A HISTORIC castle will be accessible to an international audience after being chosen as one of 29 properties in England to be revealed online.

Richmond Castle, one of the greatest Norman fortresses in Britain, will be available to access online through a new partnership.

English Heritage and Google Arts and Culture has deployed digital technology including Street View and gigapixel cameras to bring some of England’s most famous and unusual sites to life.

It will compile a free online collection of high-resolution images to offer visitors an intimate look at historic buildings, artwork and artefacts.

Councillor Stuart Parsons, Richmond Mayor, said: “This is great news. The castle will be showcased to a much bigger audience and now anybody can enjoy its heritage.

“The attraction has been extremely important over the years for bringing tourists into the town.

“The castle has so much going for it so for Richmond to get the recognition it deserves is brilliant. They say any publicity is good publicity.”

Richmond Castle, sitting above the River Swale, boasts breath-taking views of the Yorkshire Dales.

Built in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of 1066, it has a rich history.

During the First World War, 16 conscientious objectors were locked up in its cells.

Known as the Richmond Sixteen, they included Sunderland FC centre forward Norman Gaudie, brothers Billy and Bert Law, from Darlington, and Alf Matthews, a clerk at the Rowntrees factory in York.

Many were sent to France where they spent three years in labour camps and civil prisons before being released in 1919.

During the Second World War, the cell block was used to detain prisoner soldiers, rather than conscientious objectors.

With its long stretches of the stone curtain wall, the great archway in the ground floor of the keep and Scolland’s Hall, no other castle in England can boast so much surviving 11th century architecture.

The castle has been in the care of English Heritage since 1984 and has recently undergone a conservation project on the cell block graffiti.

Among the other chosen sites are Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland and a cold war bunker in York – in active service from the 1960s–1990s.

Matt Thompson, head of collections at English Heritage, said: "In our new role as a charity, English Heritage is looking for innovative ways to open our sites to the public and share their fascinating stories with them.

"Now thanks to Google Arts and Culture's technology, we've been able to bring people closer to our historic masterpieces than ever before, open up our storehouses to a global audience, and showcase hitherto unseen artefacts."

Launched in 2011, Google Arts and Culture is an online platform that offers visitors free virtual tours of collections from partner galleries and museums, and high-resolution images of artwork and artefacts.

The partnership is the first time Google Arts and Culture has worked with a heritage organisation, and the first time it has worked with an institution covering multiple locations.

To view and explore the sites, people can visit g.co/EnglishHeritage