Richmond, an ancient municipal borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire, on the left bank of the deep-channelled Swale, 49 miles by a branch-line NW. of York. Its Norman castle (1072-1146), now utilised for barracks, stores, &c., has a very fine banqueting-hall and a keep 100 feet high. Other buildings are the parish church (restored by Scott, 1860), with good wood-carvings; Queen Elizabeth's grammar-school (1567; rebuilt, 1849-68); the market-house (1854); and the Perpendicular tower of a Franciscan friary, founded in 1258. The racecourse (847 feet above sea-level) commands a magnificent view. Till 1867 Richmond returned two members, and then till 1885 one. Pop. (1851) 4106; (1881) 4502; (1891) 4216. The earldom of Richmond was conferred by the Conqueror on his kinsman, Alan Rufus, son of the Count of Brittany, and, coming into the possession of the crown through John of Gaunt, was granted by Henry VI. to the father of Henry VII. Henry VIII. created his natural son, Henry Fitzroy (1517-36), Duke of Richmond, as Charles II. did his natural son, Charles Lennox (1672-1723), the ancestor of the present Duke of Richmond and Gordon.
See works by R. Gale (Latin, 1722), Clarkson (1821), Whitaker (2 vols. 1823), Robinson (1833), and Longstaffe (1852).