BOLTON-CASTLE, a chapelry in the parish of
WENSLEY, western division of the wapentake of HANG
North riding of the county of YORK, 7 miles (N. W.
by W.) from Middleham, containing 278 inhabitants.
The living is a perpetual curacy, with that of Redmire
annexed, in the archdeaconry of Richmond, and diocese
of Chester, endowed with £1000 royal bounty, and in
the patronage of the Rector of Wensley. The chapel
is dedicated to St. Oswald. On the brow of a hill are
the ruins of the castle, which was built by Richard,
Lord Scrope, Chancellor of England in the reign of
Richard II., in which the Q,ueen of Scots was kept prisoner,
in 1568. During the parliamentary war it sustained
a pressing siege, which terminated in its surrender
to the insurgents in 1645: the north-eastern tower
fell down in 1761, and the eastern and northern sides
are entirely in ruins; the west front, however, is in good
repair. There is a small endowment in land for the
instruction of poor children, bequeathed by the Rev,
Thomas Baynes, in 1725.