Zhc

Caetlee of JEnQlanb
^beir Storig anb Structure.

Sit James 2), /Iftacftengie.

I

§1

THE

Caetlee of England

THEIR STORY AND STRUCTURE

BY
Sir JAMES D. MACKENZIE,
BARONET OF SCATWELL AND TARBAT
WITH FORTY PLATES, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT TEXT
ILLUSTRATIONS AND SEVENTY PLANS
IN TWO VOLUMES
Vol. il

NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN CO.
1896

Shropshire .

Contente

PAGE
Cornwall ... i
Devonshire . . .21
Somersetshire . . 45
Monmouthshire 74
Herefordshire . . . 94

123

Cheshire . . 162
Lancashire . . 182
Yorkshire . . 207
Westmorland 280
Cumberland . . ,295
Durham . . . 334
Northumberland 358

Xist ot Iplatee

Durham Castle
Restormel Castle
St. Michael's Mount
Tintagel Compton Castle
Dunster Castle
Taunton Castle
Raglan Castle .
Ludlow Castle
Hoghton Castle Courtvard
Lancaster Castle .
Bolton Castle .
Knaresborough Castle
Richmond Castle
Skipton Castle
Skipton Castle Courtyard
Appleby Castle
Alnwick Castle
Bamborough Castle
Warkworth Castle

Frontispiece

To face page

12

))

14

))

16

u

26

))

54

>)

70

)3

88

))

142

3)

190

5J

194

1>

208

»)

230

JJ

246

JJ

262

JJ

264

JJ

280

,,

360

JJ

364

JI

428

ST. mawes

Cornwall

BOSCASTLE {lion-existent)
A BOUT three miles along the coast N.E. of Tintagel is the scarped
/% and partly terraced mound upon which once stood the Castle of
A— A Bottreaux. On the slope of the hill at the junction of two valleys,
A. \^ through each of which courses a stream, the Norman-French family
of De Bottreaux built a castle in the time of Henry II., and from them the little
town that afterwards grew round the stronghold took its name of Boscastle.
Not a stone remains now of the building, whose site is marked only by a grassy
mound called " Jordans."
William de Bottreaux and his younger brother Reginald espoused the side
of the Barons in the Civil War with Henry III., 1264; and the last of the
family, William, was killed at the second battle of St. Albans in 1461, leaving an
only daughter, who married Robert, Lord Hungerford, with issue a daughter
JMary, who was esteemed to be at the time the richest heiress in the country,
being seised in her own right of over one hundred manors in different
counties. Her husband. Lord Hastings, sold Boscastle in the reign of Elizabeth
to John Hender, from whose daughters it has descended to its present owner.
Miss Amy Hellier. The Marquis of Hastings still has the title of Baron
Bottreaux, though he owns no estate here.
VOL. II. A

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

CARDINHAM, anciently called CARDINAN {non-e.xisteni)
CARDINHAM lies in the very centre of the county, N.E. of Bodmin. It
seems to have been the seat of Robert de Cardinan (temp. Richard I.), who
is said to have held no less than seventy-one knights' fees in these parts, which
he acquired by his marriage with the heiress of Robert Fitz-William. After
wards it was the abode of the Dynhams, or Dinhams, who derived from the
former lord ; Oliver de Dinham being summoned to Parhament as a baron
in 24 Edward I. After him came five direct generations of sons who were
all knighted, and then John Dinham of Old Cardinham, Sheriff of Devon
(39 Henry VI. ), who was a zealous Yorkist, and was knighted for his active
services by Edward IV., in whose sixth year he was created Baron Dynham
and K.G. It appears curious that after this he should have acquired the favour
of Henry VIL, who made him Lord High Treasurer. This lord died in
17 Henry VIL, aged 72, and, his son Charles dying s,p,, the estates were shared
among his four sisters, who were all married to noblemen. Carew in his Survey
says that "formerly at Cardinham lived Lord Dinham." One of the sisters,
Margaret, was the wife of Sir Nicholas Carew, and her share of the Cardinham
lands passed in 1573 to the Arundel family, from whom it was purchased in
1800 by Edward Glynn, whose descendant. Lord Vivian, now possesses the
property. This castle, the seat of the Dinhams, was situated on a considerable eminence,
about half-a-mile from the church ; the site is still called The Castle, and
traces of the old foundations, which were laid bare some years ago, are yet
to be seen (compare Wardour, Wilts,).

CARN BREA {minor)
ON a rocky hill standing over Redruth, with an elevation of 738 feet,
are the remains of a very ancient tower, about 20 feet square and
40 feet high, which once contained tvvo timber floors, as may be seen
from the beam-holes, windows, and chimneys, and a roof platform. There
is but one entrance into it, through a small hole cut in the rock under the
foundations. It stands at the E. end of the Carn Brea hill, on a ledge of
vast rocks, which have been connected by arches turned across the cavities
between the rocks. One part is ancient and is loopholed, but the other is of
more modern construction, and seems to have been built in order to com
mand the very extensive view. On the N.W. were some outworks, and on
the W. side, near the summit, is a circular fortification called Old Castle
(Polwhele).

CORNWALL

F O W E Y (minor)
THIS place was once one of the mo.st important burghs in Cornwall; in
1347 ^^ supplied forty-seven ships for the expedition of Edward III. to
Calais. Leland writes : " The Frenchmen diverse tymes assailid this Town, at
last most notably about Henry VI.'s tyme : when the wife of Thomas Treury,
the 2 with her Man, repelled the French out of her House in her House-
bande's Absence. Whereupon Thomas Treury buildid a right fair and stronge
embatelid Towr in his House : and embateling al the wauUes of the House
in a Maner made it a Castelle : and onto this Day it is the glorie of the Town
Building in Faweye." Place House is the seat of the Treffry family, and in
its grounds is a statue of Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas TrefTry, whose action
is told by Leland.
Much of the house has been rebuilt, but its castellated appearance still
remains. The principal entrance is from the churchyard through a ruined gate,
with a strong wicket, flanked by a lodge pierced with loopholes.
Buck shows, in a drawing of 1734, a square tower on each side of the
narrow entrance into Fowey Haven. From one of these to the other an iron
chain was stretched, but this was removed, immediately after being placed
there, by King Edward IV., who took umbrage at certain acts of piracy com
mitted by the townspeople against the French. On a high rocky eminence
outside on the W. are shown the remains of a large circular fort with embattled
approaches. This fort of St. Catherine, built for the protection of the harbour
in the reign of Henry VIIL, is still in existence, and formerly mounted
four guns. H A Y L E (non-existent)
AT the mouth of the estuary formed by the river once stood a castle for
the protection of this port, but of what description cannot now be
determined. Leland says : " Ryvier Castel almost at the est part of the mouth
of the Hayle river, on the North se : now, as sum think, drownid with sand.
This was Theodore's Castelle " {Polwliele).

HELSTON (non-existent)
THIS town, which stood on the great road from London to the Land's
End, is a place of considerable antiquity, having been made by King
John one of the four coinage towns. A castle was erected at Helston shortly
after the Conquest, which fell into ruin about the time of Edward IV., and in
the Itinerary of William of Worcester of 1478, given by Gilbert, it is called

4 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
"dirutum." It stood on the site of the present bowling-green. Leland
observed some vestiges of it, but at this date nothing whatever remains.
William of Worcester mentions thirty-four castles in Cornwall, eighteen of
which were already destroyed, and he speaks of Helston Castle as sometime
the residence of Edward, Earl of Cornwall, the grandson of King John, and as
then being in ruins.
INCE (minor)
THIS was more a fortified house than a castle, being situated pleasantly
almost on an island in the estuary of the Lynher or St. Germans River.
It was a fortress built entirely of brick, with a flanking tower at each angle, and
in 1646, during the Civil War, was garrisoned for the king, but soon surren
dered to the Parliamentary forces. It was purchased by Mr. Alexander Baring,
and is now a farm-house.

LAUNCESTON, once called DUNHEVED (chief)
BORLASE calls this "by far the strongest of our Cornish castles." It stands
over the little stream Attery, nearly a mile distant from the banks of the
Tamar, which here divides Cornwall from Devon, upon a high and rocky
conical hill, commanding the principal ford of the river. Leland, writing in
the middle of the sixteenth century, says : " The large and auncient Castelle of
Lawnstun stondith on the Knappe of the Hille by S. a little from the Parsche
chirch. Much of this Castel yet stondith ; & the Moles that the Kepe standeth
on is large & of terrible highth, & the Arx of it, having 3 severale Wardes,
is the strongest, but not the biggest, that ever I saw in any auncient Worke
in Englande." This castle is not named in the Domesday Survey nor in the list of the Earl
of Mortain's castles ancl lands ; but though perhaps no masonry castle existed
here before the Conquest, it is certain that this was one of the chief seats of
the Earls or Princes of Cornwall from Roman times, if not before these
(Borlase). It is said that Robert, Earl of Mortain, was established here by
William I. in place of Othomarus de Knivet (of Danish extraction), who was
hereditary Constable of Launceston Castle, that is, of the stronghold existing
on the mound for centuries previous. This earl received from his half-brother
the Conqueror, 280 manors in Cornwall, and 558 in other counties, together
with the earldom of Cornwall. He was succeeded by his son William, who
lost all by rebellion, his possessions being confiscated by the Crown, and
retained until the creation of Richard, King of the Romans, as Earl of Cornwall
by his brother Henry III. His son Edward inherited all after him, and at
the death of this second earl s.p., Edward I, laid hands on his lands and castles.

CORNWALL

5

In 1329 the earldom was conferred on John of Eltham by Edward III., but at
his death without issue this castle was settled, with the other possessions, upon
the Black Prince, and thus passed into the Duchy of Cornwall, of which it
still remains a part.
After its union with the duchy the fortiess appears lo have been little
needed, and so fell into neglect and the ruin observed by Leland. But during
the Civil War, in 1643, the fabric was partially repaired and strengthened for

launceston

the reception of Parliamentary troops under the command of Sir Richard
Buller, who, however, evacuated it on the approach of Sir Ralph Hopton with
a force of 3000 men. In May of that year, Major-General Sir George Chudleigh,
whilst endeavouring to prevent assistance reaching the castle, was attacked and
beaten in the neighbourhood by the forces of Sir Richard and Sir Beville
Grenville, who entered and garrisoned the place. In the next year Launceston
was forced to surrender to the Earl of Esse.x, but it again fell into the king's
hands at the capitulation of Essex at Fowey, and in 1645 Sir Richard Grenville,
having refused to serve under Lord Hopton's command, was committed

6 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
prisoner to this castle by the Prince of Wales ; he was removed hence to St.
Michael's Mount, from whence he escaped by sea to Flanders, dying three
years after in great destitution at Ghent. In March 1646 the fortress was
surrendered by Colonel Basset to the army under Sir Thomas Fairfax. After
the Restoration, Sir Hugh Piper for his services was granted a lease of this
castle and was made Constable of it, and it continued in his family till 1754,
when it passed to Hugh, 3rd Duke of Northumberland, remaining with his
descendants till 1867. During the occupation of this family, about ^^3000
was expended upon the castle and its grounds. It is now the property of
Mr. J. C. Williams. A large extent of forest originally surrounded the town
of Launceston, where in the time of Edward III. there was a deer park
a league in length.
In the drawing given in Buck (1734), as also in that by Borlase, of later
date, there is shown a large rectangular enclosure with a ruined wall. This
formed the outer ward of the castle, and is now covered by the town, — the
curtain wall being partly built on a rampart of earth, and defended by a large
encircling ditch on the S. and E. sides, while on the other quarters it was
protected by a deep valley. The chief entrance was on the S., where still
stands the large square gatehouse, with a broad Early English low-pointed gate
way with portcullis grooves at the end of a walled passage, 120 feet in length ;
access to this being by a drawbridge across the ditch. Some part of the arch
way remains, and also traces of the wall on the W. side. At the S. corner
of the rampart was a large circular bastion, called the Witches' Tower, which
fell down at the time a new road was con.structed there ; and there was also
a semi-circular tower with a gatehouse and guardroom, near the E. corner,
where rises abruptly the immense conical mound, crowned by the ancient
keep or dungeon.
This lofty hill, which occupies the N.E. angle, is partly natural and partly
artificial, and was orginally about 320 feet in diameter, rising to a height of
about 100 feet above the lower court. The ascent to the keep is from the
gatehouse up a flight of stairs between loopholed side-walls, the width being
7 feet. Around the summit of the mound at the edge ran a low stone wall
or breastwork, 3 feet high and 93 feet in diameter, behind which, at a distance
of 6 feet, is an annular wall 12 feet thick, with an entrance on the S. side
under a Norman arch, and containing a staircase which admits to the top of
the wall. In the centre and concentric with this outer wall, at a distance of
ID feet between, rises the inner tower of the keep, having an inside diameter
of 18 feet and a height of 32 feet, its walls being 10 feet through, with a
staircase contrived in the thickness running up to the top. This tower was
divided by a wooden floor into two rooms, the first being a store without
exterior lights, and the upper one having a large window on its E. and W.
sides. Below the ground-level is a cellar or prison. The space between

CORNWALL 7
the tower and the encircling wall was covered with a wooden roof, al the
level of the first floor, resting on the top of this wall.
Following the line of the keep court wall to the N., and passing the deep
ravine which protected the castle here, one comes t(j the E. gate, the most
perfect part of the ruins, which contained the Constable's quarters. Beneath
the gatehouse, and entered by a small lancet doorway, is a chamber having
no chimney and only a loophole for air and light ; this was the " noisome
den " in which George P'ox, the Father of the Quakers, was confined for
eight months, in 1656, for contempt of Court in wearing his hat at his trial,
and for distributing tracts at St. Ives. Roman coins have been found here.
Launceston was sometimes called " Castle Terrible."

LISKEARD (noH-existent)
THE very ancient place of this name was one of the four original stannary
and coinage towns, ancl as such was possessed by Robert de Mortain or
Moreton, Earl of Cornwall, in Domesday. Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the
brother of Henry III., made it a free borough, and is said to have built the
castle here, and to have lived in it. William of Worcester, who visited
Cornwall in the reign of Edward IV., speaks of Liskeard Castle as then standing,
and as one of the palaces of the duchy, but when Leland came there, about
1540, he says, it is "now al in ruine; fragments ancl pieces of waulle yet
stonde : the site of it is magnificent and looketh over all the towne." Carew
supposes it to have been of no great antiquity : " Of later times," he says, " the
castle served the Earl of Cornwall for one of his houses ; but now that later
is worm-eaten, out of time and use." In the Survey of 1649, this castle was
found to be so much decayed that the materials were not worth taking down.
Some crumbling ruins only stand upon an eminence N. of the town, and
contiguous to these is a large field still called the Castle Park : the place was
disparked by Henry VIIL, and once fed 200 deer.

