Walter Espec was obviously enormously wealthy and had a penchant for fine buildings. Not only did he found Rievaulx Abbey a few miles from Helmsley, but he built himself Helmsley Castle into the bargain.

The castle stands surrounded by a remarkable system of banks and ditches close to the market square in the centre of this attractive North Yorkshire town. The castle was modernised and added to throughout the Middle Ages, though it saw no action of note, and more comfortable Elizabethan buildings were added .

In the Civil War, however, it was besieged by Parliamentary forces and one half of the huge tower was destroyed, though the other half still stands to its full height.