Richmondshire is a local government district of North Yorkshire in England. It includes the settlements of Addlebrough , Barton , Colburn , Richmond, Catterick and Scotton . It is also home to Catterick Garrison, a major Army Garrison.
Richmondshire was both prosperous and politically important during much of the Middle Ages. It was originally held by Edwin, Earl of Mercia and was swept up in the hands of Alan of Brittany at the behest of William of Normandy in the Norman Conquest; during the Harrying of the North which laid waste the Danish stronghold in Britain at Jorvik. As the fief of the Earls of Richmond (or comtes de Richemont), the shire was normally held by the Duke of Brittany from 1136 to 1399. Along with Allertonshire, it was frequently a party to border conflict with Scotland--especially when King David I of Scotland was in possession of Northumbria and the later bouts with William Wallace who conducted raids throughout the dales. The constitutional ambiguity of Dukes of Brittany as vassals of both France (in right of Brittany) and England (in right of Richmond) was the source of much tension in Breton history, particularly during the great Breton War of Succession. The market town of Bedale was an historically important liberty of Richmondshire, being constructed largely in part by Breton relations to the earls. Wensleydale and Swaledale are chief features of the countryside.
