Pontefract was referred to as "Pomfret". William Shakespeare's play "Richard III" mentions the castle:<br> Pomfret is referred to in Shakespeare's Richard II also My lord, the mind of Bolingbroke is changed:You must to Pomfret, not unto the Tower.And, madam, there is order ta'en for you;With all swift speed you must away to France Pontefract suffered throughout the English Civil War. In 1648–49 the castle was laid under siege by Oliver Cromwell, who said it was "... one of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom." Three sieges by the Parliamentarians left the town "impoverished and depopulated". In March 1649, after the
Hugh Waterton of Eaton Tregoz near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, which by an inquisition taken after his death was found to contain castle buildings and a deer park of 144 acres. By 1377 he was one of Gaunt's retainers, and in 1399 an executor of his will. From the late 1370s he was also associated with Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV, becoming a Privy Councillor and by 1386 was Bolingbroke's chamberlain. On 10 July 1386 he was among those who gave evidence in the celebrated case between Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton, and Sir Robert Grosvernor as