The circular towers and other portions of the walls belong to
the time of Edward II., and there is also a round-headed door that
cannot be later than the time of Robert de Romille, one of the
Conqueror's followers. The rooms that overlook the shady quadrangle are
very much decayed and entirely unoccupied. They include an old
dining-hall of much picturesqueness, kitchens, pantries, and butteries,
some of them only lighted by very narrow windows. The destruction
caused during the siege which took place during the Civil War might
have brought Skipton Castle to much the same condition as Knaresborough
but for the wealth and energy of that remarkable woman Lady Anne
Clifford, who was born here in 1589. She was the only surviving child
of George, the third Earl of Cumberland, and grew up under the care of
her mother, Margaret, Countess of Cumberland, of whom Lady Anne used to
speak as 'my blessed mother.' After her first marriage with Richard
Sackville, Earl of Dorset, Lady Anne married the profligate Philip,
Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. She was widowed a second time in 1649,
and after that began the period of her munificence and usefulness.
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