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Castles – English Midlands

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Castles – English Midlands Castles – English Midlands ‘Build Date’ refers to the oldest surviving significant elements In column 1; B ≡ Bedfordshire, BU ≡ Buckinghamshire, D ≡ Derbyshire, LC ≡ Leicestershire, NR ≡ Northamptonshire, NT ≡ Nottinghamshire, O ≡ Oxfordshire, R ≡ Rutland, ST ≡ Staffordshire WA ≡ Warwickshire, WO ≡ Worcestershire Occupation B Castle Location Configuration Build Date Current Remains Status 1 Someries TL 119 201 Fortified house c1450 Empty, early-18th C Ruined gatehouse & chapel BU 1 Boarstall SP 623 142 Fortified house 1312 Demolished, 1777 Gatehouse occupied as residence D 1 Bolsover SK 471 707 Enclosure + keep Early-12th C Occupied 17th C buildings, some ruined 2 Codnor SK 434 500 Enclosure 14th C Empty, 17th C Scattered ruins of walls & a chamber block 3 Haddon SK 235 664 Fortified house 1190s Occupied Entire, largely unmodified 4. Horston SK 376 432 Tower 12th C Empty, 15th C Fragmentary ruins 5 Mackworth SK 311 378 Fortified house 15th C Empty, 17th C Nothing but high ruin of gatehouse 6 Peveril SK 149 826 Enclosure Late-11th C Empty, c1400 Ruined keep, walls, foundations 7 Wingfield Manor SK 374 547 Fortified house 1439 Empty, 17th C Extensive ruins, especially inner court LC 1 Ashby SK 361 166 Fortified house c1150 Empty, 17th C High ruins of towers 2 Kirby Muxloe SK 524 026 Enclosure 1480 Empty, 17th C High ruins, tower & gatehouse 3 Leicester SK 583 041 Motte & bailey 1068 Part occupied Motte, hall, gatehouses in some form NR 1 Barnwell TL 049 852 Enclosure c1266 Empty, 17th C High ruins of walls, towers, & gatehouse 2 Fotheringhay TL 062 930 Motte & bailey Late-11th C Empty, 17th C Earthworks, masonry fragments 3 Rockingham SP 867 913 Motte & bailey 11/16th C Occupied Ruins of shell keep, Tudor house 4 Thorpe Waterville TL 022 814 Fortified House 1301 Part occupied Great hall + solar as barn NT 1 Halloughton SK 690 517 Tower Mid-14th C Occupied Entire, modern roof 2 Newark (1) SK 796 541 Enclosure 12th C Empty, 17th C Fine west & north facades 3 Newark (2) SK 791 531 Civil War Fort 1644 Surrendered, 1646 Earthworks complete 4 Nottingham SK 568 395 Motte & bailey Mid-12th C Sleighted, 17th C Gateway, 17th C mansion O 1 Broughton SP 418 382 Fortified house 14th/15th C Occupied Entire 2 Deddington SP 472 318 Enclosure 1160 Empty, 13th C Earthworks only 3 Grey’s Court SU 726 834 Fortified house 1347 Occupied 14th C ruins, 16th C house 4 Oxford SP 509 062 Motte & bailey 12th C Empty Tower, motte 6 Shirburn SU 697 960 Fortified house 1377 Occupied Entire, moated quadrangle 7 Wallingford SU 610 896 Motte & bailey 11th C Sleighted, 1652 Earthworks, ruined wall R 1 Oakham SK 862 088 Motte & bailey 11th C Occupied Hall entire, walls, earthworks ST 1 Caverswell SJ 951 428 Enclosure Late-13th C Occupied Mansion added, 17th C 2 Chartley SK 010 285 Motte & bailey 13th C Empty, 16th C Ruins of keep, towers, & curtain wall 3 Dudley SO 946 907 Enclosure + keep c1310 Empty, 1750 Extensive ruins 4 Stafford SJ 902 222 Motte & bailey 1070 Demolished, 17th C 19th C rebuild, low ruins, earthworks 1 Occupation ST Castle Configuration Build Date Current Remains Location Status 5 Tamworth SK 207 039 Motte & Bailey Early 12th C Occupied Shell keep, tower, hall 6 Tutbury SK 209 291 Motte & bailey Late-11th C Sleighted 17th C Towers, gatehouse, wall ruins WA 1 Astley SP 313 894 Fortified house 13th C Empty, 20th C High ruins of house, bridge 2 Brinklow SP 439 797 Motte & bailey 11th C Empty, 13th C Impressive earthworks, never any masonry 3 Caludon SP 374 802 Fortified House 14th C Empty, 17th C High wall of hall, moat 4 Kenilworth SP 279 723 Enclosure 1120s Sleighted, 1649 Ruins of keep, halls, service 5 Maxstoke SP 224 892 Enclosure 1340s Occupied Complete, occasionally open 6 Warwick SP 284 646 Enclosure 1170s Occupied Entire, but modified & refurbished 7 Weoley SP 022 827 Fortified house 1200 Empty, 18th C? Low walls and footings WO 1 Hartlebury SO 836 713 Fortified house 1250 Occupied Entire without defences, now a museum 2 Holt SO 831 626 Fortified house 14th C Occupied Entire, though modified since 14th C 1. A total of 43 castles have been identified in the English Midlands, the 11 counties of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. My selection philosophy has been to include the great majority of those I have already visited and such others as I think, and interesting, though survival of masonry is a pre- requisite; I have tended to exclude those which have benefitted from a modern reconstruction which could be described as a rebuild. There are remains of many more castles in the counties concerned, which I do not consider, usually because they are too fragmentary. So, my gazetteer is best regarded as a sample, albeit quite a large one, and the tentative conclusions I draw need to be seen in that light. 