PENDENNIS (chief)
THIS castle is built on a high and projecting peninsula on the W. side
of Falmouth Haven, nearly 300 feet above the sea, and a mile in compass.
In early times, the Danes visiting Cornwall seized this site and raised here a
rude triple entrenchment of earth and stones, but no regular fortification was
erected on the spot till the reign of Henry VIIL In 1537, in conseeiuence
of Henry's relations with the Catholic powers, general insecurity was felt by
the country, and protection from threatened foreign invasion was demanded.
Accordingly, surveys and reports were ordered on those parts of the coast

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

where an invading army could most easily land ; plans were submitted to
engineers in London, and the works were at once taken in hand with most
creditable promptitude, so that, in two years after, the greater part of all the
exposed points suitable for a hostile landing were guarded either by a block
house or a fort, or by earthworks, from St. Michael's Mount to Portsmouth,
and thence by Dover to the Thames. The king spared himself no exertion,
and came personally to visit many spots chosen on the southern coasts, even
to Cornwall. In 1538 a small blockhouse was built, it is thought, under Pendennis Point,
close to the water's edge and near the present rifle range, and in the next
year the order was given for the erection of Pendennis Castle, which was
completed in 1542-44, when Leland saw the work. At the same time, to
support this fortress a cor-
~ --¦"¦'- •¦• • ¦  .:. '.«— --^ responding castle was built
on the opposite side of the
water, called St. Mawes.
The tradition is generally
believed in Cornwall that
Henry VIII. came to view
the situation of these two
castles, as proposed, and
passed two nights at the
Arundels' seat of Tolvern,
whence he crossed the estu
ary to St. Feock at a pas
sage that has ever since
gone by his name. Eliza
beth caused the castle to
be greatly strengthened and enlarged, and a goveimor was appointed to it with
a garrison of 100 men.
Pendennis consists of a large circular tower, 56 feet in outside diameter
and 35 feet high, built of granite with walls 11 feet thick, which are
pierced in three tiers with embrasures for guns, and carrying artillery
likewise upon the roof, where a heavy sloping parapet protects the guns.
Above this is a turret for observation. The arms of Henry VIII. are over
the doorway.
On the N. side of the round tower projects a large embattled square
building of two stories, in which are the lodgings, entered from a drawbridge
across the wide moat, and through a highly ornamented gateway. A parapet
wall pierced for guns surrounds the outside, and beyond are a ditch and
glacis, and also an irregular fortification strengthened by four bastions, one
of them mounting a large battery, and with a lunette on the E. side. The

pendennis

CORNWALL 9
whole work covers an larea of over three acies. There are still traces of a
hornwork constructed during the Civil War.
The ancient family of Killigrew, whose residence of Arwenack stood directly
below at the shore, furnished the three first governors of Pendennis Castle,
which they held from the Crown, and on the death of Sir John, in 1597, Queen
Elizabeth appointed Sir Nicholas Parker to the post. In 1626 Sir Robert
Killigrew was governor and captain, his son Sir W'illiam being associated with
him two years later ; but in 1634 we find that from the governor's neglect the
castle was reported to be in a ruinous state, and Sir William the next year
gave place to Sir Nicholas Slanning, an energetic royalist, who was killed at
the siege of Bristol in 1643. Then the king appointed Colonel John Arundel
of Trerise to the governorship. During the next year Queen Henrietta Maria,
who had just been delivered of her youngest daughter, was driven into
Cornwall — always a loyal county — and rested at Pendennis for a night before
embarking early the next day (June 29) in a Dutch vessel for France.
On February 12, 1646, the Prince of Wales, whose person the Parliament
was anxious to seize, being in Cornwall, retired for safety to Pendennis, but
after the flight of Sir Ralph Hopton, following the battle at Torrington, the
place was deemed no longer safe for him, ancl on the night of March 2nd he
went on board a ship which conveyed him to Scilly. The room in the castle
where Charles lived is still called the king's room, and above it was contrived
a closet with a fireplace, in which tradition relates that the prince was concealed.
The place, however, with a recess opposite the fireplace, was removed in 1808
during some repairs in the castle.
Shortly after (March 16), in expectation of the immediate arrival of the
Parliamentary army under Fairfax, Colonel Arundel sallied from the castle
and caused fire to be set to the old house of the Killigrews, Arwenack, which
lay directly below, surrounded by trees, in order to prevent its occupation by
the enemy, purposing also to burn the adjoining town of Pennycomequick
(the forerunner of Falmouth). But the sudden arrival of Roundhead troops
prevented this, and saved also a part of Arwenack House, then esteemed to
be "the finest and the costliest in the county." Fairfax arrived next day,
establishing himself and his headquarters in the house, and with two regiments
at once blocked up Pendennis.
Colonel Arundel had added to the defences, by forming a hornwork consist
ing of a pentagon redoubt, with flanks cn teiiaille, and had thrown up various
other earthworks within the tracing of his lines. " The parapet and ditch of
the redoubt still remain, though overgrown with bushes " (Oliver^, He was a
fine old cavalier, at that time, by his own account, seventy years of age, but
probably older, as he is said to have been M.P. for Cornwall in the reign of
Elizabeth, and to have been present at the review by her of her troops at
Tilbury in 1588, on which account he went by the name of " Old Tilbury."
vol. II. B

IO CASTLES OF ENGLAND
From his firm adherence to the cause of Charles, he was also known by the
sobriquet of " John-for-the-King."
The castle contained a garrison of nearly 800 men, and was furnished with
plenty of ammunition and provisions, as was supposed, for a nine months'
siege; so when summoned on March i8th by Fairfax to surrender, old
Arundel at once returned a decisive refusal. Thereon the place was closely
invested by land across the isthmus, while Captain William Batten, the Parlia
mentary vice-admiral, blockaded it by sea. There appears to have been
little actual bombardment, though shot-marks can still be seen on the N.W. side
of the castle ; but the besiegers trusted to reduce the fortress by famine, and
in this they at last succeeded. Twice again a summons was delivered, but
although provisions ran scarce, and the garrison was at last reduced to great
extremities, the gallant old governor held out for five months, till August 17th,
when only food for one day remained, and he then surrendered on excellent
terms. The victors, on whom the investment had fallen very heavily, entering
found in the castle only a cask of horse meat salted, " noe bread nor drink."
Clarendon says that Pendennis " endured the longest siege and held out the
last of any fort or castle in England," — but Raglan appears to have been surren
dered on August 19th. The list of the defenders includes 92 ofificers and 732
soldiers, of whom 200 were sick, and there were 200 women and children.
The besiegers lost 17 men.
At the Restoration, Sir Peter Killigrew was appointed governor, and the
town received a charter and its new name of Falmouth. Sir Peter died in 1662,
and was succeeded by Colonel Richard Arundel, the son of Old Tilbury, who
had assisted him in the siege. He was created Lord Arundel in 1665, and
was followed at Pendennis by the Earl of Bath, who published here "with
great contentment " the proclamations of the Prince of Orange on his landing in
Torbay. In 1795 the Pendennis lands were purchased from the Crown in fee
by the Killigrew family. PENGERSIC (minor)
IN the S. of the parish of St. Breage, beautifully situated in a valley near
the sea, is the site of an old fortress, which belonged since the Conquest
mostly to the great family of Godolphin. The existing remains are those of
a castellated blockhouse erected by Henry VIIL, and consist of a square
embattled tower of three storeys, and a small one annexed, with fragments
of walls. In the lesser tower are winding stairs leading to the top ; the walls
of the ground floor are loopholed, and the door on the N. side is machicolated.
Many of the apartments have fallen in. The wainscoted walls of the larger
tower are enriched with carvings, paintings, and inscriptions. It was once
occupied as a hiding-place by one Milliton, who in repentance for a secret

CORNWALL II
murder, having purchased this barton and manor, secluded himself here for
many years.
In Buck there is a drawing given of the place as it stood in 1734, showing
a large oblong building of three storey.s, battlemented at top, with a square
tower attached to one corner rising above the roof, being the entrance lower,
with a circular doorway. In front are the ruins of a still larger building. The
place is the property of the Duke of Leeds.

RESTORMEL (minor)
THIS interesting ruin of an important stronghold stands on the crest of
a rocky eminence, about a mile to the N. of Lostwithiel, with the rapid
Fowey flowing below the precipitous face of the hill, which is covered with a
thick wood. Leland wrote : "The Park of Restormel is hard by the N. side
of the town of Lostwithiel. Ther is a castel on an hill in this park, wher
sumtymes the eries of Cornwall lay. The base court is sore defaced : the
fair large dungeon (keep) yet stondith."
The Conqueror supplanted the last native Earl of Cornwall, giving his lands
and title to his own half-brother, Roger le Mortain (or Moreton, as it came to
be written), but on the subsequent attainder of Roger's son William the whole
was confiscated, and the valuable property and the title of this earldom was
ever after vested in the Royal family or the Crown itself. The Castle of
Restormel may have been built by either of the Mortains, but is also said to
have been reared by one of the Cardinham family, in the reign of Richard I.,
since they, as well as the Tracys, lived here in early times. Henry III. gave
Restormel with other possessions to his brother Richard, King of the Romans,
who was created Earl of Cornwall, and as one of the chief seats of this ancient
earldom, it was used by him as a residence, and after him his son Edward
kept his court here. At the death of this second earl without issue the whole
again reverted to the Crown, and Edward III. annexed it to the Duchy of
Cornwall ; since which time this castle and honour have never been alienated
therefrom, though leased by the duchy from time to time. It must, however,
have fallen early into neglect and ruin, and its great park was disparked by
Henry VIII. at the instance of Sir Richard Pollard. In that reign the castle
was unroofed and defaced.
During the Civil War of the seventeenth century Restormel, after these ages
of ruin and desertion, was partially repaired by the Parliament and received a
garrison ; and in the year 1644, when King Charles found himself in force in
his loyal county of Cornwall, and was driving Essex before him, he came to
Lostwithiel with his army, and on August 21st Restormel was stormed by
Sir Richard Grenville.

12 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
The construction of the original fortress is that of a shell or annular keep,
but in this case, being built upon the living rock and not on an artificial mound,
its structure is much more massive than the ordinary masonry of a shell keep.
An outer circular wall, 9 feet thick and about 34 feet high, having a diameter
of 105 feet, fronts the open country, with its embattled parapet ; within this
and concentric with it is an inner wall of lighter masonry, and within the
annular space between the two walls are contained the apartments of the castle,
nineteen in number, on two storeys ; there is the width of 19 feet between
the outer and inner walls, the centre being an open circular court 64 feet in
diameter. Three staircases lead up to the ramparts on the outer wall. Borlase
gives a ground plan of the structure, the entrance to which is under the ruins
of a square tower, and through a vaulted passage and second archway into
a small open quadrangle adjoining the inner court.
On the opposite side to the entrance, that is on the E.N.E. quarter, is
projected a tower called the Chapel, which afforded a flanking defence on
that side as far as the centre of the deep ditch, 9 yards in width, encircling
the whole castle. The outer wall contained some fine pointed-arch openings,
perhaps for lighting the principal apartments, which were generally lighted
from the inner court.
The lower or base court has perished, but in the reign of Elizabeth, when
Carew wrote, some fragments remained of this portion of the fortress ; and
there was another large and deep moat, filled with water brought in pipes
from the adjoining hill. Among these ruins was a huge ancient oven 14 feet
in width.
ST. MAWES (minor)
THIS fort, a smaller work than Pendennis, on the opposite side of the haven,
was commenced by Henry VIII. before the present Castle of Pendennis,
ancl, like it, was completed about 1544, being stated to have cost ^^5000. Over
the great door are Henry's arms, and on the doorways are these lines : —
"Semper vivat anima regis Henrici octavi qui anno 34 sui regni hoc fecit fieri."
" May the soul of King Henry VIII. live for ever, who in the 34th year of his reign
commanded this to be built.''
It is a circular fort like Pendennis, with embrasures for guns on two
storeys and the roof, having a small conning turret with a cupola roof. On
the ground floor are three circular bastions with embattled parapets, embracing
the central tower, which is 64 feet high, and stands 63 feet above sea-level.
Of late years a formidable battery has been added below the old blockhouse,
which can cross fire with the fortress opposite. It is quite commanded by
higher ground in rear.

restormel castle

CORNWALL 13
The first governors were all members of the X'ivian family till 1630, when
Sir Robert le Grys was appointed, in whose time much dispute arose with
Pendennis regarding their relative rights over tlie shipping. Earl Arundel
and Surrey became captain of the fort in 1635, with a garrison of si.xteen men ;
and at his death the lieutenant, Major Bonithon, was made keeper or captain.
The latter, having been accused in 1644 of embezzlement, at once surrendered
St. Mawes to General Fairfax in March i64(>, with its armament of sixteen guns.
After the Restoration, the Vivians again became the governors.

ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT (chief)
THIS is a pyramidal isolated granite crag, in the parish of St. Hilary, 195
feet high and 5 furlongs in circumference, standing in Mounts Bay, E. of
Penzance. It is said to have been cut off from the mainland by a mighty
inundation which occurred in 1099, and is now joined to the shore only by
a low causeway, 560 yards long, of land which is covered by the tide for
sixteen hours out of the twenty-four.
The hill is crowned with an ancient building originally founded by Edward
the Confessor as a priory for Benedictine monks, and which in after years was
fortified. The first military occupation of this structure was effected by Henry
de Pomeroy, who, having during the absence of King Richard I. at the Holy
War assisted the usurping Prince John, was summoned by the vicegerent.
Bishop Longchamp, from Berry Pomeroy (q.v., Devon). He, however, stabbed
the messenger, and then fled to his castle of Tregony, the strength of which
mistrusting, he thence proceeded with some followers to the Mount, where
the party, disguised as pilgrims, introduced themselves into the monastic
buildings, seized and fortified them, and remained there for several months.
On the return of the king from his Austrian prison, Pomeroy, fearing
the consequences, is said to have bled himself to death, and the Mount was
surrendered to Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chancellor, who was sent
to regain the place (1194). The king then restored the monks, placing a small
garrison at the Mount to guard it in future. This Henry de Pomeroy being
the grandson of the illegitimate daughter of Henry I., was thus a relation of
Richard I. and his brother John.
The next we hear of the place is its capture in the fifteenth century by John,
13th Earl of O.xford, on fleeing from the battle of Barnet (1471). He came
to Wales, and taking ship coasted round the S. coast to this place, where his
grandfather had acquired possession. Here, after the example of Pomeroy,
Oxford and his men, disguising themselves, obtained admission and seized the
fortress, occupying it as they alleged for King Henry. Edward IV. at once
sent a force under Sir John Arundel, the sheriff, to besiege and reduce the

14

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

Mount : Oxford, however, refusing to surrender, made a vigorous resistance,
driving the besiegers back on the sands, where the sheriff and some of his
men were killed. Thereon a new sheriff was despatched against Oxford, who
again repulsed the force with loss, and on this being reported to the king he
sent to learn on what terms Oxford would surrender. He demanded their
lives, liberties, and lands, and Edward granted the terms asked, whereupon the
fortress was delivered up. But the earl was sent prisoner to Ham in France,

ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT

where he lived till the expedition of the Earl of Richmond against Richard III.,
which he joined, and, leading the van at Bosworth, was slain. In the reign of
Henry VII. Perkin Warbeck landed here, and on proceeding on his raid in
Cornwall left his wife. Lady Catherine Gordon, in security at the Mount.
During the Cornish insurrection of 1549 (Edward VI. ), many of the best famihes
in the West fled for shelter to this stronghold, and were there besieged by the
rebels under its governor, Humphrey Arundel. The place was stormed and
taken, yielding rich plunder to the victors, who in their turn, however, were
driven out.
In the great Civil War the Mount was made, as supposed, impregnable, and

'^^

¦^

xsj

CORNWALL 15
was held for King Charles by Sir Arthur Basset, but in April 1646 the
Parliamentary troops, under Colonel Hammond, succeeded after a siege of
fifteen days in reducing the place, wlien fifteen guns and 400 stand of arms fell
into their hands (Sprigg),
A steep and dii^cult path leads up to the summit, defended midway by a
battery, with another battery at the top. The church crowns the crest of the
hill, surrounded by the old monastic buildings. On the centre tower is a
turret once used as a beacon for sailors, and on the S.W. angle of this,
overhanging the sea, is the famous seat called St. Michael's Chair. The
whole structure has for long been the property of the St. Aubyn family
(Lord St. Levan), and has been adapted to form a comfortable modern dwell
ing. It is a castellated house, retaining much of the monastic masonry, but
great alterations were made in it during last century ; the dining-room was
the refectory of the convent, and the chapel has been fitted up in the
Gothic style.
Queen Elizabeth granted the manor to Thomas Bellot, who conveyed it to
Cecil, Earl of Salisbury ; then, when forfeited by that family, King Charles gave
it to the Bassets of Tehidy, but at the Restoration the St. Aubyn family purchased
it from them and made it ever since their principal residence.

ST. RUAN, LANIHORNE (minor)
ABOUT three miles from Tregony, at the head of the creek of this name, and
near the church, are some remains of a magnificent castle, which was
the seat of the ancient family of Erchdeckne or Archdeckne. Leland writes :
"At the Hed of Lanyhorne Creeke standith the Castelle of Lanyhorne, sumtyme
a Castelle of an 8 Towres, now decaying for lack of Coverture. It longgid as
principal House to the Archedecons. This landes descended by Heires general
to the best Corbetes of Shropshir, and to Vaulx of Northamptonshir." Hals,
writing early in the last century, states that six of the towers of this castle were
standing a little time before he wrote, and that the largest of them, 50 feet
in height, was then in existence ; but in 1718 this was pulled down by one
Grant, with the leave of the owner, and with its materials several houses were
erected. The family of Archdeckne was an ancient one in the country, Thomas le
Arcedeckne being a knight of Parliament (33 Edward I.), and one of the
same name was summoned to Parliament as a baron (14 Edward IL), as
was likewise his son. His grandson left three daughters, coheiresses, by
whom the estates came to the families of Vaux, Corbett, De Lacy, and the
Tregrans.

i6 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

TINTAGEL (minor)
THIS decayed fortress," says Carew in 1602, "more famous for his anti-
quitie than regardable for his present estate, abutteth on the sea ; yet
the mines argue it to have been once no unworthie dwelling for the Cornish
Princes ; " and he continues : " Halfe the buildings were raised on the con
tinent and the other half on an iland continued together (within men's
remembrance) by a draw-bridge, but now diuorced by the downefaln steepe
cliffes on the farther side."
Here by tradition, about the year 450, the British King Arthur, the illegiti
mate son of Uther Pendragon, was born, and here it is said he kept his court
and held his diversions of the Round Table. At all events there existed here,
in early ages, a rude stronghold of the British earls of Cornwall, of which the
first mention is made by Geoffrey of Monmouth, about the year 1150; the
castle was probably built after the Conquest.
It consisted of an outer court on the mainland, enclosed by a curtain wall,
defended on the E. and N. outwardly by a ditch. Norden's sketch in 1626
shows on the land side a gate leading to a large square gatehouse, with a corner
watch-turret, from whence steps descended into a second ward, where a very
strong semi-circular wall, 7 feet thick, extended along a steep crag to the edge
of the cliff at the E. Toward the W. the wall rises to an eminence surrounded
by an embattled parapet, which is continued on that side to the cliff edge.
Beyond this comes the island or peninsula on which the keep and main part
of the fortress is said to have stood.
The great difficulty arises from the separation of this peninsula, which is
supposed to have been effected by the weathering, during the lapse of time, of
the soft schistose clay-slate which forms the rocks at this point of the coast.
In \h& Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall (yo\, iv.), the Rev. R. B. Kinsman
states his opinion that originally this island was merely the point of the pro
jecting headland of Tintagel Head, and that its isolation is due to the above
cause, which has formed a cove on both the E. and W. sides of it, and that
the original stronghold was one continuous fortress without any separation.
If so, the building must have been placed there in extremely remote ages,
since Geoffrey of Monmouth implies the situation as surrounded by the sea,
and with a narrow neck of land only joining it to the mainland, "which three
men shall be able to defend against the whole power of the kingdom." Since
that time this narrow neck, being broken through by the sea, gave place to a
drawbridge, which Hals in 1602 says was then remembered, and by degrees
the opening has been worn into the present chasm.
The ruins, as we see them, may have been of Plantagenet origin. In
1337 (temp. Edward III.) the buildings were in a ruinous state, a part of

'^

CORNWALL 17
them joining the work on the mainland to that on the island liaving fallen
into the sea : the drawbridge fell in the sixteenth century. The chasm which
forms so picturesque a feature in the scenery is now about 200 feet across,
and is gradually widening. P'or some time after the drawbridge went, the
opening was crossed by a timber structure.
Leland wrote in 1538 regarding Tintagel : "This Castelle hath bene a
marvelous .strong and notable forteres, and almost situ loci inexpugnabile,
especially for the dungeon that is on a great high terrible cragge, environed
with the se, but having a drawbridge from the residew or the Castelle unto it.
There is yet a chapel standing within this dungeon of St. Ulette alias Ulianne.
Shepe now fede within the dungeon. The residew of buildings of the Castelle
be sore wether-beten and yn ruine, but it hath bene a large thinge. The Castelle
had belykhod 3 wardes, whereof 2 be woren away with gufying in of the se :
without the isle renneth alonly a gate house, a walle, and a fals braye dyged
and walled. On the isle remayne old walles, and on the E. part of the same,
the ground beyng lower, remayneth a walle embateled, and men alive saw
ther, yn a postern, a dore of yren. There is in the isle a prety chapel, with a
tumbe on the left syde."
The inner ward on the island contained the keep and the chief buildings,
including the great hall, the timber of which was taken away by John of
Eltham, then Earl of Cornwall, "when the hall was ruinous and its walls of
no value." Adjoining the N. wall are still the ruins of six apartments where
lived the Constable and the chaplain. The chapel, of the thirteenth century,
measuring 54 feet by 12, has been unroofed and in ruins for several centuries;
part of its altar with a granite slab was unearthed in 1855. It had some
mouldings of Transition Norman style.
Mr. Wilkinson (Journal R. Inst. Corn?) is of opinion that Richard, Earl
of Cornwall (created 1225), built Tintagel, since he was active in repairing and
enlarging other castles in the duchy, as Restormel, Liskeard, and other places,
and it is likely that he added to any fortress he found there. In 1245 he
entertained his nephew David, Prince of Wales, then in rebellion against
Henry IIL (Matt. Paris). His son Edmund, the last earl who resided in
Cornwall, appointed in 1291 his "dearly beloved servant John, called le Barber,
to be Constable of Tintagel for life, with a chaplain. After his death in 1300
all Cornish castles, except Launceston, ceased to be kept up, and so in 1337
there was no chaplain, and the castle was described as in a very dilapidated
state ; it was then that the great hall was destroyed by John of Eltham. Some
repairs, however, may have afterwards been made, as we find this castle in
1385 converted into a prison, where was then confined John of Northampton,
Lord Mayor of London, condemned for his "unruly maioralty," and again
in 1397 Thomas, Earl of Warwick, was imprisoned in the castle. Thenceforth
a small sum was granted for repairs until the reign of Elizabeth, when the
VOL. II. C

i8 CASTLES OF ENGLAND ~
Lord Treasurer Burleigh struck out the item as "a superfluous expense to
the Crown." Since then the ravages of time, aided by Atlantic storms and
landslips, have completed the wreck.
In the reign of Richard 1 1., when much of the duchy lands were alienated
for a time, Tintagel Castle and Manor were given to John Holland, Earl of
Huntingdon, who had married the king's sister Elizabeth, and after he was
beheaded his wndow held the property till her death, when it reverted to the
Crown. Mr. Wilkinson prints at length the Report and Survey on the fortress
in December 1583, by Sir Richard Grenville, which speaks of the defensible
landing-place on the E. side of the island called the Tron Gate. It was not
a place of sufficient importance in the succeeding Civil War to cause any
contention for its possession, and seems to have passed into oblivion.

TREGONY (non-existent)
AT the lower end of this town on the E. side of the Fal River, a little below
the hospital, is an earthwork on a hill, still called the Castle Hill,
where are some scanty remains of a castle built by Henry de Pomeroy (temp.
Richard I.). Tradition says that this baron, being appointed lord of the manor
in the reign of Henry II. on behalf of Prince John, Earl of Mortain and
Cornwall, espoused the cause of John when in rebellion against his brother
Richard, during his absence in the Holy Land.
The castle was standing and remained the seat of these Pomeroys till
the reign of Edward VI. The last Pomeroy (temp. Elizabeth) left issue a
daughter, married to Richard Penkivell of Resuna, whose descendant, having
been ruined in the time of Charles I., sold the manor to Hugh Boscawen,
Sheriff of Cornwall, in whose family it was settled on the Lady Anne Fitzgerald,
who carried it to her second husband, Francis Robertes, youngest son of the
Earl of Radnor (Hals).
Whitaker ascribes the site of this castle to the choice of the Romans, who
placed a fort there to command the lowest ford of the Fal, having a high
precipice on each side, and a brook which joined the river beneath it. The
trenches of the later fortress built here are visible.

TREJAGO (non-existent)
AT the head of the large creek on the E. side of the Fal River is this place,
which gave its name to a family who in Norman times built a castle here
(Hals). This family of Trejago became extinct in the reign of Edward IV., at
that time owning the manor of FentongoUan.

CORNWALL 19

TREMATON {chief)
ON a high eminence over the river Lynher, which flows into the Hamoaze
near Saltash, stands the most entire of all the ancient castles of
Cornwall. Leland wrote : "The greaunt and auncient Castelle of Tremertoun
is upon a Rokky Hille : whereof great Peaces yet stond, and especially the
Dungeon. The Ruines now serve for a Prison. Great Libertees long to this
Castelle. The Valetortes, Men of great Possession, wer owners, &, as far as
I can gather. Builders of this Castel."
But its antiquity is probably superior to this, as the castle appears to have
been erected soon after the Conquest, on an ancient earthwork fortress belong
ing to the Saxon earls of Cornwall. Here, at the time of the Domesday
Survey, William, Earl of Mortain, or Moreton, and Cornwall--half-nephew
of the Coneiueror — had the head of his great barony ; but on the confiscation
of his possessions the Crown retained Trematon, which is said to have been
bestowed afterwards on a native British prince. From him it came by an
heiress to Reginald, the natural son of Henry I., and by their daughter to
Walter de Dunstanville, baron of Castlecombe, Cornwall, whose issue failing
it passed, in the reign of Richard I., by marriage to Reginald de Valletort,
whose grandson again passed Trematon, by his daughter Eglina, to Sir Henry
Pomeroy of Berry Pomeroy, Devon. His son made over the property to
King Edward III. in his eleventh year, and on the investment of the Black
Prince as Duke of Cornwall, this honour and castle, with the manor, were
granted to him and made part of the duchy, in which it still remains.
The fortress, as we see it, consists of a large oval enclosure of stone curtain
wall, 6 feet in thickness and 30 feet high, with an embattled parapet, encircling
an area of about three-quarters of an acre. In the direction of the longer
axis of this enceinte, in the N.W. corner, is a lofty and steep artificial mound,
on the top of which stands a fine Norman shell keep, oval in form and over
30 feet high, the walls of which are 10 feet thick, with crenellated parapet,
and measure 24 yards on the longest and 17 on the least diameter. The
entrance is through a circular-headed doorway at the top of the mound, which
is surrounded by a ditch of its own. The entrance to the castle is on the
S.W., under a square gatehouse, having a gateway with three arches and a
portcullis groove, with a guardroom over in a fair state of repair. Nothing
remains of the lodgings and buildings within the enclosure ; nor of those
within the keep which were built against the wall, as at Lincoln, without
any e.xterior lights. On the N. is a postern, and other buildings stood there
about. A deep ditch surrounds the whole fortress.
During Kilter's insurrection of 1594, Sir Richard Grenville and his wife
took refuge in Trematon Castle, and were there besieged by the rebels at

20 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
three separate points, but unsuccessfully, until, by the treachery of some
within the castle. Sir Richard was induced to leave its walls in order to parley
with the enemy, when he was seized and made to yield up the fortress to
the mob, who plundered the building and stripped their prisoners even of
their clothing.
TRURO (non-existent)
THIS castle, of which no remains now e.xist, stood on an eminence on
the W. of the town, where now is the head of St. Pancras or Pydar Street.
Leland wrote : "Ther is a Castelle a quarter of a mile by West out of Truru
longing to the Erie of Cornwale now clene down. The site thereof is now used
for a shoting and playing place." It is supposed to have been the origin of
the town, having served as a residence of the earls of Cornwall in very early
times, as is evidenced by the artificial mound upon which it stood, but
which is now constantly decreasing, as the site is included within the town,
and its materials are being taken away.
Lysons says that the manor passed by coheiresses of the Lucy family,
one moiety with the castle going to Thomas, son of Reginald de Prideaux,
whose family conveyed the property in 1366 to the Bodrugans, and on the
attainder of Sir Henry Bodrugans (temp. Henry VII.) it was given to Sir Richard
Edgecombe, and still is included in the Mount-Edgecombe estates.
On the site of this building, when it was prepared in 1840 for the erection
of a cattle market, the wall of the ancient castle was discovered, being possibly
that of the keep. It had a diameter of 75 feet, and was built of slate. There
is no sign at present left of any wall.

SALCOMBE

2)epon8bire

AFTON, OR ASTON (minor)
THIS place is situated in the middle of N. Devon, in the parish of W.
Worlington, at the stream of the Little Dart, a tributary of the river
Taw ; it was once the stronghold of the Devonshire Stucleys, and
was restored by Sir George Stukeley. Lysons states that the manor
belonged to a family who took the name of their residence (temp. Henry III.) ;
a coheiress brought it in marriage to Crawthorne, and the heiress of this family
to Marwood. In or about 1350 it was purchased of the Marwoods by Thomas
Affeton of Afton, in the same parish. The heiress of Affeton brought it to Sir
Hugh Stucley, or Stewkley, and it was long the seat of that family. The
building is now a farm-house, but there are some remains of the more ancient
castellated mansion which was the seat of the Affetons.

B A M P T O N (non-existent)
POLWHELE claims this locality for a Roman station ; at the Conquest it
was a king's demesne, and was presented by the king to Walter de Donay.
His son Robert, called De Baunton, held the lands, which by the marriage of
his daughter Julian descended, in the reign of Richard 1 1., to WiUiam Paganel,
the brother of Fulk Paganel of Dudley, Stafford (Risdon), His son Fulk, Lord

22 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
of Braunton, married Ada, the heiress of Gilbert d'Albrincis, through whom
Bampton came by an heiress to Sir Milo Cogan (temp. Henry IIL). "A very
stately family who kept great entertainment when they lived here, but residing
chiefly in Ireland" (Risdon). Sir James Cogan dying s.p. (12 Richard IL),
Bampton came to the Fitzwarrens, and then to the Bourchiers of Tavistock,
with whom it continued for six descents, and then fell by an heiress to the
Wrays of Cornwall, and afterwards to the family of Fellowes.
Richard Cogan had a licence from the Crown in 1336 to crenellate his
viansuin at Bampton, and enclose his wood of Uffculme and 300 acres for
a park. The site of the keep of this castle is known near the town, but of
the building itself there are no vestiges.

BARNSTAPLE (non-cxistmt)
THE original settlement of this ancient town stood in the angle between
the Taw and Yeo rivers, and a castle is said to have been built here
by King Athelstan, of which the mound still exists. The manor was bestowed
at the Conquest on Joel de Totnes (see Totnes), who founded here a priory
for Cluniac monks, and is supposed to have built a Norman keep on the
Saxon site, to which his son Alured retired. The manor followed the fortunes
generally of the Totnes estates, but the castle must have been destroyed at
an early date, as little mention exists of it. In Leland's time (cir. 1538) there
were " manifest ruins & a piece of the Dungeon " or keep, but at this date
nothing remains except the mound and a few fragments of walls.

BEER FERRERS (non-e.xistent)
THIS is a small hamlet on the point of land lying between the Tamar
and the Tavy rivers, on the V\i. side of the latter, and almost at its
extremity. The lands here and northward were given by the Conqueror to
a Norman follower from Alen^on, which word was corrupted into Alston, a
name taken by his family, and continued in the neighbouring village of
Beer Alston. In the reign of Henry 1 1., Henry de Ferrariis, or Ferrers,
ancestor of the numerous branches of the ancient family of Ferrers in Devon
and Cornwall, held this honour and had his castle here. Many knights of that
family followed him (Risdon). In 1337 Sir William de Ferrers had a licence
for crenellating his manor-house at this place, and the last of the family was
Martin Ferrers, who was entrusted with the defence of the S. coasts against
an invasion of the French in the reign of Edward III. He left issue three
daughters, one of whom brought this estate to Alexander Champernown, from
whom it passed by his granddaughter to Robert Willoughby, Lord Brooke,

DEVONSHIRE 23
and thence through the Blounts (Earl of Newport, temp. Charles I.) by
purchase to Sir John Maynard, whose granddaughter brought il in marriage
to the Earl of Stamford. Afterwards lleer Ferrers came to the Duke of
Northumberland. The Lords Brooke resided in the old castellated mansion, which seems
to have .stood on the shore, and had a park here ; but there ait- no remains
of the castle (Lysons). BERRY POMEROY (chief)
THESE magnificent laiins, the finest in the county, stand on a rocky ledge
above a small stream flowing into the Dart, 2i miles from Totnes, and
in the midst of a thick wood. The manor of Beri was bestowed by the Con
queror on one of his followers, Ralph de Pomeroy or Pomerat (variously
written), together with fifty-seven others in Devon, ancl the erection of the
original castle is said to have been carried out by him. The family appear
to have flourished, since Joel his son is said to have married one of the
natural daughters of Henry I., and his successors were barons ancl nobles
till 1257, after which date no Pomeroy was summoned to Parliament.
Dugdale informs us that after this date (41 Henry III.) it became the
custom for none to claim the peerage but such barons as were summoned
to Parliament by the king's writ. The Pomeroys are said to have come from
Cinglais, near Falaise in Normandy, where a fragment of their castle still
remains. But though not as nobles, the family maintained their lands here till the
reign of Edward VI. , the last of them being Sir Thomas Pomeroy, who served
with distinction in France, and acquired the confidence of Henry VIII. In
1549 the new Act for reforming the Church Service was enforced for the first
time on Whitsunday, and the riots which ensued in favour of the old ritual
assumed in Devonshire the appearance of an insurrection, the whole county
being speedily in a state of disorder. Sir Thomas, the last of his ancient family
who resided at Berry, became the chief of the discontented gentry, and headed
a force of 2000 men, who besieged Exeter, and kept up the blockade for a
month, when a strong force under Lord Russell, partly of German horse and
300 Italian arquebusiers, came to the relief, and after some reverses succeeded
in wholly defeating the insurgents, now 8000 strong, on Clist heath, and so
ending the rebellion. Several of the leaders were beheaded, but Pomeroy
managed to escape with the loss of his lands, which were confiscated, and
were then acquired, probably by purchase, from the Crown by Lord Edward
Seymour, son of the Protector Somerset.
The descendants of Sir Thomas Pomeroy afterwards resided in the parish of
Harberton, till the beginning of the eighteenth century. A grandson of the Rev,

24

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

Arthur Pomeroy, the chaplain to Lord Essex in 1672, was raised to the peerage
in 1783 as Baron Harberton.
The Seymour family at once inhabited Berry Castle, and Sir Edward
Seymour, who succeeded in 1593, erected within the quadrangle of the castle
the magnificent mansion whose outer walls still remain, and on which he is
said to have spent ^20,000. In the Civil War of the next century the castle
was dismantled, but it was in a condition to be inhabited by Edward Seymour
in the reign of James II. After his death, however, it went to decay, and being

BERRY POMEROY

set on fire in a thunderstorm in 1685 it became a ruin, and is now but an
ivy-draped relic of its former state.
By the failure of the elder branch of the Seymour family. Berry became
the property of the dukes of Somerset, to whom it .still belongs, they being
of the junior branch. It is said that William 111. remarked to Sir Edward
Seymour, on his presentation to him in 1686, that he believed Sir Edward
was of the family of the Duke of Somerset. " Pardon me, sir," said he, " the
Duke of Somerset is of my family." Macaulay says of Sir Edward Seymour,
who was speaker temp. Charles 1 1., that his fortune was large, and his influence
in the west of England extensive, for he had long been at the head of a strong
Parliamentary connection which was called the Western Alliance, and which

DEVONSHIRE 25
included many gentlemen of Devon, Somerset, and Cornv/all. Born in 1633,
he played a prominent part in four reigns. He was one of the first who
joined William of Orange on his landing at Torbay (November 5, 1688), and
Berry Pomeroy Castle was made one of the first halting-places of the draggled
army, toiling towards Exeter through the Devonshire lanes. Sir Edward died
in 1708, and his son obtained the dukedom.
The S. front of the enceinte remains much as shown in Buck's drawing :
at the W. end is the nearly perfect gatehouse, three storeys in height, with tw(j
hexagonal flanking towers supporting the great arched gateway, which is
sculptured with the arms of Pomeroy. The passage is furnished with two
portcullis grooves, and over it is a loopholed guardroom ; stairs lead from
this chamber down to small vaulted rooms in each side-tower, and a spiral
stair ascends to the summit of the W. tower. The whole is embattled. A
covered way leads from the guardroom to the E. end of this front, where is
a large turret called Lady Margaret's Tower, in which it is said that Eleanor
de Pomeroy, once mistress of the castle, was confined by her sister.
The walls of the castle formed a quadrangle within, and inside are the
remains of the splendid mansion, four storeys high, built in the sixteenth cen
tury, but never finished on the W. side. The remains of the hall are there,
and those of numberless apartments and offices, some of which must have
been very fine.
Buck shows, on the W. side of the old castle, a square keep standing on
the edge of the steep declivity of the valley.
CHULMLEIGH (non-existent)
AT this village, near the junction of the Little Dart with the Taw River,
^ not far from Eggesford, it is said by Lysons that the Courtenay family
possessed a castle, of which there are now no vestiges ; they also had a park,
which has been converted into tillage for more than two hundred years.

