What to See in Doncaster - Top Sights and Attractions

Partially restored Ivanhoe fortress. Conisbrough Castle is a medieval fortification in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, England. The castle was initially built in the 11th century by William de Warenne, the Earl of Surrey, after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Hamelin Plantagenet, the illegitimate, parvenu brother of Henry II, acquired the property by marriage in the late 12th century. Hamelin and his son William rebuilt the castle in stone, including its prominent 28-metre -high keep. The castle remained in the family line into the 14th century, despite being seized several times by the Crown. The fortification was then given to Edmund of Langley, passing back into royal ownership in 1461.

Conisbrough Castle fell into ruin, its outer wall badly affected by subsidence, and was given to the Carey family in the 16th century. Its derelict state prevented it from involvement in the English Civil War of the 17th century and the remains were bought by the Duke of Leeds in 1737. Sir Walter Scott used the location for his 1819 novel Ivanhoe and by the end of the 19th century the ruins had become a tourist attraction.

The state took over the management of the property in 1950, but by the 1980s the visitor facilities were felt to be unsuitable, leading to a three-way partnership being created between the local council, the state agency English Heritage and a local charitable trust to develop the castle. The keep was re-roofed and re-floored in the 1990s with the help of European Union funding. English Heritage took over control of the castle in 2008 and continues to operate the property as a tourist attraction.

The castle is made up of an inner and an outer bailey, the former surrounded by a stone curtain wall defended by six mural or fortified towers and the castle keep. The inner bailey would have included a hall, solar, chapel and other service buildings of which only the foundations survive. The design of Conisbrough's keep is unique in England, and the historians Oliver Creighton and Stephen Johnson consider it an "architectural gem" and "one of the finest examples of late Norman defensive architecture". The keep comprises a circular central tower with six massive buttresses; its four floors would have included a main chamber and a private chamber for the lord above it. Although militarily weak, the design would have been a powerful symbol of Hamelin Plantagenet's new social status as a major lord.^[1]

Museum in Doncaster, England. The South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum is a Volunteer led museum located at Lakeside in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It occupies the former site of the Royal Air Force Station, RAF Doncaster. The museum occupies the last remaining original buildings from RAF Doncaster in the shape of a Bellman hangar, two wooden 'Billet Huts' and various smaller structures. The Museum have also erected an Air Training Corps Cadet Hut alongside Building 21 to house its World War Two Collection.

The museum is also home to the Yorkshire Helicopter Preservation Group (YHPG) who relocated from the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, near York in July 2002. The YHPG display their collection of helicopters among the exhibits at SYAM (With the exception of Westland Dragonfly HAR3 WN499, which remains at Elvington), and have an onsite workshop for continued restoration of their aircraft.^[7]

Building. Doncaster Mansion House is a Grade I listed building in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It is owned and managed by Doncaster Council, and the venue is used for civic and private functions, including tours, afternoon teas, wedding services, and official receptions.

The Mansion House stands on the site of the Carmelite Friary, which had been established in Doncaster in 1350 and remained until its dissolution on 13 November 1538, after which the buildings were destroyed. During the 18th century, Doncaster's position on the Great North Road brought wealth to the town. The town's corporation was frequently called on to host entertainments, initially at the mayor's house or the Angel or Three Cranes inns. In 1719, they took a lease on a house in the High Street for holding feasts, but let this lapse around 1727. They bought a site on the High Street in 1738, with the intention of building a permanent base for entertaining, but little construction took place for several years. In 1746, James Paine was appointed as architect in 1746. Although young, Paine had already worked on Nostell Priory and had designed Heath House, both near Wakefield.

Mansion Houses had already been constructed in Newcastle upon Tyne (now demolished), York and London. Whereas these other buildings contained both formal reception rooms and living quarters for the mayor, Doncaster's differed in being designed purely for entertainment, although some later mayors used space in the building as accommodation.

Paine planned a building along the now established designs of Assembly Rooms. It was completed in 1748 and officially opened in 1749, the construction having cost £8,000. Paine was immediately offered more local work, starting with alterations to Cusworth Hall. He published his designs for the Mansion House in 1751. This work showed the building flanked by two other structures, marked as houses for the town clerk and recorder, but these were never part of the commission and were not built.

William Lindley extended the building between 1801 and 1806, adding an attic storey, a rear banqueting hall and rear landing.^[10]