Солтүстік Йоркширдегі Мидлхэм қаласы

Market town in North Yorkshire, England

Middleham '/m//ɪ//d//l//ə//m//, // //d//ə//l//ə//m/ is a market town and civil parish in the district and county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, on the south side of the valley, upstream from the junction of the River Ure and River Cover. There has been a settlement there since Roman times. It was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Medelai, meaning "middle ham or village".

Though there is no evidence of civil settlement in the Roman period, a rural villa was discovered in the 19th century some east of the castle, in farmland south of the road to Masham. A branch road from the major Roman thoroughfare of Dere Street passed by, across the valley, through the fort of Wensley to the Roman site of Virosidium at Bainbridge. Before the Norman Conquest, the lands around were controlled by Gilpatrick. In 1069, William the Conqueror granted them to his Breton cousin Alan Rufus, who built a wooden motte and bailey castle above the town. By the time of the 1086 Domesday Book, Alan had passed the castle to his brother Ribald. Its earthworks are still visible at William's Hill. Alan also built the castle at Richmond. Construction began in 1190 of Middleham Castle, which still dominates the town. The Nevilles, Earls of Westmorland, acquired it through marriage to a female descendant of Ribald in the 13th century. It has been dubbed the "Windsor of the North". The castle belonged to Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, when his cousin Richard, Duke of Gloucester (the future Richard III) came there to learn knighthood skills in 1462. During the Wars of the Roses, both Edward IV and Henry VI were held prisoner there. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became master of the castle in 1471 after Warwick's death at the Battle of Barnet. He used it as his political base for ruling the North on behalf of his brother Edward IV. Richard married Warwick's daughter, Anne Neville, in 1472. Middleham Castle is where their son Edward was born in about 1473 and died in April 1484. Richard III, who died in August 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth, was the last reigning King of England to perish in battle. Under Richard III, Middleham was a bustling market town and political centre. In 1389, the Lord of Middleham Manor received a crown grant to hold a weekly market and yearly fair on the feast of St Alkelda the Virgin. The town has market places: the larger, lower one is dominated by a medieval cross, topped by a modern iron cross in Celtic style. The upper or swine market centres on the remains of a 15th century market cross and a line of steps. At one end of the cross is a worn effigy of an animal reclining; the other may have had a moulded capital. Most buildings in old parts of Middleham predate 1600. The old rectory incorporates some medieval features. In 1607 Middleham was important enough to house a royal court for residents of the forest of Wensleydale. Middleham and surrounding lands were part of the Crown estates from the accession of Richard III until Charles I sold the manor to the City of London in about 1628. In 1661 the City of London sold Middleham Manor on to Thomas Wood of Littleton. It has remained in private hands since then. In 1915 the annual livestock market was still regionally important, but the weekly market had been discontinued. Today's livestock market is in Leyburn.

The Church of Saints Mary and Alkelda was founded in 1291. Its mainly 14th and 15th century architecture includes some stones that indicate a church on the site perhaps a century before. An electoral ward of the name exists, stretching south west to Melmerby in Coverdale. Its population in the 2011 census was 1,284, when the parish population was 825 in the 2011 census, estimated at 781 in 2019.

In 1985 the Middleham Jewel was found on a bridle path near Middleham Castle by Paul Kingston and Ted Seaton using a metal detector. A late 15th century 68 gram gold pendant with a 10 carat blue sapphire stone, it has since passed to the Yorkshire Museum in York for £2.5 million. The lozenge pendant, engraved on the obverse with a representation of the Trinity, is bordered by a Latin inscription warding off the evil of epilepsy. The reverse has a decorative engraving of the Nativity, bordered by faces of 13 saints. The back panel slides to reveal a hollow interior, which originally contained three and a half tiny discs of silk embroidered with gold thread. The textile contents identify the jewel as a reliquary, containing a fragment of reputed holy cloth. It would have been worn by a lady of high social status as the crest for a large necklace. The sapphire may represent Heaven, and have acted as an aid to prayer.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees. Television signals are received from the Bilsdale transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio York on 104.3 FM, BBC Radio Tees can also be received on 95.0 FM, Greatest Hits Radio York & North Yorkshire on 103.5 FM and Dales Radio on 104.9 FM. The town is served by the local newspapers, The Northern Echo and Darlington & Stockton Times.

The town lies between above ordnance datum. The valley of the River Ure below the town has an altitude of 325 feet (99 m) and the summit of the hill to the south west of the town of 850 feet (259 m). The parish contains of land, mostly permanent pasture with about arable. The topsoil is mixed. The valley has modern alluvial terraces and gravel deposits, but the subsoil is mainly limestone, intersected here and there by sandstone with plate. There is a known vein of lead in the northern part of the parish. Braithwaite lead mine lies just outside the parish borders. In the episode "Where Sheep May Safely Graze", Middleham Antiques, in North Road, became Geoff Hatfield's confectionery shop. Ferndale became the home of the Darnley sisters in the episode "The Rough and the Smooth".

Middleham is twinned with Azincourt, France.