COLCOMBE (minor)
THE quondam seat of the Pole family is close to Colyton, and although
it cannot ever have been a castle, it seems to have been a fortified
house, the original building being alleged to have been erected by an earl
of Devon (temp. Edward I.). It was rebuilt about the year 1600 by Sir
William Pole, the county historian, who resided there till his death in 1635,
when, the family leaving this house for the neighbouring one of Shute,
Colcombe fell into decay. It is still owned by the Pole family, and is partly
used as a farm-house.
VOL. II. D

26 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

COMPTON (minor)
AN ancient seat of the Pole family, in the parish of Marldon, about five miles
from Newton Abbot, this is an excellent specimen of a fortified house
of the fourteenth century. At the time of the Domesday Survey the manor
was held by one Stephen, under Joel de Totals (see Totnes), and in the
time of Henry II. was the property and seat of Sir Maurice de la Pole. In
the succeeding reign Alice de la Pole bestowed the place on one Peter, who
took the name of Compton, and after seven descents in his family a Compton
heiress brought the estate in marriage to the Gilberts of Greenway, from whom
it was purchased, about the beginning of the present century, by James Templer
of Stover Lodge. In 1808, however, the estate was sold off in lots, when the
ancient castellated seat of the Poles was bought by Mr. John Bishop and
converted into a farm-house ; the hall was destroyed at that time, and several
rooms at the back were pulled down. The Alice de la Pole who alienated the
property originally must have been the widow of William de la Pole, the
powerful statesman of the reign of Henry VL, who as Duke of Suffolk was
murdered in the Channel in 1450 (see Donnington, Berks) : she was the grand
daughter of Geoffrey Chaucer the poet.
The structure is an interesting one, even in its ruins, as, having no moat,
it shows the means adopted by its builders of protecting the foot of the walls
from being undermined in an attack, by the provision of an overhead defence
by means of projecting machicouhs and garde-robes at all vulnerable points,
from which stones and burning matter could be discharged upon the heads
of assailants. Part of the N. front with its machicolated gatehouse and a part of the
chapel still remain, but the ruin is partially filled up with modern farm-
buildings, having been degraded from its high state to this purpose. The
structure was originally in the form of a small quadrangle, with a square
tower at each corner, the curtain wall, the greater part of which exists, being
20 feet high. Within this outer wall are seen the holes for the timbers of the
roofing of the buildings or sheds which were ranged against it. The postern
gate is at one end of the front, just within the wall of enceinte, and had a
portcullis. The principal entrance was on the centre and also had a portcullis,
being protected by very bold projecting machicoulis instead of side flanking
towers. The outer ward in front was enclosed by a low wall only (Parker),
The chapel is tolerably perfect, with a plain vault, and a priest's room over it.
There is a good guardroom over the entrance.

HH<
UZo H
a. )^
ou

DEVONSHIRE 27

DARTMOUTH (minor)
THE estuary of the Dart, being a seaport of much impoitance from an early
period, has received several fortifications at various times. At its nvnith
on the \\'. side, at the extreme point of the land, stands Dartmouth Castle, con
sisting of a square bastion and a round tower, embattled, in rear of which
is the small church of St. Petrox. The round tower was built in the reign
of Henry \'II. by the Corporation of Dartmouth, who received _^'40 per
annum for building " a strong and mighty tower, and arming the same with
ordnance, and finding a chain of sufficient length and strength to close the
entrance." The other end of this chain was made fast to the rocks, under
a small turreted fort situated on the opposite side of the channel, where its
groove can still be seen. Adjoining the before-mentioned tower is a gun
platform, and the site of a far earlier fortress, for the erection of which a
licence was obtained in the fourth year of Henry IV. (1403) by Johannes de Corp
to crenellate " L]uoddam hospitium juxta introitum portus vill de Dertemuth,
Devon." Polwhele says the chapel attached to this castle existed in the time
of Edward III., and belonged to the neighbouring church of Stoke Fleming.
On the eminence above the castle, at a height of 300 feet, are the remains
of another strong work, which in the Civil War of the seventeenth century
was called "The Gallant's Bower," and is spoken of in the despatches of
Fairfax to the Parliament.
Across the harbour on the E. side, opposite to Dartmouth, is the still older
town of KiXGSWEAR, where on the hill above the church are the earthworks
of a fort called Mount Ridley, but mentioned by Fairfax as Kingsworth Fort.
Close to the shore, not very far below, stands the weather-beaten ruin of
Kingswear Castle, an ancient defence of the harbour about which there is
little or no information.
Altogether this group of fortifications formed an exceedingly strong position
for the Royalists, heavily armed as it was with 106 pieces of ordnance, with
ammunition and provisions, and a strong garrison of 800 troops.
Towards the end of 1645, after the fall of Basing House and Winchester,
a final effort was determined on by the Parliamentary generals to clear out of
Devon (never very loyal) the remaining strongholds of the king, which were
chiefly on the S. of Exeter ; Dartmouth and its port forming the headquarters
of the district. General Fairfax reached Totnes on January 11, 1646, and
at once made preparations for reducing Dartmouth, which had been fortified
at considerable cost and with much skill. At the outbreak of the Civil War
it had declared for the Parliament, and in 1643 was besieged and taken by
Prince Maurice, since when its defences had been greatly strengthened, and
earthwork forts and batteries erected.

28

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

Two men-of-war lay in the harbour, and at the mouth of this was Dart
mouth Castle, commanding the entrance, having on the hill above the fort
called the Gallant's Bower. Paradise Fort and Mount Flaggon guarded the
line on the W., while Tunstall Church with outworks around it stood next, and
Hardress with Mount Boon protected the N. These were supported on the
other side of the water by Kingswear and Kingsworth Fort. The governor. Sir
Hugh Pollard, was supported by some sixty officers.

DARTMOUTH

The harbour was blockaded by Captain Batten, the Parliamentary admiral,
and three or four days were spent in preparations for storming. At last, on
Sunday, January i8th, all was ready for the assault that night, and the troops
were told off to their several stations. The dragoons with 200 sailors from the
fleet were to threaten Kingswear, which, being a very strong place, the besiegers
did not expect to take. Colonel Fortescue was appointed to attack the work
at Tunstall Church, and Colonel Hammond the Westgate, Flaggon, and
Paradise forts ; the attack on Mount Boon and Hardress falling to Colonel

DEVONSHIRE 29
Pride. The morning was spent in preaching and prayer, the password being
" God with us," while the distinguishing badge of the attacking force was the
wearing of their shirts outside the trousers.
At eleven o'clock at night the assault began, and was delivered with such
vigour that the royal troops had but time to fire one round from their big guns
and then, overpowered and disheartened, g.ive in after very slight resistance.
The Roundheads were successful at each point, and after seven hours be
came possessed of the whole town, with the loss of only a single man ; the
governor retreating to Gallant's Bower, which fort, together with the castle,
being summoned next morning, were surrendered by the governor, who lay
wounded in the fort. Then the fort on the Kingswear side capitulated, and
the whole position was won (Sprigg).
The defences of the castles being wholly seaward, their armament could
have been of little avail against a land attack.

EXETER {chief)
THIS beautiful city, "Queen of the West," was originally a British settle
ment and an early fortified post under the name of Cacr Wise, then it
became the Isca of the Romans, and in Saxon times figures in the reign of
Alfred as Exanceaster, or the castle on the Exe, having an English fortress, of
great importance. It was the centre of the Cornish metal trade, and an object
of capture and recapture more than once between the great king and the Danes.
Athelstan surrounded the town with a defensive wall of stone with towers,
preserving generally the plan of the Roman castj-utn which he found there ;
this was in 926. Then we read that the year after Duke William's victory
at Senlac, or Hastings, he came as king into the West and advanced against
this hill fort, in which Gytha, the Danish mother of King Harold, had taken
shelter, with Harold's sons, and took the place by assault, whereupon he at once
ordered the construction of a Norman castle upon the ancient British mound,
to overawe the country round and the disaffected city ; and thus reared upon
the earthworks of earlier days, like so many other fortresses founded in those
times, it effectually secured William's power in the West.
From its earliest days this Castle of Exeter was known by the name of
Rougemont. It is referred to in Shakespeare's "Richard IIL," where that
usurper quails at the name, confounding it with Richmond.
In the Conqueror's days it withstood one or two sieges at the hands of
the West Saxon insurgents, when its Constable and owner was one Baldwin of
Okehampton, who had married William's niece Albreda, and in whose family it
rested till 1230. In 1137 Exeter took the part of the Empress Maud, and King
Stephen himself besieged and captured the fortress, destroying its outworks.

30

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

In Tudor times the castle was attacked, unsuccessfully, by the host that
collected in the West in favour of Perkin Warbeck, in 1497 ; and again in
1549, when the religious insurrection, in defence of the old form of worship
and the possessions of the Church, grew^ to an alarming height in this district,
Exeter was threatened, but was
relieved by a force under the
command of Lord Russel.
But neglect fell on the for
tress, as it did upon most of
the castles of the kingdom in
the reign of Ehzabeth, so that
in the next century it is spoken
of as entirely ruinous, and it is
doubtful if in the Civil War the
castle was of any actual value
to the defences of the town.
Exeter was taken in 1643 by
Prince Maurice, but in 1646
was surrendered to Fairfax on
the first summons and without
sustaining a siege.
The ancient fortress is de
scribed by Clark as standing
in the N. corner of the city,
on the summit of a natural
eminence of reddish stone,
having the sides which grow
out of the valley below arti
ficially scarped ; the knoll is
abrupt on the N.E. and N.W.,
sloping somewhat on the other
sides. At the foot of the scarped
front is a ditch, outside which
the hill is again scarped down
to the bottom of the valley :
and a second ditch once existed on the S. At the top was a rampart of earth
30 feet high, but this has been reduced and the main ditch on the N.E. and
N.W. filled up and converted into a boulevard ; the ditch on the S. and S.E.
remaining still unaltered.
The Conqueror came before Exeter on the N.E., and summoned the city
just below the castle at the E. gate, entering it through a breach in Athelstan's
wall. The gatehouse is the oldest part left, and is probably his building ; it is

EXETER

DEVONSHIRE 31
in two storeys, with a drawbridge o\'er the ditch in trc^nt. At the W. angle,
where the city wall sprang from the castle, stood a square bastion, the base
of which remains, and a similar one stood at the N. angle, with the N.W.
curtain between them, whereon there remain two half-round solid bastions,
both of rough Norman work in rubble. A portion of the N.E. front is built
of ashlar blocks of the time of Richard II. The bank and wall have been
removed from the N.W. front to give place to an odious modern sessions
house. The chapel was near the W. corner, but it cannot be told what
buildings were contained in the enceinte, though it is evident that, as at
Corfe and Taunton, no regular keep was ever erected here. The ancient
entrance has been walled up, the existing one heing on the W. of the main
gatehouse. The city walls were probably built at the same time as the castle, as there
was a water-gate of Norman construction (removed in 1815) ; the walls crossed
ditches and terminated on the castle. The E. wall has been rebuilt, but that
on the N.W. is very perfect and strong (Clark).
In the Report of the Devon Association for 1895 is a paper by Sir J. B.
Phear, giving an account of the repairs carried out in 1891, with photographs
and sections of the old gatehouse, or Athelstan's Tower.

FORT CHARLES, or SALCOMBE CASTLE (muwr)
THE ruins of this building are situated upon a rock in the Kingsbridge
or Salcombe River, and are at high-water nearly surrounded by the tide.
The position was an e.xcellent one in early days for stopping the passage of
ships up the river, and one authority speaks of the fortress as of Saxon origin.
Hearne mentions this castle as "a round fort, built in the reign of Elizabeth
a little before the Spanish invasion"; but it is more probable that it was
one of Henry VI I I.'s blockhouses, erected after his survey of the southern
coasts, together with Pendennis and St. Mawes castles in Cornwall. Along
with all other national defences, this one had been neglected from Elizabeth's
to the Stuarts' time, and when it was taken in hand by Sir Edmund Fortescue,
High Sheriff of Devon ; during the Civil War it was known only by the name
of "the olde Bullworke." A copy of the payments and disbursements made
upon Fort Charles in January 1645 by Sir Edmund still exists "for the
buildynge, victuallyne and fortifying it with great guns and musquets," and
amounts to ;^i355, i8s. 9d. for building, and ;^i03i, 19s. 9d. for the armament.
The Parliamentary Admiral Batten had sailed up this creek previously, and
on this account it was resolved to secure these waters, which formed a harbour
of refuge for Royalist privateers. Hence, after the fall of Dartmouth, Colonel
Ingoldsby was sent with a force to reduce Fort Charles, which was said to

32 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
be "a verie stronge place," and impregnable to any but siege guns, which
accordingly were sent for from Plymouth.
Colonel Fortescue, who held the place for King Charles, had a garrison of
fifty-three men only and ten officers in the fort with him, but with these he held
out valiantly as long as resistance was possible. We have no account of the
incidents of the siege, but it is supposed that the Parliamentay artillery was
placed on Rickham Common, where are still the remains of earthworks. One
night Sir Edmund's sleep was disturbed by a shot carrying away the leg of
his bedstead, "causing his. sudden appearance among his men in his shirt";
but only two casualties occurred in the fort, and he held out till May 7th,
when articles of capitulation were arranged, and the fort was surrendered.
The key of Fort Charles, as it was named by its defenders, or Salcombe
Castle, is now in the possession of Sir E. Fortescue's descendant, Mr.
Fortescue of Octon, Torquay ; it was the last place that held out for the king.
Sir Edmund escaped to Delft in Holland, where he died soon after, and his
son was made a baronet by Charles II.

GIDLEIGH (minor)
THIS fragment of an old Norman castle lies on the N.E. confines of
Dartmoor, near Chagford. In the time of William I. the lands were
possessed by a family named Prouse or Prowse, by ancient grants from the
Crown ; and here they had their castle. Adjoining is an extensive walled
enclosure of moorland, three sides of it having a stone wall, while the
remaining side is protected by a fine gorge of the river Teign, which rises
up in this district. The Prouses became extinct in the reign of Edward IL,
ancl Gidleigh Castle and manor passed with its heiress to Mules, and from
that family in the same way to Damerell. William Damerell of Gidleigh
gave the estate to his daughter, wife to Walter Coade of Morval in Cornwall,
with whose descendants it long continued. In later years the place belonged
to an ancient family taking their name from the property ; one Bartholomew
Gidleigh being lord of the manor in 1772, and by marriage with this family
the possessor at the time of Polwhele (1797) was one Ridley ; after that time
there was a Chancery suit respecting the property, followed by a sale.

HEMYOCK (minor)
THIS place lies in the valley of the river Culm or Columb, on the N.E.
border of the county, south of Wellington, Somerset. An ancient family
called Hidon had their settlement here from the time of the Conquest, and
it was doubtless one of them who built the ancient castle at this place.

DEVONSHIRE 33
Polwhele .says (temp. Edward I.) that the property was brought by Marg;iret,
only daughter of Sir Richard Hidon, in marriage with Sir Joel Dinham or
Dynham (see Okehampton), in whose possession Hemyock remained till the
reign of Henry VIL, when it was parted between the four sisters of John,
Lord Dynham, High Treasurer of England, and then passed (temp. lH:iizabethj
by sale to Sir John Popham. After that time other divisions took plaee, and
the estate and castle passed into the hands of various families. The descent,
however, as given by Lysons, is that Roger de Hemlock possessed the l.inds
at the Conquest ; his son William had a daughter Beatrix, the wife of Sir
Gerard de Clift, knight, and that from them it came by Isabel, daughter of
William de Clift, to Richard Tremenet, and by an heir-general of that family to
the Dynhams. Early in this century the castle and a quarter of the lands were
purchased by General Simcoe.
Hemyock Castle stood out for Charles I., having been taken in 1642 by
Lord Poulett, but it was held later and garrisoned as a prison by the
Parliament. Soon after the Restoration it was dismantled.
The castle is situated at a little distance W. of the church, and was a regular,
if not a very extensive, structure. The main entrance gateway and two flanking
towers, built of flint, remain ; the latter were tolerably entire till the end of the
last century, when the tenant took down the upper part of them. The gateway
has a portcullis groove. The enclosing curtain wall with its mural towers can
still be made out, and there was a moat surrounding the fortress, fiUed by a
rivulet running close by. A farm-house is on the site.

LYDFORD, OR LIDFORD (minor)
THE town of this name which lies on the western edge of Dartmoor, nine
miles from Okehampton, was one of the earliest in Britain, and one of
the chief towns in Devon during the Heptarchy, possessing a mint for tin
pennies in the time of Ethelred the Unready. At Domesday it was a walled
town, and assizes were held there. The castle in this case dates many ages
after the town, though a stronghold of some sort must have been placed on
the mound, where, in the thirteenth century, Lydford Castle was built.
Little remains of the fortress except the walls of the square keep on this
earthwork by the roadside ; it is supposed to have been erected by Richard,
"King of the Romans," the brother of Henry IIL, who created him Earl of
Cornwall in 1225, with the gift of the Manor of Lydford, and also of Dartmoor
Chase. Appointed to this important earldom, he worked strenuously to develop
the mineral resources of his estates, and it was doubtless he who built the
castle, on the site of a former stronghold, since a " Castrum de Lydford " is
mentioned in the Close Rolls of 12 16.
VOL. II. E

34 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
It was an important military point, commanding as it did the road on the
W. of Dartmoor, but in the thirty-third year of Edward I. it had passed into
the hands of the civil power, and is called " our prison of Lydeford," for the
detention of offenders against the stannary laws.
In 1650, under the Commonwealth, a survey was held which reported that
Lydford Castle was " very much in decay, & almost totally ruined. The walls
are built of lime & stone, within the compass of which wall, their is 4
little roomes, whereof 2 are above stairs, the flore of which is all broken,
divers of the chiefest beames being fallen to the ground, & all the rest is
following ; only the roof of the said castle being lately repaired by the Prince
[Charles I.J and covered with lead, is more substantial than the other parts.
The scite of the said castle with the ditches & courte, contain half an acre of
land." A valuation of the ruin follows, and the dismantling seems to have been
carried out in a very thorough manner. In 1703, the want of a prison being
again felt, the castle was partially restored, and appropriated accordingly.
The Rev. E. A. Bray, early in the present century, describes the castle as a
square building standing on an artificial mound, and entered at the N.W. side.
Before it is a spacious area, having a gentle slope, and on the N.W. is the outer
or " base " court, enclosed by two parallel earthworks, enclosing an oblong area
of ninety paces in length, at the end of which is a precipitous declivity, or brae,
which continues on the opposite side till it joins the river near the bridge. It
was approachable only from the N.E. The stairs and floor were then in a
ruinous state, but the Judge's Chair, with the royal arms over it, last occupied
by the infamous Jeffries, still remained. A staircase in the wall led to the roof,
while below is a cellar or dungeon, 16 feet by 10, attained by a ladder through
a trap-door, and lighted by loops.
At the present time nothing remains but the bare walls, the decay having
been caused by the removal, by George IV. when Duke of Cornwall, of the
courts to the Duchy Hotel at Prince's Town, thus made the capital of Dartmoor.
Lydford then fell into neglect.
The square keep stands on a moderately high mound on the N. side of the
road, to the E. of Lydford Church. A low-pointed archway forms the doorway
to the lower stage, which is not lighted, the upper storey having three square-
headed loops, and slits for lighting the garderobes. On the S.W. face is a
wide-arched window, with four openings, two on each storey ; and on the
right of the entrance is the staircase, at the head of which is the opening
into the hall, or chief apartment. The whole building is divided by a
transverse wall running E. and W., dividing it into two unequal portions,
the lower stage having three rooms, and the upper stage two. There is but
one fireplace in the castle.

DEVONSHIRE

35

OKEHAMPTON {chief )
ON the western confines of Dartmoor the ruins of this ancient castle stand
boldly on a hill in the valley of the Okement or Ockment River, com
manding the main road into Cornwall on the N. of Dartmoor from Exeter to
Launceston. The rocky hill, still crowned by the castle keep, is about a mile
S.W. of the town, being protected by a ravine on the N., and by a deep ditch
on the W. side, and
with the river defence
on the S. It is a very
strong position, ap
proachable only on the
E. slope, and from the
extensive area covered
by the ruins, the castle
must have been a
large and important
fortress. The partly
artificial mound on
which the keep stands
shows that long before
Norman days this site
was occupied by a
stronghold and home
of the former lords of
the county.
In the Domesday Survey of 1089 it is written : " Baldwinus tenet de Rege
Ochementon, et ibi sedet castellum " ; the Conqueror having given the lands
to Baldwin de Brioniis, who made here the head of his barony. After him
Richard Fitz-Baldwin held this honour, being Sheriff' of Devon temp. Henry I.,
and on his death s.p. his property descended to another line, and from them was
inherited by the great family of Courtenay, earls of Devon, by the marriage
of Reginald Courtenay with Hawise, coheiress of Richard de Redvers, the
eldest son of the last Brioniis baron. Their son Robert succeeded in the
reign of King John. The Courtenays were Lancastrians, and Earl Thomas
was beheaded by Edward IV. after Towton at Pontefract in 1461, his
head being set up at York in place of that of Edward's father, the Duke of
York, which was taken down. His possessions were drafted to Sir Humphrey
Stafford, knight, afterwards created Earl of Devon, who, however, in his
turn came to the block (9 Edward IV.), when the castle and honour of

okehampton

36

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

Okehampton were granted to Sir John Dynham, who yielded them to the Duke
of Clarence. After the murder of this unhappy prince in the Tower, these
estates were retained by the Crown till Henry VII. restored the Courtenays
here as elsewhere.
Henry VIII. beheaded Henry Courtenay, Marquis of E.xeter, alleging a
secret and treasonable correspondence between him and Cardinal Pole, and
with vindictive barbarism destroyed the ancient castle of Okehampton and
devastated its noble park. The son of his victim, Edward Courtenay, was
imprisoned in the Tower of London by Henry, but was released by Queen
Mary and much favoured by Elizabeth. He died at Padua Sip., and his
large estates were divided between
the descendants of the four sisters
of his great-grandfather, Okehamp
ton becoming the property of the
famous rowdy Whig noble, Charles,
5th Lord Mohun, the duellist. In
1712 Mohun quarrelled with James
Douglas, 4th Duke of Hamilton,
concerning the reversion of the estate
of the Earl of Macclesfield, and chal
lenged the duke. A furious duel
took place in Hyde Park in the early
morning of November 15th, when,
neither Mohun nor his adversary
attempting to parry, both simply
giving point, Mohun fell riddled with
wounds, and is said to have given
the duke a death-stab with a short
ened sword as Hamilton was bending
over him.
The castle then came to Chris
topher Harris of Heynes, M.P. for the
borough in the reign of Anne, by
marriage with the heiress of that family. It was purchased about forty years
ago by Sir R. R. Vyvyan, Bart., of Trelowarren, but is now the property of
Mr. Reddaway.
Grose's drawing of 1768 shows the vast range of the outer walls support
ing the interior lodgings, with some bastions and a large outside garderobe
and buttresses ; all which was possibly the building of Thomas de Courtenay,
the first earl of that family (beheaded 1461), as stated by William de
Worcester. The remains now consist of the small quadrangular Norman keep on the

GATEWAY

DEVONSHIRE 37
crest of the hill, a portion only existing, which contains a small oratory, while
below are parts of the hall and chapel, and ruins of the lodgings on the eastern
slope, between walls narrowing to the main gateway. Beyond this are fragments
of a barbican. The main buildings were probably erected by Hugh Courtenay,
first earl, who succeeded 1292, and are in two ranges, divided by the yard;
the least intact remains are those of the great hall with the solar and the cellar
or undercroft. The hall was large, 45 feet long by 25 wide, lit by two large
windows in the S. wall. On the S. range were a lodge, at the E. end, next
two guardrooms, and then the chapel, all of Early English style ; over the
ground floor were the state apartments of the lord of the castle, with a
central garderobe tower (see details in paper by Mr. Worth, Devonshire
Association Reports, 1895).

PLYMOUTH CITADEL (chief)
THE town of Plymouth in 1411 was described as being v^'ithout any
defences, and it was not till after several attacks by the French that in
1439 the townsmen were granted a toll to enable them to fortify and protect
themselves ; at this time St. Nicholas or Drake's Island was fortified. Then in
15 1 2 an Act of Parliament was passed for adding fortifications at Plymouth
and other western seaports, and sometime after this Leland wrote regarding
this place : " The mouth of the Gulph wherein the shippes of Plymmouth lyith
is waullid on eche side, and chained over in tyme of Necessite. On the S.W.
side of this mouthe is a Blok House : and on a Rokky Hille hard by it is a
stronge Castel quadrate having at eche Corner a great Rounde Tower. It
semith to be no very old Peace of Worke."
The existing citadel was built on the site of the old fort at the E. end
of the Hoe, after the Restoration by Charles IL, who went to see it in
1670. It consisted of three regular and two irregular bastions, with ravelins
and hornworks.
Plymouth was the principal fortress and headquarters of the Parliamentary
army in the West, from the commencement of the Civil War, and succeeded
in 1643 and 1644 in beating off the attacks of the royal troops, who never were
able to take the outworks of the town.

to

38 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

PLYMPTON EARL, or ST. MAURICE (minor)
PLYMPTON EARL is the ruin of a circular Norman keep on a very lofty
mound. The town lay on the ancient Roman road from Exeter into
Cornwall, and was a chartered stannary borough in 1241. The honour was
granted by Henry I. to Richard de Redvers, afterwards Earl of Devon, who
made it the head of his barony ; from which cause its following name of " Earl "
was derived, distinguishing it from the neighbouring Plympton St. Mary. The
castle is said to be the work of Baldwin de Redvers, who took the side of the
Empress Maud against Stephen, and was holding Exeter against him, when the
knights whom he had entrusted with the defence of Plympton and its garrison
revolted, treated with the king, and in 1136 surrendered the castle; Stephen
then sent thither a force of 200 men and demolished it. The fortress appears
to have been partially restored afterwards, since in John's reign some fighting
took place there. It was then the dowry of Margaret, wife of Baldwin, 6th
Earl of Devon, at whose death King John gave his widow, against her con
sent, in marriage to his worthless favourite Falk de Brent (see Bedford), after
whose fall this castle and barony went to Isabella, sister of Baldwin, the
wife of William de Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle, and who was called Countess
of Devon and Albemarle (see Bytham, Lincoln), On her death in 1292 Sir
Hugh Courtenay, baron of Okehamptom, succeeded to the estates of De
Redvers and to the earldom, till the death of the last earl in 1566, when this
and his other large estates were divided between his four aunts or their
representatives. The whole of this property became vested at last in the
Earl of Morley, its present owner.
Leland wrote : " In the side of this town is a fair large Castelle & Dungeon
in it, whereof the Waulles yet stonde, but the Logginges within be decayed."
The earthworks on which this castle rested may have been British or even
Roman originally, and within the last three centuries the upper waters of the
Plym estuary were navigable up to the castle walls.
A fragment only of the keep remains crowning the mound, which is 70 feet
high and 200 feet in circumference. The fortress enclosed two acres of ground,
with a high rampart and a very deep ditch, but its walls have disappeared.
It formed the headquarters of Prince Maurice's army during the siege of
Plymouth in 1643, but was taken by Essex the following year. Scarcely any
masonry remains, though the earthworks show it to have been a place of
great strength.

DEVONSHIRE 39

POWDERHAM {chief)
THIS ancient inheritance of the Courtenays, possessed by them for over
500 years, stands on the W. side of the estuary of the Exe, three miles
from the sea. " Powderham," says Leland, "late Sir William Courteneis
Castelle, standith on the haven shore a little above Kenton. Some say that
it was builded by Isabella de Fortibus, a widdowe of an Earl of Devonshires.
It is stronge, & hath a barbican, or bulwark, to beate the haven." The site
is near the confluence of the little stream Kenn with the Exe, about seven
miles S.E. from Exeter. Polwhele supposes the original fortress to have been
built to protect that di.strict from the Danes, who landed at Teignmouth in
970. The Conqueror bestowed the lands on WUliam, Count d'Eu, together
with many other estates in difi'erent counties : he is styled in Domesday
" Comes d'Ou." This lord conspired with Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northum
berland, and others against Rufus, and being tried for treason by a council
assembled at Salisbury in 1090, was afterwards vanquished in the duel which
was granted to him, whereupon, according to the brutal course of law, he was
by the still more savage king deprived of his eyes and barbarously mutilated
(see Hutchins' " Dorset"). His lands being forfeited went to various new holders,
and in the time of Edward I. this place, with its existing stronghold, together
with Whitstone, Hereford, was held by John de Powderham, after whose
death the property came to Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and
Essex, whose daughter Margaret, the granddaughter of Edward I., brought
it in marriage to Hugh, Earl of Devon, in 1325. His fifth son. Sir Philip
Courtenay (born cir. 1337), next obtained it, and the property has ever since
been in the hands of that branch of the earls of Devon. It was this Philip
who built the castle, which retained much of its mediaeval structure till 1752,
when, Polwhele says, "the avenue to the castle was surrounded with stonewalls,
having battlements on the top ; and in the middle, opposite the front of the
castle, there was a square gatehouse." At that time there existed six square
towers which, as well as the walls containing the quadrangle and the dwellings,
were furnished with battlements. Over the gateway or entrance from the
park was an antique tower also battlemented ; and in the N. wing was a neat
chapel, which was rebuilt and beautified in 1717, having over it a library.
But in 1752 Lord Courtenay remodelled and modernised the old fortress, and
only two of the towers now exist, the chapel being converted into a new
drawing-room, ancl another chapel which had long been used as a barn being
restored to its proper character.
At Christmas 1645 Sir Thomas Fairfax, being then at Crediton with the
headquarters of the Parliamentary army, detached a force of 200 men and
some dragoons to take Powderham Castle, but the Royalists, having been rein-

40 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
forced by an addition of 150 men to their garrison, made a stout resistance ;
and upon the enemy entrenching themselves in the church harassed them so
warmly with hand-grenades and musketry that they forced them to withdraw.
Then on January 24, 1646, Sprigg relates that Fairfax starting from Totnes "on
the Lord's day, after forenoon's sermon, marched to Chudleigh, endeavouring
first to take a view of Pouldram [Powderham] ; before which place Colonel
Hammond was set down with some force. But night coming on (whilst he
had yet two miles thither) he was forced to return to Chidley without Viewing
the castle, which ere the next day was happily put out of a capacity of being
viewed by him ; for about twelve at night, the news came to him of the
surrender thereof, and therein five barrels of powder, match and bullet pro-
portionible, and four pieces of ordnance." Sir Hugh Meredith was the king's
governor, and the garrison numbered 300.

