RICHMOND, a municipal borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, 15 m. S.W. of Darlington by a branch of the L.N.E. railway, of which it is the terminus. Pop. (1931) 4,769. It is situated on the left bank of the Swale, where the valley is still narrow and steep-sided before it emerges from the Pennines into the Vale of York.
The town is chiefly interesting because of the castle, which occupies the summit of a high cliff. The castle was founded about 1071 by Alan Rufus of Penthievre in Brittany, who is said to have rebuilt the town on obtaining from William the Conqueror the estates of the Saxon earl Edwin, which embraced some two hundred manors of Richmond and extended over nearly a third of the North Riding. This tract was called Richmondshire at this time, but the date of the creation of the shire is uncertain. William the Lion of Scotland was imprisoned in the castle in the reign of Henry II. ; otherwise the town owes its importance chiefly to its lords. It was a valuable possession in the middle ages, and was usually in royal or semi-royal hands. The whole shire reverted to the crown on the accession of Henry VII. Henry VIII. gave it to his son Henry, afterwards Duke of Rich mond, and the title was also bestowed upon a son of Charles II. The original castle covered an area of 5 acres, but the only portions remaining are the Norman keep, with pinnacled tower and walls ioo ft. high by II ft. thick, and some smaller towers.
The name of Richmond (Richemont, Richemund) has not been traced further back than 1145, but it is probable that there was an earlier settlement on the site. As far as is known, the earliest charter was granted in 1145 giving the burgesses the borough of Richmond to hold for ever in fee farm at an annual rent of £29, but a charter dated 1146 shows that the burgesses had enjoyed some municipal liberties at an earlier period. Other charters were granted in I I5o, and in 1268, the latter pointing to the existence of a market at Richmond, but there is no grant of it extant. In 1278, a yearly fair was granted and in 1328, Edward III. gave the
first Royal Charter to the town.
A charter of incorporation, under the title of aldermen and burgesses was granted in 1576 by Queen Elizabeth, who also allowed a market each Saturday, an animal market every fort night, and a fair each year on the vigil of Palm Sunday. In 1668, Charles II. granted a charter under the title of mayor and alder men. This charter, though superseded later, was restored in the reign of James II., and, until the passing of the Municipal Re form Act of 1835, was regarded as the governing charter of the borough. Although Richmond received a summons as early as 1328, it was not represented in parliament until 1584, from which time it usually sent two members. In 1867, the number was reduced to one, and since 1885, the representation has been merged in the Richmond division of the North Riding. In 1889, Richmond became the seat of a bishop in the diocese of Ripon.
The church of St. Mary is transitional Norman, Decorated and Perpendicular, and is largely restored. The church of the Holy Trinity is ancient and was restored to use from ruins; only the nave and a detached tower remain. The tower of a Franciscan abbey, founded in 1258, still exists. Close to the town are the ruins of Easby Abbey, a Premonstratensian founda tion of 1152, beautifully situated by the river. The remains in clude a Decorated gateway, an Early English chapel and frag ments of the transepts and choir of the church, with sufficient portions of the domestic buildings to enable the complete plan to be traced. The free Grammar School was founded by Elizabeth, but the present Gothic building was not erected until 185o.
The principal trade is in agricultural produce, and as Rich mond possesses the only railway station in Swaledale, the market is still important.
See R. Eale, Registrum Honoris de Richemond (1722) ; C. Clarkson, History and Antiquities of Richmond (Richmond 1821) ; T. D. Whit aker, A History of Richmondshire (1823) ; Victoria County History: