When the Catholic Habsburgs defeated the Protestant Palatine Elector Frederick V in 1620, they reduced Heidelberg Castle to ruins and carried off the contents of the library as spoils of war - by this time totalling over 3, 500 manuscripts and 13, 000 printed works - to the Vatican Library in Rome where they remain to this day.
On Monday 8 July 1912, King George V and Queen Mary had visited nearby Conisbrough Castle, an event attended by hundreds of miners from Denaby and Cadeby Main Collieries and their families.