<<> A direct ancestor of mine, David Plews, hung himself on the 28th of > August 1868 in "The Old Castle, Castle Bolton" (according to his death > certificate). I'm afraid I don't know very much about Castle Bolton and > I wonder if anyone can fill me in on the history of the castle at that > time, and how come David Plews might have gained access to commit > suicide (his occupation was Lead Miner). Also, might the event have been > reported in a local newspaper? If so, can anyone point me in the right > direction to follow this up. Finally, the death cert says an inquest was > held - could there be any records of this still held? If so, where?>> There would have been an inquest into his death to be sure that there was no "foul play", all sudden and unexpected deaths are followed by an inquest. So you should be able to find a report of the inquest in the local newspapers of the time. Go to the page below which is for the North Yorkshire libraries, use their keyword search and type in just Newspapers, you should then get up about 12 results and amongst them you should find items about Historic Newspapers. You could ask the library if they can help with a copy of the inquest giving the full details of name date place of death etc., If they are happy to make a search of their archives of newspapers and send you a copy they will no doubt make a charge for doing so. http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3112 If the library does not hold copies of old newspaper, most likely on microfilm these days, then the North Yorks CRO at Northallerton may hold them and you can ask them to look for the inquest and sent a copy, they will make a fee for the service as well as for copying and posting. You should find the link to the North Yorks CRO by clicking on the North Yorks County Council logo at the top of the above page. Search their holdings to see if they have newspapers, you can also find detials of their research service and charges. Regards Jenny DeAngelis. Spain.