Editing Conisbrough Castle (section)

===16th – 19th centuries===
[[File:Conisbrough Castle, 1785.png|thumb|upright=1.6|Engraving of the castle from afar in 1785]]
By the 16th century Conisbrough Castle was in a poor state of repair, and a royal survey carried out in 1537 and 1538 showed that the gates, bridge and parts of the walls had collapsed in a spectacular land slippage, and that one floor of the keep had also fallen in.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnson|1984|pp=8, 10}}.</ref> The collapse of the walls was a consequence of the instability of the topsoil on top of the limestone spur, which was a mixture of clay and sandstone; once the clay was washed away over time, the remaining sandstone proved extremely unstable and liable to crack.<ref>{{harvnb|Thompson|1969|p=215}}.</ref>

[[Henry VIII]] gave the ruins to the Carey family, who retained it until it passed by marriage into first the Heviningham and then the Coke families.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnson|1984|p=8}}; {{harvnb|Smith|1887|p=112}}.</ref> The castle was not involved in the events of the [[English Civil War]] in the 17th century, and escaped the slighting that affected many similar properties, probably because the collapse of the outer walls had already made it indefensible and of little military value.<ref name=Johnson1984P8/> In 1737, after the death of Edward Coke, the castle and the surrounding manor were bought by [[Thomas Osborne, 4th Duke of Leeds|Thomas Osborne]], the [[Duke of Leeds]], for £22,500.<ref name="Smith 1887 112">{{harvnb|Smith|1887|p=112}}.</ref>{{efn|It is challenging to accurately compare 18th-century and modern financial sums. £22,500 in 1737 would be worth between £3.1 million and £364 million in 2013 terms, depending on the financial measure used.<ref name=MeasuringWorth>{{cite web|url=http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/relativevalue.php|title=Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1270 to Present|author1=Lawrence H. Officer|author2=Samuel H. Williamson|year=2014|access-date=31 December 2014|publisher=MeasuringWorth|archive-date=26 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826042917/http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/relativevalue.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

In 1811 the novelist [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]] passed by the castle and later used it as the location for his novel ''[[Ivanhoe]]'', published in 1819.<ref>{{harvnb|Hull|2008|p=27}}.</ref> Scott only had a partial view of the property from the road and the events portrayed in the novel, set at the end of the 12th century, are fictitious; Scott believed the castle to have been Saxon in origin, a view shared by many 19th-century commentators.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnson|1984|p=8}}; {{harvnb|Scott|1998|p=573}}.</ref> Although the writer John Wainwright was still able to praise the "picturesque view" around the castle in 1826, the antiquarian Ecroyd Smith commented with concern in 1887 on the changing character of the location, in particular the factories that were growing up around the new railway line and the "murky atmosphere" the industrial works created.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|1887|pp=15–16, 39–40}}.</ref>

In 1859 [[Francis D'Arcy-Osborne, 7th Duke of Leeds|Francis D'Arcy-Osborne]], the Duke of Leeds, died, leaving Conisbrough to his nephew, [[Sackville Lane-Fox, 12th Baron Conyers|Sackville Lane-Fox]], the [[Baron Conyers]].<ref name="Smith 1887 112"/> The keep remained in good condition, but by 1884 it was apparent that repairs were needed and the antiquarian George Clark recommended urgent work to repair the stonework.<ref name=CLark1884BP157>{{harvnb|Clark|1884b|p=157}}.</ref> If finances allowed it, he also urged the reinstallation of a roof and wooden floors.<ref name=CLark1884BP157/> Limited repairs were subsequently approved by the trustees of Lord Conyers, although Clark's colleague, A. Ellis, expressed concerns that railings to protect the visitors who routinely climbed to the top of the keep had not been funded.<ref>{{harvnb|Ellis|1885|pp=399–400}}.</ref> A reported £500 was spent by the trustees renovating the castle ruins, including the construction of a lodge in the outer bailey for the castle keeper, completed in 1885, and improvements to the footpaths.<ref>{{harvnb|Dixon|1887|p=189}}; {{harvnb|Davis|2012|p=5}}.</ref>{{efn|Comparing 19th-century and modern financial sums depends on the financial measure used. £500 in 1885 would be worth between £47,000 and £651,000 in 2013 terms, depending on the financial measure used.<ref name="MeasuringWorth"/>}}