A plan to improve the maintenance of Knaresborough Castle is being prepared amid concerns that the historic venue has suffered years of neglect.
A petition calling for urgent action to protect and restore the castle was presented to North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee yesterday (Thursday).
The petition was signed by more than 4,500 people concerned about the condition of the venue.
Kathy Allday, chair of the Knaresborough Museum Association, who launched the petition with Liz Baxandal, told the meeting that while the castle was in good condition in 2012 when the Tour de France visited the town, it had been neglected by both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire Council since.
She added:
“It’s my understanding there’s been no maintenance since 2019, so we’ve now got weeds in the castle walls, causing cracks in the masonry and destabilising the fabric of the castle.
“At Castle Top, where people sit on the benches to look at the stunning iconic view of the gorge, they are greeted with uncontrolled sycamore growth.
“The paths and steps from Waterside up to the castle are in a terrible, I would say dangerous, state.
“The moat itself used to be a grassy mound covered in daffodils and today it’s obscured by trees and brambles. There are cracks also appearing in the paths to the rear of the Courthouse Museum as a result, I understand, of movement around the retaining wall, and it is literally slowly falling into the moat.”
In response, Paul Fieldhouse, head of property maintenance, compliance and facilities management at North Yorkshire Council, said it emerged following local government reorganisation in 2023 that maintenance of council-owned historic sites was “not up to standard” with concerns that contractors were not qualified to carry out the required work.
The meeting was told that council staff were working with Historic England and the council-owned Align Property Partners to improve maintenance at these sites.
Mr Fieldhouse added:
“There’s been quite an extensive consultation with these professionals from Historic England and Align Property Partners to ensure that the investment is correct, is periodic and hits every element that we need to undertake.
“There is a wider improvement plan that’s been pulled together and the elements that I’ve discussed is part of that five-year investment plan.”
The officer told the meeting that feedback from maintenance work at the castle planned for the end of June would feed into the plan.
Knaresborough West councillor, Matt Walker, said he was pleased improvements to maintenance had been promised.
He added:
“We have started to see a shift which I think is really great and I just want to thank the council and the parks team for the work over the last few weeks.
“There’s been a significant improvement; they did promise me that, so they have started to deliver which is great.”
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