Pontefract Castle earl becoming a martyr with his tomb at Pontefract Priory becoming a shrine. It next went to Henry, Duke of Lancaster and subsequently to John of Gaunt, third son of King Edward III. He made the castle his personal residence, spending vast amounts of money improving it. In the closing years of the 14th century, Richard II had banished John of Gaunt’s son Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford from the country and with the death of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster in 1399, much of Bolingbroke's patrimony was being given away by Richard II to his favourites. The castle
Pontefract ballads make specific reference to the village of Wentbridge, which is an outlying village of the modern town of Pontefract. In addition, Michael Drayton's "Poly-Olbion" Song 28 (67–70) composed in 1622 speaks of Robin Hood's death and clearly states that the outlaw died at Saxon 'Kirkby', modern Pontefract. The historian S. A. La' Chance proposes that Robin Hood died at Saint Nicholas's hospital, Kirkby, which was attached to All Saints' Church. In commemoration of Wakefield's connections to Robin Hood, a plaque has been placed on the bridge that crosses the River Went. In Elizabethan times the castle, and Pontefract itself,