Middleham Trainers' Association

Where to Stay in Middleham

- Leyburn is less than two miles from Middleham, across the River Ure on the other side of Wensleydale. The Tourist Information Centre in Leyburn is located just below the Market Square.

- The people who staff the TIC in Leyburn (and, for that matter, those who staff other Tourist Information Centres in the Yorkshire Dales) are most helpful and knowledgeable. Their services are entirely free and are just part of the very extensive visitor information available in the Yorkshire Dales.

- The Leyburn TIC is one of those that provide a local bed-booking service.

- There is also the BABA (Book A Bed Ahead) service. The Leyburn TIC is networked to similar offices throughout England.

- The Leyburn TIC is open all year round and has a 24-hour information terminal.
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Link to a Particularly Nice Website about Middleham Castle

- This website has authoritative notes on the history of Middleham, many lovely photographs of the Castle and interesting links, including one to a site that details some of the extensive accommodation available in the town of Leyburn, which is on the opposite slope of Wensleydale from Middleham and less than 2 miles away. The website also has suggestions for further reading.

- Ricardians work to restore the good name of the late King Richard III, whose favourite home was Middleham Castle (now an impressive ruin) and who, before he became King, ruled the north of England from Middleham. He was then Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and Lord of the North.

- Ricardians maintain that the King's name was unfairly blackened by the "Tudor propagandist" William Shakespeare.

- Was not the opening soliloquy of Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Richard the Third propagandistic? The play was first performed about 1594, which was 109 years after the King's death at the battle of Bosworth and at a time when descendants of the victorious Henry Tudor were still in power. Indeed the company that performed the play would have been none other than The Lord Chamberlain's Men.

- The opening lines of the play are spoken by Richard and are very well known:-

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that loured upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
etc, etc
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A Very Concise Racing History of Middleham

- The identity of the trainer of Ruler is not known for sure but, apart from his feats as a jockey, John Mangle also trained the other 4 winners of the St Leger that he rode, including 3 in successive years, as follows ......

- Other famous 'chasers trained by Captain Crump included Wot No Sun, Much Obliged, Springbok and Even Melody ......

- In 1995 this horse won the stayers' Triple Crown comprised of the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, the Goodwood Cup and the Doncaster Cup.

- He nearly did it again in 1998. He was a close second in the first leg, the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, and won both the Goodwood Cup and the Doncaster Cup, each for the third time.

- Double Trigger's retirement to stud was announced in late September 1998 and his first foals were auctioned late in the year 2000.