Visit Sandal Castle

Sandal Castle History

First built in the early 12th century, find out about Sandal Castle’s eventful history here. 

Ruins of the sandal castle

Visit Sandal Castle

Scene of the Battle of Wakefield in 1460! It was a favourite castle of Richard III and played its part in the Wars of the Roses. You'll see why when you visit and discover the fantastic views from the Castle across the city and the Calder Valley!

Opening hours

Sandal Castle is open every day and entrance is free. The car park is open 9am to 5:30pm (from 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025).

Facilities and services

  • Cafe
  • Free parking

Follow the Castle Café on Facebook for opening hours and updates. The Castle Café is run by a friendly, family team external to Wakefield Council.

All Press and Media enquiries for any of our sites should be made to the Press Office.

Memorial benches

Over the last few years we have installed a few memorial benches at Sandal Castle. The castle site is a scheduled ancient monument.

This means we have to get permission to make any changes to the site, including adding new benches. All of the benches we were allowed to add have now been allocated.

We're sorry that we can't take any new requests.

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