Scarborough and the 1484 visits of Richard III….

Miss Wharton’s drawing of the ‘King’s Bedchamber’ illustrating the furniture, the decorated plastered ceiling and pattern on the chimney breast. To the right of the fireplace is the entrance door to the room and further to the right can be seen the steps leading to the attic door.

We all know how much time Richard III spent in the north, and that he was certainly happy there. He ruled it well when he was still Duke of Gloucester, and was much loved for his fairness and justice. When he was king and went on his first progress in 1484, he went north again, and among the places he made sure to visit was Scarborough.

I have now happened upon a very well-illustrated Yorkshire Journal publication of 2015 in which the very final article is all about Richard’s spring and summer 1484 visits to Scarborough. In particular it deals with the King Richard III House where he is said to have stayed in preference to the Castle, and it contains interior illustrations that I had never seen before. You can read the article, starting on page 28, at this link. https://theyorkshirejournal.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/theyorkshirejournal-2015-04.pdf.

This drawing is by Miss Wharton and dates to about 1835 before the three storey bay windows at the front were removed. There are steps leading up to the front door of the house and another set of steps with a banister on the sides leading to the entrance to the building on the left. The ground level is much lower compared with photos of the building. The projecting boards and plinth indicate that the sea reached near the front of the building in the early part of the 1800s.

Richard was in Scarborough “….to assemble a fleet to fight and to resist the expected invasion of Henry Tudor, later Henry VII. It is reputed that King Richard III stayed in the house named after him on the foreshore during the summer of 1484. He might well have found this location beside the harbour within view and easy access of his ships more convenient than the castle. Nevertheless, he did stay for a time at Scarborough Castle because writs, warrants and other documents were sealed by him on 22nd May and 5th July and were ‘given at the castel of Scardeburgh’. In fact he was the last monarch to reside at the castle. However, Royal orders issued after 5th July were ‘given at Scardeburgh’ so it is possible that Richard did stay in the house built on Sandside in the fifteenth century for a few days, even though there is no conclusive evidence to confirm this….”

Part of an engraving of Scarborough dated 1735 by John Setterington illustrating the castle, harbour and ship-building along the waterfront. The position of King Richard III House is indicated in the engraving. Notice the two ships on the sands reaching towards King Richard III house. The yards were still confined within the harbour piers, which gave them a measure of protection from the ocean.

The house and Scarborough itself have featured in our blog before. You can read past posts here:

Aerial view of the harbour and front at Scarborough. King Richard III house can be seen in the blue circle. To the right is the curtain wall of the castle, which extends along the whole length of the promontory overlooking the town. At the top right is the Barbican and Gatehouse to the castle.

One response to “Scarborough and the 1484 visits of Richard III….”

The delights within the King Richard III restaurant in Scarborough…. – The New Murrey and Blue blog

July 30, 2025 at 8:00 am

[…] and Blue has published other posts about Scarborough, here (Richard’s visits in 1484), here (more about the house) and here (ghosts and urban legends of […]

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