Danby Castle Walk

History

The Danby Castle Walk links Danby Lodge National Park Centre, the former shooting lodge of the Danby estate, with Danby Castle on its spur above the Esk Valley, and comes back by way of the old Duck Bridge. The castle is privately owned and not open to the public. The Dawnay family's estate website dates the castle to the 14th century, when it was built by Lord Latimer, and says it was handed down to the Neville branch of the family; the National Park Authority notes that the castle and Duck Bridge both bear the arms of the Nevilles. Katharine Parr, later the sixth wife of Henry VIII, lived at the castle from time to time between 1534 and 1543 as the wife of John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer, and the Dawnay family bought the estate in 1656. The castle later became the estate's manor court and farmhouse, and the Danby Court Leet, which manages the manor's common land, still meets there.