2. To-date, I have visited 33 of the 43 castles on my list. 3. There are 12 motte and bailey types, mostly built by the mid-12th century, there are 11 enclosure castles in which the castle buildings are part of the outer defences, again mostly built before the end of the 12th century. The enclosure design, if adopted seems to coincide with the move to stone buildings. There are 14 fortified houses, many built late in the medieval period. 4. The desertion and decay of castles rarely began early in this region, and 16 are still occupied. The Civil War was an important factor in this region, with sleighting contributing to the fact that 14 were deserted in the 17th century. 2 B1. Someries Castle is immediately south of Luton Airport, itself on the south-west edge of the town. A fortified house with a high tower may have stood here in 1221, but there are no remains above ground. The brick gatehouse dates from the 15th century, and was probably completed by Bishop Rotherham of Lincoln. Eventually the house passed to a family called Napier in 1724, and they living elsewhere dismantled most of it, though the gatehouse, viewed from the east in the photograph, survived though ruined. Facing north-west it had 2 octagonal turrets flanking a stone archway. There was a chapel, in the foreground of the photograph. The brick walls, an unusual building material given the time and place were relatively thin, casting doubt on the description as a fortified manor, but it was moated and had some defensive capability. 3 BU1. Boarstall Tower is 13½km north- east of Oxford. According to legend, King Edward the Confessor gave the land to one of his men in return for slaying a wild boar that had infested a nearby forest, and the successful hunter named his house for the animal. The gatehouse or tower dates from 1312 when it was built as part of a fortified, moated mansion; the house was in the middle of the moated platform which was palisaded rather than walled. It was owned by many families in the succeeding 3 centuries, before in the Civil War, it was occupied by both sides. The Royalists fought off 2 attacks in 1645, before surrendering in 1646 to Sir Thomas Fairfax. It eventually passed to the Aubreys, and after a family tragedy they moved out and had the mansion demolished, save for the gatehouse, in 1777. The property was given to the National Trust in 1943, and the gatehouse is occupied by a tenant. The view in the photograph is from the south-east; the moat bridge dates from 1736 and replaced a drawbridge. The gatehouse has dimensions 12.6 X 8m, with walls 1m thick; the corner turrets are hexagonal with stairs in the inner ones. The rooms on the lower 2 floors are small, but there is one large room on the top floor, and the balustrade dates to the 17th century. 4 D1. Bolsover Castle is on the west side of the town of that name, 8km east of Chesterfield, high on the east side of the M1. The castle was founded in the early 12th century by William Peveril, but was forfeited to the crown shortly afterwards. From the early 13th century onwards the castle had a number of custodians who did not live there, and in consequence, maintenance was sporadic at best, and decay set in. The fortunes of the castle were transformed in 1608, when a long lease was given to the Cavendish family who acquired the dukedom of Newcastle later in the century. Almost everything visible on the site is the result of their rebuilding operations. Their first step was to knock down the medieval keep, and replace it with the ‘Little Castle’ in the left foreground of the aerial view from the north below. Next came the new suite of domestic buildings along the west side of the outer court, to be seen in the centre-right below, and the riding academy building which divided the outer court, south of the other buildings, and is visible along the top of the photograph below. The castle was lost during the Civil War, demilitarised in its aftermath, and damaged considerably, but after the Restoration, the Cavendishes returned and made good the damage. However, in ensuing years the castle passed through various hands and few of its owners lived there; although the Little Castle was kept in good order, the domestic west wing was de-roofed and the south wing was not well maintained. Eventually the building was transferred to state guardianship in 1945, and it is now open to the public, with the Little Castle marketed as a wedding venue.
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