TIVERTON (minor)
THE town of Tiverton stands on a point of land between the river Exe and .
the stream Lowman, flowing into the former, and above the town on the
W. is a little hill which was chosen for the site of a castle, built early in the
twelfth century by Richard Redvers, Earl of Devon, on whom Henry I. had
conferred the town and the lands. The last of this family, Baldwin de Redvers,
dying in 1262, left the manor in dower to Amicia his wife, upon whose death
(12 Edward I.) it came to Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Albemarle, the
second wife of William de Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle and Holderness (see
Plympton Earl), and her daughter. From her it passed to the great family of
Courtenay, who enjoyed possession almost continuously, till the attainder of
the Marquis of Exeter (20 Henry VIIL), when Tiverton came to the Crown,
and was given by Edward VI. to his uncle the Protector Somerset, after whose
fall the property was bestowed on Sir Henry Gate. From him it was taken
by Queen Mary and given to Edward Courtenay, the prisoner of the Tower,
son of the Marquis of Exeter, at whose demise at Padua, s.p,, his property was
divided between his numerous coheirs. This castle and much of the property
has long been vested in the old family of Carew.
The fortress appears to have been quadrangular in form, enclosing about
an acre of ground, and to have been protected by a surrounding wall from
20 to 25 feet high. It had round towers at the S.E., N.E., and N.W. corners,
35 feet in height, battlemented, and a square one at the S.W. angle. A
spacious gateway under a large square tower, projecting a few feet from the
E. front, gave entrance to the quadrangle, and on the W. front was a some
what similar building. A steep declivity, 60 feet deep, below the W. wall
protected the castle on that side, and on the N. and S. sides were two wide

DEVONSHIRE 41
and deep moats filled by the town leaf ; these formed the defences as
far as the causeway leading to the entrance at the E. side, and over one
of these moats, near the round tower at the S.E. angle, was a drawbridge.
The causeway and the outer gate were protected by battlements and
machicoulis. Two other strong arched gateways, 18 feet apart, further
defended the entrance passage, which was 36 feet long and 15 feet wide,
all vaulted with stone. The vaultings were mostly removed at the end of
the last century, as they threatened to fall. The chief apartments of the
castle were towards the N., and are all now destroyed; the rooms of the
gateway, however, are tolerably entire. On the top of the stone staircase is a
small ruined turret called the Earl of Devon's Chair. A hundred years ago
the remains of this fortress were extensive, but little is left now except the
great gatehouse.
The second Earl Baldwin took the part of Maud against King Stephen, who
came against him in force and deprived him of the castle. In later times, both
Isabella de Fortibus, and the first Courtenay Earl of Devon lived here, and in
the Wars of the Roses it was several times assaulted. It was afterwards chosen
as a residence for the Princess Catherine, daughter of Edward IV., and widow
of William, Earl of Devon. Her son, Henry, Marquis of Exeter, was beheaded
by Henry VIIL, and after his death the castle feU into decay and ruin, and
the parks and much land were alienated from the estate and sold.
During the Civil War, Tiverton Castle was repaired and garrisoned for King
Charles, its governor in 1645 being Sir Gilbert Talbert, but when in October of
that year, after the fall of Winchester and Basing House, the army of Fairfax in
the West detached General Massey with his cavalry and a brigade of foot under
Colonel Welden to besiege this place, it was ill fitted to stand an attack. Talbert,
however, having a force of 300 men and a few horse, did what he could to
strengthen the defences, placing round the battlements a quantity of wool-
packs, which had been stored for sale under the chapel, and including the
church within the earthworks which he threw up. On Sunday the 19th,
Fairfax, who was himself present, inspected the batteries and caused fire to be
opened previous to storming the work, when Sprigg relates : " Our ordnance
playing hard against the works and castle, the chain of the drawbridge with a
round shot was broken in two, whereupon the bridge fell down, and our men
immediately, without staying for orders, possessed themselves of the bridge,
and entered the works and possessed the churchyard, which so terrified the
enemy, that it made them quit their ordnance, and some of their posts and line,
and fled into the church and castle ; the governor shut himself up in a room
of the castle and hung out a white flag for a parley, while the besiegers had
forced their way by the windows into the church, and had made prisoners
and stripped to their shirts all they found within. Fair quarter was however
granted, and much plunder was found inside, besides provisions.
VOL. II. F

42 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
There was taken a Major Sadler, a former Parliamentary officer who had
deserted and had made overtures of service again ; to him had been committed
the defence of the bridge, and treachery on his part was believed. The
victors now condemned him to death for his former desertion, after a formal
court-martial. He managed, however, to escape, and got to Exeter ; there, how
ever, he fared worse, for the Royalists tried him and hanged him, having
detected him in treacherous correspondence with the enemy.
The capture of Tiverton opened the Western road between Taunton and
Exeter to the Roundhead army.

TORRINGTON (non-existent)
ON the Torridge, S. of Bideford in North Devon, and S. of the town, are
some scanty fragments of a Norman castle which once stood here.
Leland wrote : "Ther was a great Castelle at Taringtun on Turidge Ripe, a
litle above the S. Bridge, of 3 Arches of Stone. Ther standith only a Chapelle
yn the Castelle Garth. I hard that one Syr William of Turrington & his Sunne
after hym were Lordes of it." Early in the reign of Henry IIL, in 1228, we
learn that the Sheriff of Devon was commanded to throw down the castle here
of Henry de Tracy, and a little more than a century after, in 1340 (temp.
Edward IIL), Richard de Merton is said to have rebuilt it.
Lysons says that the place belonged to an ancient family who took their
name from it, and made this their abode. After five descents the property
fell to be divided between the coheiresses of Matthew, baron of Torrington,
one of whom married Merton.
Little remains now but the site and traces of its protecting moat. It stood
near the edge of a high and steep precipice overlooking the Torridge, upon
what is now a bowling-green called Barley Grove.

TOTNES (minor)
THE ancient fortress of Totnes, which occupies the summit of an eminence
near the town, is said to have been built by Judhael, or Joel, a Breton
fohower of Duke WiUiam and his grantee of the lands here. Leland says :
"The Castelle waul and the stronge dungeon [keep] be maintained, but the
logginges of it be cleane in ruine." The entrance is near the N. gate of the
town, which is still standing, as are also the walls of the circular Norman keep,
which this Joel raised on the lofty artificial mound of far earlier date that
commanded the main road passing here from the important port of Dartmouth
to Plymouth. The general area of the castle, which is irregular in form, con
tains several acres of land, and was wholly surrounded by a ditch. It closely

DEVONSHIRE

43

resembles in its plan and defences the Castle of Plympton, placed, like it, on
the ancient British road from Exeter into Cornwall.
Joel de Totnais, having espoused the cause of Robert Courthose, the
Conqueror's elder son, was deprived of his lands by the Red King, who
bestowed them upon Roger de Nonant ; Joel thereupon retired as a monk to
the Benedictine priory which he had founded at Barnstaple.
The Nonants continued at Totnes till the 9th year of John, while Alured,
the son of Joel, occupied a castle at Barnstaple or Barum in North Devon,
and took the side of the Empress Maud with Baldwin de Redvers against

TOTNES

Stephen, being mentioned in the Gesta Stephani, He could have left no
posterity, as we find that the descendant of his sister, who married into the
great family of Braose (see Bramber, Sussex), William de Braose, the great-
grandson of Joel de Totnais, claimed and obtained the honours of both
Barnstaple and Totnes. His possessions were, however, afterwards seized, and
conferred upon Henry, the natural son of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall. On
the accession of Henry IIL, Reginald de Braose, the third son of William,
had restitution of the estates, which passed in marriage by his sister Eva to
William de Cantelupe, whose daughter Millicent married into the family of
La Zouche ; her son William thus obtained the honour and castle of Totnes,

44 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
and, after i8 Edward I., the manor and the possessions of the Braoses.
The Nonants were succeeded in their portion of the lands by the family
of Valletort, and after the failure of this line, the Nonant estate also fell to
William la Zouche.
On the attainder of John de la Zouche in the reign of Henry VIL, Totnes
was granted (1485) to Richard Edgecombe, ancestor of the present Mount
Edgecombe family, whose grandson (2 Ehzabeth) conveyed the borough and
manor to the Corporation of Totnes, and sold his interest in the honour and
castle, with its fifty-six knights' fees, to Sir Edward Seymour, Lord of Berry ;
from that family it was conveyed in 1655 to William Bogan of Gatcombe,
with whose descendants the property remained till 1726, when it was sold to
John Taylor, whose son resold it to the Jeffery family. They, again, in 1764
parted with it to Edward, Duke of Somerset, and with this family it remains.
Although situated in an important position, there are no military events
recorded in relation to Totnes Castle. It formed the temporary quarters
of Lord Goring, in October 1645, and it was held by the king's forces in
the following January, until the approach of Sir Thomas Fairfax towards
Dartmouth.

NUN NEY

Somersetsbire

BRIDGWATER (non-existent)
BRIDGWATER is one of the many splendid fortresses in the kingdom
which, having survived from earliest times in a defensible condition
until the Civil War of the seventeenth century, were then, by order
of a commission which sat in London to attend to such matters, so
thoroughly destroyed — either as a measure of precaution or from mere vindic-
tiveness — that few traces of their very existence remain at the present day.
The lands were granted to Walter de Douai, perhaps a Netherlander who
took kindly to the flat land and the waters, and who, having founded or im
proved a settlement at the furthest inland navigable point of the river Parret,
called it " Walter's Bridge," or " Brugge- Walter," corrupted later into Bridge
water. He was followed by a son whose daughter-heiress married Paganel ;
her son Falk de Paganel conveyed the property to William de Briwere, who
originated the prosperity of the borough. He was high in favour with four
kings — Henry IL, Richard I., John, and Henry III. — and was for many years
sheriff of this and eleven other counties, obtaining from King John a free
charter for Brugge -Walter, with licence to erect a castle there. He also
45

46 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
founded here the hospital of St. John, and formed the haven, where he began
the building of the original stone bridge of three arches across the river. The
castle is said to have been built by him between 1202 and 1216, and although
in 1540 Leland, passing there, describes "the CasteUe, sumtyme a right fair &
strong Peace of Worke," as then ruinous, it was in good preservation towards
the middle of the seventeenth century, and owes its destruction to the Parlia
mentary War in 1645.
The second De Briwere dying s,p,, Bridgwater went to his eldest sister
Grjecia, the wife of the great noble, William de Braose, lord of Bergavenny,
Bramber, Brecknock, &c., whose son William was killed by Llewellyn, when
the borough of Bridgwater fell to Eve, the second daughter of De Braose,
and wife of W. de Cantelupe ; her sister Millicent succeeded, and brought
these lands to her husband Eudo, Lord Zouch, but on the attainder of John,
Lord Zouch and Seymour, the manor was given to Giles, Lord Aubeney, with
reversion to Lord Zouch, — Lord Aubeney being appointed Constable of the
castles of Bridgwater and Richmond. Henry VIII. created his son Earl of
Bridgwater in 1539, and on failure of the title it was revived by James I. in
the person of John Egerton, Baron EUesmere. George I. advanced this family
to the dignity of dukes of Bridgwater. The castle was sometimes held by
queens of England, and Charles II. conferred the manor and castle on Sir
William Whitmore, knight, but, soon after, the property was purchased by the
Harvey family.
Little can be gathered regarding the structure of this castle, the only visible
relic of it being a Norman archway, which perhaps formed the water-gate.
There are also some bonded wine-cellars below the present custom-house and
Castle Street, which formed part of a passage of communication between the
castle and the river. In the Proceedings of the Somerset Archcsological Society
for 1877, Mr. George Parker says he remembered the site of the castle in
King's Square, now partly built over, as surrounded with wooden palings,
with some of the walls still remaining. Vestiges also remained towards the
W., leading to Dr. Morgan's school, which formed part of the defences,
and at the E. side of the town, near Barclay Street, were some very
high mounds of earth, in which, on their removal, were found bones, bullets,
swords, and other weapons. At the end of 1645, when orders came for the
demolition of the castle and the works around it, a dissension arose between
the soldiers of the garrison and the country people, the latter insisting on the
removal of the outside works, which the soldiers wished to retain ; and the
quarrel ended in the shooting down of numbers of the rustics.
Sir Thomas Fairfax and Cromwell, the general and the lieutenant-general
of the "New Model" army, invested Bridgwater on July 11, 1645, the day after
the rout of Goring at Langport, and just four weeks after the king's defeat at
Naseby. As they were reconnoitring together, Cromwell was nearly killed by

SOMERSETSHIRE 47
a shot from the castle, fired by Mrs. Wyndham, the wife of the governor, an
officer to whom he was speaking being killed by his side. Several councils of
war were held to decide on the operations to be commenced. Sprigg says the
fortifications were very regular and strong, the ditch about 30 feet wide and
very deep ; the garrison was about 1000 strong, and on the ramparts and castle
were mounted 44 guns. It was desired to storm the defences on the 14th, but
delay was required in order to make bridges for crossing the ditches. Meantime,
as the place was so strong, P'airfax was perplexed as to what course to pursue ;
he could not pass it by, nor could it be masked, because of the river. Again,
regular approaches would be too tedious a process, and not easy in such low
ground; so it was resolved to storm on the 21st. This was done at two
o'clock on the morning of that day, when the Parliamentary troops, well led,
crossed the moat, and, in spite of a very heavy fire, scaled the works and broke
into a suburb of the town, called Eastover, capturing 500 Royalists, when the
garrison retreated into the inner work and castle. From thence they fired the
suburb, and next day great destruction was caused to the town. Colonel
Edmund Wyndham, the governor, peremptorily refused the summons sent
him, whereon Faii^fax offered that all the women should leave the castle,
and, as soon as they were out, the artillery, aided by guns taken at Naseby,
played on the place with such dire effect that the garrison felt obliged to
seek terms ; these were at last arranged, and the town and castle surrendered
on July 23rd. The Roundheads acquired great booty, in addition to the
stores of provisions and 3000 stand of arms, since the country gentry, relying
on the notion that the castle was impregnable, had sent in their jewels, and
gold, and plate, for safe keeping, to the value of nearly ^100,000. Resting
only a day after this fighting, Fairfax at once passed on to attack Bath,
and then to the siege of Sherbourne Castle.

BRISTOL (non-existent)
IN Saxon times Bristol was a town of no mean importance : it had battle
mented walls with five gates, one at each extremity of its main streets.
Centuries later the Normans reared, on rising ground upon a neck of land
between the river Frome and the Avon, a mighty fortress covering an area
nearly as large as the old city, at some distance to the E. of it. Leland says
that this castle was buUt by Robert, the Red Earl of Gloucester, the natural
son of Henry I., by Nesta, daughter of Rhys, Prince of S. Wales ; but it is
probable that the founder was Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, who in 1086
was in receipt of a large part (one-third) of the revenues of Bristol ; he received
large grants of land in this county from the Conqueror, and may have chosen
the site of Bristol Castle for his chief fortress, as it held the only road by which

48

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

FROM£

Bristol could then be approached from Gloucestershire, and as, besides, it com
manded the harbour of this Western port.
Nor was this the first occupation of the important site, for a Saxon castle
had been founded, as supposed, by King Edward the Elder, about 911, on the
E. of the existing town ; defended on the N. by the Frome, S. by Avon, and
having a deep ditch on the E. where an arm of the Frome flows into the greater
river ; while on the W. was another deep moat meeting the Avon on the S.
Probably there was also a wall inside the ditch, and stockades, and it seems
certain that some stone buildings stood within the enclosure.
When the conspiracy of Bishop Odo was raised in the first year of the
Red King, with the intent to dethrone him in favour of his elder brother Robert,
the leaders of it used this for
tress of Bristol as their head
quarters. They were Odo
and Robert de Mortain, the
Conqueror's half - brothers ;
Eustace, Count of Boulogne ;
Robert de Belesme ; Robert,
Earl of Shrewsbury and Arun
del ; William, Bishop of Dur
ham ; Geoffrey, Bishop of
Coutances, and Robert de
Mowbray, his nephew ; Roger
Bigod, Hugh de Grantmesnil,
and some others. Having
crushed this rebellion, Rufus
bestowed Bristol Castle and
the earldom of Gloucester
upon Robert Fitz-Hamon, one
of the few Norman knights
faithful to him, at whose death in 1107 his daughter Mabile brought both
castle and title to Robert, King Henry's natural son, to whom Henry had
married her, somewhat in despite of her dignity. This Earl Robert, however,
proved himself the most valiant captain of his time, and was the stout supporter
of his half-sister, the Empress Maud, throughout her war with Stephen. He
was also the guardian of her son Henry, whom he kept for four years at Bristol,
while his education and training were carried on. Lord Lyttleton bears testi
mony to the great benefits which the young prince derived thus from his uncle.
No doubt at this time Earl Robert added to the castle, and perhaps, as
Leland says, built " the great square stone dungeon (keep) ; the stones whereof
came out of Caen in Normandy." Itwas scarce finished when (1138) it was
besieged by Stephen, who found it too strong and had to withdraw from before it.

