was starved to death, it would have been important to isolate him so that no witnesses could attest to the manner of his death. He would have appeared to have died of natural causes and this was important when his dead body was taken to London and publicly displayed. I am surprised that the existence of the chamber appears t have been forgotten.

[@wakefieldmuseums]

Hi John, Thank you for your comment, i believe you have spoken to one of my colleagues regarding this matter - hopefully he has answered your queries. Kind Regards, The Museums and Castles Team

[@ellanv]

@@wakefieldmuseums No, I've looked at both the videos about the castle keep and the dungeon with the ventilation shaft and neither of those were the underground chamber I visited. So I think it has been lost, as the trapdoor was level with the ground. Maybe a top dressing of soil has been applied to provide a better grassy area? One feature I distinctly remember was the narrow gap between the steps and the wall of the chamber. That feature does not appear in either of the videos.

[@jaynepoppleton4133]

I apologise for the actions of my possible ancestors/namesakes. My aunt believes it's Airey Poppleton from the date, who ought to have known better as he was in the legal profession.

[@anvilbrunner.2013]

Graffiti is acceptable if it's really old.