Lord Lytton, in _Eugene Aram_, wrote of it:--

"You will be at a loss to recognise now the truth of old Leland's
description of that once stout and gallant bulwark of the north,
when 'he numbrid 11 or 12 Toures in the walles of the Castel, and
one very fayre beside in the second area.' In that castle the four
knightly murderers of the haughty Becket (the Wolsey of his age)
remained for a whole year, defying the weak justice of the times.
There, too, the unfortunate Richard II passed some portion of his
bitter imprisonment. And there, after the battle of Marston Moor,
waved the banner of the loyalists against the soldiers of
Lilburn."

An interesting story is told of the siege. A youth, whose father was
in the garrison, each night went into the deep, dry moat, climbed up
the glacis, and put provisions through a hole where his father stood
ready to receive them. He was seen at length, fired on by the
Parliamentary soldiers, and sentenced to be hanged in sight of the
besieged as a warning to others. But a good lady obtained his respite,
and after the conquest of the place was released. The castle then,
once the residence of Piers Gaveston, of Henry III, and of John of
Gaunt, was dismantled and destroyed.

During the reign of Henry III great progress was made in the
improvement and development of castle-building. The comfort and
convenience of the dwellers in these fortresses were considered, and
if not very luxurious places they were made more beautiful by art and
more desirable as residences. During the reigns of the Edwards this
progress continued, and a new type of castle was introduced. The
stern, massive, and high-towering keep was abandoned, and the