BRISTOL

SOMERSETSHIRE 49
When Stephen was taken prisoner at the battle of Lincoln in 1141 by Earl
Robert, he was sent to his cousin the Empress for safe keeping in Bristol Castle ;
but Gloucester himself being captured soon afterwards whilst escorting Maud to
Ludgershall, Wilts (q.v.), these two prisoners were exchanged, and the Civil
War commenced again with more fury than ever. The earl died of fever 1147,
—it is supposed at Bristol, since he w.is buried at the Priory of St. James. His
son William had Bristol, but when his daughter Hawisia was married to King
John, that monarch retained the place himself. He afterwards divorced his
wife for a similar reason to that which separated Josephine from Napoleon
— the want of issue— but Bristol remained with the Crown. Here the cruel
king kept in confinement the unhappy Princess Eleanor, the Dauwiselle of
Brittany, after his murder of her brother Prince Arthur ; she remained a close
prisoner in this castle, and at Corfe, for forty years, till her death in 1241
(25 Henry IIL), and this for no crime except her title to the crown. The boy
king Henry was brought to Bristol Castle in 12 16 to keep Christmas in it.
In 1263, Prince Edward was sent by Henry III. to secure Bristol at the
opening of the Barons' War, when his troops behaved so badly to the burghers
that they attacked him, and he had to take refuge in the castle, whence, fearing
to stand a siege, he retreated in haste and left the west country.
Edward II. came here early in his reign to speed his favourite. Piers
Gaveston, on his way to the government of Ireland ; ancl four years later,
Bartholomew, Lord Badlesmere, held the castle against the king, continuing there
for three years, but it was finally taken in 1316. In 1326 the two Despencers,
who had incurred popular dislike, fled hither with the king for safety, when
Queen Isabella and Mortimer returned from France. Sir Hugh Despencer,
who was ninety years old, was delivered up to the people of Bristol, and was
" drawen, hanged, and beheaded," and his body in full armour having been
hung up for four days, with two strong cords, was cut to pieces, " and dogges
did ete it ; and because he was Counte of Wynchester, his Ledde was sent
thither " (Leland), This was done in sight of the king and his son in the castle.
The king and the younger Despencer then attempted to escape by water, but
being forced by ill winds to land in Wales, were captured and sent to the queen
at Hereford, who caused Despencer, and also the Earl of Arundel and others,
to be executed with much barbarity, — the She- Wolf of France being present,
as is said. The king was sent to Kenilworth, and thence, after his enforced
abdication, to Corfe ; then to Bristol Castle again, where, a movement of
the townspeople being made in his favour, he was sent off secretly with his
keepers to Berkeley to his cruel end. It was in this castle that the Council sat,
in Edward's absence, and proclaimed his son Edward guardian of the realm.
In 1399, Richard II. passed from here to Ireland, whence he only returned
to find his throne usurped. In the same year, when William Scrope, Earl of
Wilts, Sir John Bushy, Sir John Green, and Sir John Bagot were attainted,
VOL. II. G

50 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
they fled from London to this castle, being followed by the Duke of Lancaster,
who stormed the fortress, and took it in four days, when the three fii^st named
were seized and beheaded, Bagot escaping to Ireland.
Edward IV. came here in one of his progresses, and seems to have been
present in the castle when Sir John Fulford and his companions were beheaded
there. Next, in the 26th of Henry VIII. (1534), we get from Leland an insight
into the castle and its condition. He says : " In the castell be two courtes ; in the
utter courte, as in the N.W. part of it, is a great dungeon tower, a praty churche,
a stone bridge, and 3 buUewarks. There be many towres yet standyng in both,
the courtes, but alle tendeth to ruine." In Elizabeth's reign it was inhabited
by beggars and thieves.
Again a lapse of a century, and in 1631 we hear of the sale by King Charles
of the castle and all its lands to the municipality of Bristol, for the sum of
;^959 ; and this Corporation, at the commencement of the Civil War, thought
it right that the walls and fortifications of the castle and town should be
repaired, which was done in 1642, for, old as they were, the walls of the keep
were strong. In addition, also, they built three regular forts to protect the
town. Bristol was at first occupied by both sides in turns, but ultimately
became the principal royal fortress in the West, and its loss, under Prince
Rupert in 1645, was one of the final blows which the cause of the king received.
Invited by the citizens, Rupert in 1643 came to Bristol with 20,000 troops,
and at once attacked it, receiving the capitulation of its defenders after a
siege of three days, when King Charles and his two sons visited the town.
Sprigg says that Bristol was at the time of its final siege the only con
siderable port which the king had in the whole kingdom for shipping and
trade, and it was also his magazine for all sorts of ammunition ; so in August
1645 it was determined to attempt its capture, and orders were given to the
Parliamentary army, under Sir Thomas Fairfax and Cromwell, to march
against it. The town was accordingly invested about the 22nd of August.
As the siege and capture of Bristol concerned only the outlying forts and
the defences of the city itself and did not apparently affect the castle, it will
not be necessary to recount here the occurrences of the storming, which took
place on the early morning of September loth, when the defences were forced,
and the chief fort of Priorshill was taken, its garrison being all put to the
sword : Prince Rupert then made terms and surrendered, marching out on
the nth. Nothing seems to have taken place at the castle, which was victualled
for six months.
Ten years after, the castle was slighted and demolished by order of
Cromwell, and in 1656 a new road was opened through the site on which
it had stood.
In Barrett's " History of Bristol " a drawing is given, copied from an
ancient MS. of 1440, by the monk Rowlie, which shows a circular enclosure

SOMERSETSHIRE 51
of embattled walling with the keep of Earl Robert in its centre, and a
watch-tower on both the E. and W. sides of it. Its shape is a hollow
square, with a cross in the middle. The elevations of the fronts of the
keep shows embattled walls with turrets, having enriched Norman ornamen
tation. A chapel seems to have also existed in it.

CASTLE CARY (non-existent)
THE old stronghold of Castle Carey, belonging to the Percevals, stood on
the brow of the hills above the sources of the Carey streamlet, upon an
eminence called Lodgehill, in a fertile country, and in the midst of most
picturesque scenery. The town was anciently called Carith and Karl. The
existing remains of it would scarcely be worthy of notice, but for some historical
associations connected with them. Two large mounds — grass-covered, lying in
a field immediately above the lake, on its E. side, defended on the S. side by a
deep ditch, and N.W. by a wall built against the hill-side — are all that is to be
seen of that ancient fortress, which for nearly 300 years was the seat of the
Perceval Lovells, and which in early history resisted the attacks of even royal
armies. In Barlow's Peerage, published 1773, it is stated, in a notice of Perceval,
that the Norman Castle of Cary consisted of a mound with a great tower thereon,
situated in an angle of a very extensive court, which was defended at other
points by several lesser towers around the enceinte, and having a great gate
house ; and CoUinson says that upon this site implements of war and iron bolts
have been dug up. Above the castle is a range of strong earthworks, supposed
to have been thrown up by Henry de Tracy in 1153, but which are more
likely to represent an original fortification of British tribes, as indeed is
indicated by the prefix Caer.
The Conqueror took this place away from the Abbot of Glastonbury, and
gave it first to Walter de Douai, with Brugge-Walter (now Bridgwater) and
other lands. Soon after Domesday, however, it is found in the possession of
Robert Perceval de Breherval or Bretevil, lord of Ivri and other places in
Normandy, and in this family the lands continued till 25 Edward III. (1351),
when they passed by an heiress to the St. Maur family, and afterwards by another
heiress to Lord Zouche of Hemingworth ; but on the attainder of this noble
by Henry VII. for his support of King Richard, Cary Castle and manor were
granted to Lord Willoughby de Broke. They were then purchased by Edward,
ist Duke of Somerset, and in 1675 passed in marriage to Thomas, Lord Bruce,
eldest son of the Earl of Aylesbury. In 1684 the estates were divided and sold
to two persons, the manorial rights going to Henry Hoare, whose descendants
still possess this part of the property.
The first Lord Cary, Robert Perceval, retired to Normandy after the battle

t)

52 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
of Hastings, and became a monk in the abbey of Bee, leaving his castle to his
eldest son Ascelin, who, being a warrior of unusual fierceness and rapacity,
acquired the name of Lupus, He married Isabel, daughter of the Earl of
Bretteville, after storming her father's abode, and was succeeded at Cary by his
second son, William Gouel de Perceval, who, according to the monks, was
called Lupellus, or "The Little Wolf," — a word softened later into Lupell, and
then Lovell, which thenceforth became the name of two great families in the
peerage. This William Perceval, the first Lovell, is supposed to have built the castle,
and it is certain that a Norman castle did exist in these times, for we are told
by chroniclers of two sieges which it endured; one in 1138, and another in
1 153. Henry of Huntingdon, an historian of the twelfth century, says that
" in the third year of Stephen the rebellion of the English nobles burst out
with great fury : Talbot, at their head, held Hereford Castle in Wales against the
king, which place Stephen besieged and took. Robert, Earl of Gloucester, — the
natural son of Henry I., — with other lords, entrenched himself in the strongly
fortified castle of Bristol (q.v,), and again in that of Leeds in Kent ; William
LoveU held Castle Cary; Payne held Ludlow; WiUiam de Mohun, Dunster
Castle ; Robert de Nichole, Wareham Castle ; Eustace Fitzjohn held Melton,
and William Fitzalan Shrewsbury Castle, which the king stormed."
The Gesta Stephani chronicle says the king lost no time in besieging Carith,
and pressed on the siege with vigour, throwing by his machines showers of
missiles and fire, without intermission, among the garrison, and reducing them
to starvation, so that he at last forced them to surrender on terms of submission
and alliance. Thereon he garrisoned and held it until 1153, when the Percevals
recovered it by the aid of the Earl of Gloucester, son of the great Robert. At
this time Henry de Tracy was keeping Castle Cary for Stephen, and had
fortified it anew, but Earl William marched suddenly upon him with a large
force, and demolished the works he had raised, compelling him to retreat.
A brother of William, this Lord of Cary, was John, fourth son of Ascelin,
who had Harptree, or Richmond, Castle, which Stephen took from him by
stratagem. There is no mention of Castle Cary after the twelfth century, and it is
possible that before it passed to the Lords St. Maur, in 1351, it had faUen into
decay. Some successor erected a grand manor-house near the site of the old
fortress, and CoUinson speaks of the " fine arches and other remains " of this
second edifice as being visible in his time. Within comparatively recent times
there was a large arched gateway, with stabling on one side, and a large
groined room, which in the time of the war with France was used as a dep6t
for military stores.
It was in this house that Charles II. is said to have slept after his escape
from Worcester. He came from Colonel Lane's, at Bentley, safely to Colonel

SOMERSETSHIRE 53
Norton's at Leigh Court, near Bristol, disguised as Mrs. Jane Lane's serving-man,
with that lady riding on a pillion behind him. Then from Leigh he came to
Castle Cary on September 16, 1651, and stayed there the night, passing on next
day to Trent, the house of Colonel Francis Wyndham. In the Boscobel Tracts,
Castle Cary is spoken of as the house of Mr. Edward Kirton, but no persons
there are mentioned ; therefore it is likely that Kirton was the steward of
William Seymour, Marquess of Hertford, and afterwards Duke of Somerset,
who was then proprietor of the Cary manor-house, which he had purchased,
and in which his steward received the king.
During their long hold of this property, the Perceval or Lovell family threw
off several distinguished offshoots. The fourth son of William, Lord Lovell,
was ancestor of the Lords Lovell of Titchmarsh, Northants ; one of whom, in
29 Edward I., was among the barons who supported this king in his pretensions
to the sovereignty of Scotland against Pope Boniface VIIL, in a letter which
defied the Papal jurisdiction in this matter. Another was Lord High Chamberlain
to Richard 111. ; a personage of such great importance that the poet CoUing-
bourne inveighed against him, with Catesby, Sir Thomas Ratcliffe and the king,
in his verses beginning — " The cat, the rat, and Lovell our dog,
Doe rule all England under the hog : "
The last word meaning the device of Richard ; and for it and the rest the poor
poet lost his head. It was this Francis, Lord Lovell, about whose uncertain fate
there is so curious a story. He was one of Richard's commanders at Bosworth,
having been created viscount by him, and, escaping to Flanders to the court of
Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, joined the conspiracy of Lambert Simnel against
Henry VIL, and with Martin Swartz invaded England in June 1487, with the Earl
of Lincoln ; after their defeat at the battle of Stoke, Lovell was supposed to have
been drowned in crossing the Trent, and was never heard of more. Another
story, which is well authenticated, was to the effect that he lived long after in a
cave or vault ; a propos of which report it is a fact that in 1708, on the occasion
of adding a chimney to the house of Minster Lovell near Burford, there was dis
covered a large room or vault underground, in which was the entire skeleton of a
man, sitting in a chair at a table, with a mass-book, paper, pen, &c., before him,
while near him lay a cup, "all much mouldered and decayed." This was judged
by the family to be the remains of Francis, Viscount Lovell, who might have
been shut up thus by friends, and by misadventure neglected and starved to
death. The clothing of the body had been rich, but on the admission of air
all soon fell to dust (see Grey's Court, Oxon),
The fifth son of the same Lord William of Cary was Sir Richard de
Perceval, ancestor of the present Lord Egmont, who is Lord Lovell and
Holland in England, as well as Earl of Egmont in Ireland. Another de-

54 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
scendant of this fifth son was Richard, born 1550, whose family retained the
Perceval name ; having resided long in Spain, he was sought by Lord Burleigh,
from his knowledge of the language, to decipher some letters supposed to refer
to the Armada, which an English ship had taken out of a Spanish one in 1586.
Perceval was able to read them, and thus to make known the designs of Spain
against his country in time for preparations against the arrival of that dreaded
armament.

DUNSTER (chief)
THE ancient stronghold of Dunster stands on the western edge of a deep
valley, upon a tor, or hill, 200 feet in elevation, whence the valley passes in
a short distance to the sea near Minehead, on the N. coast of the county. The
old town of Dunster nestles at the foot of the castle hill — a quaint and interesting
collection of old-fashioned and half-timbered houses. The old west-country
name for the hill, of Tor, originally attached to the castle which in Saxon times
stood on the summit of this natural mound or burh, probably a timber and
stockaded fortress with a ditch, that in the time of the Confessor belonged to
one Aluric. Soon after the Conquest, it passed into the hands of William de
Mohun, and his family (whose name in modern days has been corrupted into
Moon) held Dunster for nearly three and a half centuries.
This William was a landowner from the Cotentin in Normandy, who had
followed Duke William and his fortunes, and having fought for him well at
Senlac, was rewarded with some sixty-eight manors in the west of England,
which were formed into an honour or barony, of which Dunster was the
caput. On the site of the fortress of Aluric — which doubtless was a strong
one for protection against the sea-rovers, and also from the Welsh of the west —
De Mohun built a stone Norman castle, which early in the next century was
considered one of the most important in the west country, and was held by
the second baron, also William by name, for the Empress Maud against King
Stephen, who feared to attack it ; the character of this lord may be judged
from the name which he acquired, in those terrible and lawless days, of " The
Scourge of the West." In the time of King John, the owner, Reginald de
Mohun, was a minor, and was kept in ward by the king, who appointed
his trusty henchman, Hubert de Burgh, custodian of Dunster. This baron
dying in 1213, the castle again fell to the Crown in ward till the heir, another
Reginald, came of age. It is probably this baron or his son, who between 1246
and 1278 may have built the existing walls and towers of the lower court, —
the keep having been erected long before.
John de Mohun, 8th baron, died 1376, leaving daughters only, when his
widow. Lady Joan, sold the estate and castle to Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh
Courtenay, Earl of Devon, the widow of a second husband. Sir Andrew

SOMERSETSHIRE 55
Luttrell of Chilton. She was a dame of high birth and great wealth, and her
son, Hugh Luttrell, eventually succeeded to the honour and castle of Dunster;
but Lady Joan de Mohun retained possession for her life, and outlived Lady
Elizabeth Luttrell, and when Sir Hugh succeeded, vexatious legal proceedings
were instituted against him, by the daughters of the last De Mohun. He was
poor, and had to borrow ;^5o from the Abbot of Cleeve to defend the suit,
which terminated at last in 1404 in his favour (Barrett), Sir Hugh made many
additions to the castle, and strengthened the gatehouse with two buttresses,
which are still to be seen. He died in 1428, and his son John in 1430, where
upon his young son James, an infant, succeeded, who became a Lancastrian, ancl
was killed on that side, at the second battle of St. Albans, in 1461, leaving two
sons, minors. Edward IV. confiscated the Luttrell estates (1463), granting
them to the Earl of Pembroke, and it was only after Bosworth that the
family regained their possessions, and Hugh Luttrell the heir came to Dunster.
Three generations of knighted Luttrells then continued here, the latter one.
Sir John, serving in the war in Scotland and in France. He was knighted at
Leith, after Flodden, and died in 1551, leaving three daughters, when the
estate went to his brother's issue. Other three Luttrells succeeded him, of
whom the last, Thomas, was owner during the Civil War, and seems to have
begun as a Parliamentarian, like many of his neighbours, but to have faced
both ways, since he was found even paying for the support of royalist troops
when Colonel Wyndham managed to obtain possession of Dunster Castle for
the king. It seerns that in September 1642, when the Marquess of Hert
ford with a force of 400 men came to Minehead, Thomas Luttrell was ordered
by the Roundhead general to defend Dunster, and being summoned by the
Royalists, " Mistress Luttrell commanded the men within to give fire . . . which
accordingly they did," from behind the castle rampart ; whereon the king's
troopers retreated, much to the vexation of Hertford, who charged them
with cowardice. After this the castle was held for the Parliament till after
the fall of Bridgwater, in 1643, when the king's star was so much in the
ascendant, that Luttrell surrendered his castle to the royal troops, and it was
garrisoned for the king under Colonel Francis Wyndham.
In 1645, after the reverses of Charles and the fall of Bridgwater and
Bristol, Dunster remained the only fortress in the county held by king's
troops, and Colonel Blake (afterwards the great admiral and vanquisher of Van
Tromp), with Colonel Sydenham, was sent from Taunton to reduce it. They
opened the siege early in November, and so completely blockaded the place
that relief was impossible, and a speedy surrender was looked for ; but the
besieged, though straitened both as to water and provisions, gallantly held
on, and returned a curt refusal to Blake's repeated summons. Meantime the
approaches and batteries were pushed nearer, and mines were worked, which,
however, the governor countermined, so that when on January 3, 1646, Blake

