Snape Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Snape Castle stands on the edge of the village of Snape, a few kilometres south of Bedale, in North Yorkshire. It is not a military fortress in the strict sense. It is a large seigneurial residence on a rectangular plan, flanked by a tower at each corner and built of rubble and ashlar. The site today combines two realities: a south range that is still inhabited, divided into two private dwellings, and extensive ruined parts to the north, where the towers retain almost their full height but no longer have any floors. The house is associated with the Nevilles, Barons Latimer, who built it in the 15th century, and then with the Cecils of Burghley, who remodelled it at the end of the 16th century. It also owes its fame to Catherine Parr, who lived there with her second husband, John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer, before becoming the sixth wife of Henry VIII. The south front still bears the arms of the Nevilles and the Cecils above the door. The castle enjoys double protection: it is listed Grade I, and the ruins and chapel form a scheduled monument. The inhabited parts are not open to visitors. St Mary's Chapel, built into the south-east side, has, by contrast, belonged to the diocese since 1926. A waymarked footpath gives access to it, and services are still held there.