56 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
sprang three mines, no great amount of damage was done, and the breach
that was made was so inaccessible, that the intended storming could not be
carried out. Incessant attempts were made for Wyndham's relief, and at last
a force of 1500 horse and 300 foot managed to reach Dunster, and on
February 5th threw in a welcome aid of four barrels of powder, thirty cows
and fifty sheep ; having done this, they spoilt the mines and destroyed
the works of the enemy, and retreated to Devon. Then Exeter and other
strong places in the West were lost to the king, and fresh troops were sent by
Fairfax to the siege of Dunster ; and at last, in April, on a fresh summons being
made by Blake and Skippon, Colonel Wyndham, learning the king's losses and
deprived of all hope of relief, demanded a parley, the result of which was that,
after sustaining a close siege for a hundred and fifty days, with the loss of
twenty men, he surrendered the castle on April 22nd, when six guns and
two hundred stand of arms were all that fell to the captors. With this the
fighting in Somerset ended. The war was then practically over, and the king's
power destroyed.
Luttrell then felt the effects of his undecided policy. The Council sent
down some one to supersede him, and gave orders for the castle to be pulled
to pieces, which fortunately was not done as intended, nor was the building
"slighted"; so the Luttrell family happily continue in the enjoyment of their
old stronghold.
Nothing remains of the Norman keep which crowned the tor or mound,
and its very shape is unknown. The mound is oval in shape and of natural
formation, but has been scarped all round to render it less accessible. Below
the tor on the N. side is a level platform of about half an acre, forming the
lower ward, which conforms to the curve of the hill, and is continued on the
N. by a curtain wall with flanking towers, below which the hill, somewhat
scarped, falls thence to the valley. The ancient gateway from the lower ward
is no longer used ; it contains the old timber and iron gates of Henry VI II.'s
time, or older, and stands at an angle with the old gatehouse to which the road
from the town leads up. This fine building is still perfect, 45 feet in height,
with two lofty octagonal towers, heavily battlemented, but without either port
cullis or drawbridge. It is in three floors ; the first with two good rooms and
two closets ; the second, which was formerly on the same plan, has been
of late years converted into a fine hall, with an open roof : in it there are five
Tudor windows and a fireplace. Upon exterior panels are carved various arms
of the Luttrell family and their connections.
There seems to be no masonry here of earlier date than Henry IIL, who
spoke of Dunster as " my castle." The curtain wall and low towers may be
of that reign, while the gatehouse is Edwardian. The grand structure of
the inhabited portion was rebuilt in the time of Elizabeth, on the old
foundations.

SOMERSETSHIRE 57

E N M O R E (non-c.xislcnt)
THE site of the ancient castle of Enmore is four miles W. from Bridgwater.
Before the Conquest the lands belonged to a Norman family named
Courcelle, but soon afterwards we find them in the hands of the family of
William Malet, the famous warrior of Duke William's army. His son Robert
appears to have been the grantee, and after him the next brother Gilbert held
the lands, and left them to his son and heir, WiUiam Malet. Of the same family
were William and Robert Malet, who took part with the Duke of Normandy
against Henry I., and were banished from England ; and Baldwin, the eldest
son of the former of these, on reconciliation with the king, settled at Enmore,
which became the chief seat of the family. This Baldwin was a knight, and is
designated " de Enmore." His son Sir WiUiam Malet followed, and then his son,
likewise a knight ; and so the succession went on in this family, generally from
father to son, in curious and uneventful regularity, through all the changes of
the country for more than 500 years, until John Malet in the seventeenth century
dying, left an only daughter and heir, Elizabeth, married to John Wilmot, the
Earl of Rochester, who thus acquired Enmore. Rochester, in 1684, left three
daughters, coheiresses, the eldest of whom, Anne, was wife to Henry Bayntun
of Spye Park, Wilts, and brought him this manor ; from them it descended
to Sir Edward Bayntun Rolt, Bart., who at the close of the last century sold
Enmore to James Sm5^h, and from him it was conveyed to the Earl of
Egmont. His son. Earl John, in 1833 sold the property to Mr. Nicholas
Broadmead, whose son, Mr. Thomas P. Broadmead, is the present owner.
Nothing seems to be known about the earlier manor-house, which was
undoubtedly protected by the existing ditch, and sufficiently fortified. It was
pulled down on the purchase of the estate from Lord Egmont, and the present
structure was reared in its place. It stands on gently rising ground in a very
fine park.
FARLEIGH, or FARLEIGH HUNGERFORD (minor)
FARLEIGH, being partly in Somerset, is sometimes claimed by that county ;
it lies about eight miles S.E. of Bath, and five W\ of Trowbridge.
The castle stands on a rocky terrace, below which flows the Frome River,
giving protection on the N.E., N., and N.W. sides, but there are commanding
heights upon the S. side. Of the original Norman stronghold nothing can
be said to remain ; what now exists there is the work of the Hungerfords,
some part being of the fourteenth century, but most of it belonging to the
early fifteenth (Parker).
The lordship was given by the Conqueror to Roger de Courcelle, and on its
VOL. II. H

58 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
reversion to the Crown, the Red King bestowed it on Hugh de Montfort,
then lord of Nunney, a son of Thurstan de Bastenburgh, another Norman
of distinction, — killed in a duel, — who left a son having as his only issue a
daughter, wife to Gilbert de Gant, whose son Hugh assumed the name of
Montfort. This Hugh married Adehne, daughter of Robert, Earl of M client,
and from his eldest son Robert was descended Sir Henry de Montfort, who,
towards the close of the reign of Henry IIL, had his seat at Farleigh ; whence
this castle was also called Farleigh Montfort. After him followed later Sir
Reginald de Montfort, who in 1337 alienated his property to Henry Burghersh,
Bishop of Lincoln. He left it to his brother Bartholomew, Lord Burghersh,
a baron of much power in the reigns of Edward II. and IIL, who did good
service in the French and Scottish wars, and fought at Cre9y. His grand
daughter, an heiress, married Edward, Lord Despencer, and dying s.p.,
Farleigh was sold in 1369 to Sir Thomas Hungerford, knight, then of Hey-
tesbury, who, with money acquired in the French wars (Leland says by the
ransom of the Duke of Orleans), fortified the old manor-house with the four
mighty towers and waUs, and with two embattled gateways, in 7 Richard II. ;
but having done this without a licence, he had to pay a small fine and
received the king's pardon. He died 1398, leaving Farleigh ,in dower
for his wife Joan, who was succeeded by her son. Sir Walter Hungerford,
in 1412. The services of this knight must have been important in the French War,
since he enjoyed a grant of a hundred marks a year (or about ;£i335 of our
currency), secured on the town and castle of Marlborough, and the wool rates
of Wells, in compensation for his outlays in that war. Henry VI. summoned
him to Parliament as Lord Hungerford some years before his death, in 1449.
On the death of his son Robert, ten years later, the widow founded the Hunger
ford chapel and chantry at Farleigh. Robert, the third lord, was a zealous
Lancastrian, who married, in his father's lifetime, Alianore, daughter and heir
of Lord William Molyns, and was in consequence occasionally called Lord
Molyns. After the terrible defeat of Towton, on March 29, 1461, which
established Edward IV. on the throne, King Henry, his queen and his son, fled
northward in company with a few noblemen, of v/hom Lord Hungerford was
one, and came to Scotland, where safety was purchased by the cession, to
the King of Scots, of Berwick, a fortress captured fifty-six years before by
Henry IV. Hungerford was attainted by the Act of Parliament i Edward IV.,
and when, two years later. Queen Margaret renewed the war, and got
possession of some of the northern castles, he was the chief of those who
defended Alnwick Castle with 500 or 600 French soldiers. Soon afterwards
he was taken prisoner after the battle of He.xham, conveyed to Newcastle,
and there beheaded, being afterwards buried in the N. aisle of Salisbury
Cathedral. His eldest son, Thomas, joined Warwick upon his defection

SOMERSETSHIRE 59
from Edward IV., and being taken and tried for high treason at Salisbury
(8 Edward I\'.), was condemned and beheaded. Edward IV. then gave Far
leigh to his brother Richard, and George, Duke of Clarence, lived here.
In the first year, however, of Henry VII. his attainder, and that of his father,
were reversed by Parliament, and his heir had restitution of his lands and
honours (Brooke).
This Lord Hungerford married Anne, daughter of Henry Percy, Earl of
Northumberland, and left only a daughter, when, as the estates were entailed
on heirs male, they descended to Walter, second son of the third lord. Sir
Walter had naturally taken the side of Richmond, joining him on his march to
Tamworth, and fighting at Bosworth with him. He was a Privy Councillor
afterwards with Henry VIII. Flis grandson, Sir Walter, created Lord Hunger
ford of Heytesbury, was concerned in the troubles of 1540, at the time when
Cromwell, Earl of Essex, was beheaded, ancl he also lost his life on Tower
Green, at the same time and place, when his estates were confiscated. His son
Sir Walter, however, recovered them, and eventually the property passed to
the son of this man's daughter, Lucy, who had married a relative. Sir Anthony
Hungerford of Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, — namely, to Sir Edward Hunger
ford of Corsham, K.C.B., who died in 1648, leaving everything to his half-
brother Anthony, whose son. Sir Edward, succeeding, was knighted at the
coronation of Charles II. He, in those spendthrift days, so involved his estates
that they had to be sold by his trustees to Henry Baynton of Spye Park,
Devizes, who with his wife. Lady Anne Wilmot, sister of the Earl of Rochester,
resided at Farleigh ; and they appear to have been the last occupants of the old
fabric. The lands were afterwards resold, in 1702, to Joseph Houlton, the
squire of a neighbouring property, and his descendant. Sir E. Victor Houlton,
G.C.M.G., owned the property for many years. The castle, however, did not
come to the Houltons till 1730, when it had fallen greatly to decay, and when
a great part of its materials had been removed for other uses. It was advertised
for sale in 1891, and was sold to the first Baron Donington, whose wife, Edith
Maud, Countess Loudoun in her own right as daughter of the second Margaret
of Hastings, was descended from Sir Thomas Hungerford (executed at
Salisbury in 1469) by his only daughter Mary, married to Lord Hastings. Lord
Donington, who died in 1895, settled the Farleigh Hungerford estate on the
chUdren of his third son, Gilbert, who are to bear the name of Hungerford-
Hastings. At Farleigh Castle was born the unfortunate lady, Mary Plantagenet,
Countess of Salisbury, the daughter of George, " false, fleeting Clarence." After
the murder of her brother, Edward, Earl of Warwick, by Henry VIL, she
petitioned and obtained from Parliament the restitution of his estates. She
married Sir Richard Pole, a Welsh knight, cousin to Henry VIL, and was made
Countess of Salisbury by Henry VIIL, having a fair claim to the title by her

6o

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

birth. One of her two sons was Reginald, Cardinal Pole, who excited the
king's enmity by his opposition at the Papal court, and Henry accusing both
his brother Henry and his mother of being implicated in a conspiracy against
him, lodged them both in the Tower on a charge of high treason in 1538. First,
the king caused her son, who was Henry, Lord Montague, to be beheaded, and
after a rigorous imprisonment of two years, he brought the countess, who was
nearly seventy years old, to the scaffold. Here a dreadful scene ensued, as
the old countess refused to lie
down at the block, and the
executioner had to seize her
grey hair and chop her head
off the best way he could.
There is a story connected
with Farleigh, also at the time
of Henry VIIL, which relates
to Sir WaUer or " Lord " Hun
gerford of Heytesbury. This
man had three wives : how he
dealt with the first two is not
known, but a doleful tale exists
about the third, Joan, daughter
of Lord Hussey of Sleaford. In
a " Humble Petition " addressed
by her to one of the Secretaries
of State, she complains that her
lord had kept her locked up in
one of the towers "for three
or fower years, without comfort
of any creature, & under the
custodie of my lord's Chaplain,
Sir John a Lee, who hath once
or twice poyson'd me, as he
will not deny upon examina
tion. He hath promised my lord that he will soon rid him of me ; & I
am sure he intendeth to keep his promise, for I have none other meat nor
drink, but such as cometh from the said priest, & brought me by my lord's
foole ; which meat & drink I have often feared, & yet do so every day more
than another, to taste ; so that I have been well-nigh starved, & sometimes
of a truth I should die for lack of sustinence, & had, long ere this time, had
not poor women of the country of their charity, knowing my Lord's demayne
always to his wives, brought me to my great window in the night such meat
Si drink as they had ; & gave me for the love of God ; for money have I

FARLEIGH

SOMERSETSHIRE

6i

none, wherewith to pay them, nor yet h.ave had of my Lord, these 4 years,
four groats." This lord, who seems to have been crazy, was the man who was
charged with other high crimes in connection with the Lincolnshire rebellion
of 1536, and beheaded in 1540. His wife, whose father. Lord Hussey, had

Wi/.bf

FARLEIGH

previously shared the same fate for the same offence, then married, as her
second husband. Sir Robert Throckmorton ; she died in 1571.
Farleigh held a garrison for Charles I. under Colonel Hungerford, brother of
the owner. Sir Edward Hungerford, who actually was at the time commander
of the Parliament forces in Wiltshire ; but after the fall of Bristol and other

62 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
fortresses in the West it surrendered, on the 15th September 1645, and thereby
escaped demolition.
In the most perfect state of this stronghold, it consisted of two wards, sur
rounded by a high crenellated wall, outside of which, where not defended by
the river and ditch, there was a moat. It had two entrances, the principal one
being on the E., in the embattled gatehouse, the shell of which remains, having
a drawbridge over the moat. There are some fragments of the other entrance,
on the W. side. A spring of water in the adjacent hill supplied the moat, by
means of pipes which were discovered in late years. This gate led into the
outer ward, round which were placed the stables and offices, from whence
another gateway opened to the N. or inner court, measuring 189 feet by 144.
The wall of this court was flanked by four large circular towers, 60 feet high,
containing three storeys ; of these only the towers at the S.E. and S.W.
corners remain. The N.W. and N.E. towers, with the intermediate buildings,
are quite destroyed, except a small piece of parapet overlooking a deep
dell, called Danes' Ditch. In the inner court were the great Hall and the
State apartments, which are said to have once been magnificent in their ap
pointments, "above any other baronial residence in England"; these were
entire in 1701, but have now quite disappeared. They were decorated with
tapestry, sculpture, and paintings, and the hall was hung with suits of armour,
worn by possessors of Farleigh, and with spoils from the fields of Cre9y,
Poictiers, Agincourt, and Calais ; but all has vanished except the lines of
foundations. The chapel, on the right hand at entering, is the most entire of
the buildings, and adjoining it, on the N., is the chantry or oratory dedicated
to St. Anne, before mentioned. There are some interesting tombs of the
Hungerfords, and below the chantry is a collection of bodies in lead cases,
moulded to the shape of the figures and faces. E. of this building is a house
built for the two chantry priests, and now converted into a dairy farm-house.
The later owners have endeavoured to preserve the remains of these buildings,
and have decorated the interior of the chapel with a fine collection of ancient
armour. The park, which was 2f miles in circuit, lay on the N. and W. sides.
The chief front of the castle in the inner ward, shown in Buck, faced the
E., a grand flight of stairs leading up to its doorway.

MO N T A C U T E (non-existent)
THE village of this name, in the hills four miles to the W. of Yeovil, stands
at the foot of a steep conical hill, somewhat detached from the ridge,
which, as Mons acutus, is given by some as the derivation of the name.
In the time of Canute, that king's standard-bearer, Tofig, a Dane, owned
the lands here, then called Lutegarsbury, and to the summit of this hill is

SOMERSETSHIRE 63
attached the legend of the Holy Rood of Waltham, which is briefly as follows :
The blacksmith of ]\L)ntacute dreamed on three occasions of a vision enjoining
him to obtain the aid of the priest and to dig on this hill-top ; at last he obeyed,
and under a stone were found two crucifixes, an ancient book, and a bell. Tofig
being informed of the treasure thus miraculously troven, brought a waggon
and oxen to cart it away to some minster. Glastonbury and Canterbury and
others were naraed, but the oxen refused to move. Tofig went through a list of
holy places in vain, and at last named Waltham in Essex, a place also belonging
to himself, whereon the cart at once started off ancl came to Waltham in time.
Here he built a small church wherein to house the Holy Rood ancl attract
pilgrims. In the course of years Tofig's lands became the property of Earl
Harold, afterwards the king, who built at Waltham a grand church for an abbey
of canons and a dean, and thus originated the Holy Rood or Cross of Waltham
which gave a war-cry to the English at Senlac.
After the Conquest, Tofig's lands were held by Drogo or Dru de Montacute,
— deriving his name from a township of that name in Normandy, — a follower
of Duke William, in the retinue of Robert de Mortain, or Morton, Earl of
Cornwall, under whom he held the manor, and who is said to have reared a
castle on the summit of the same hill soon after the Conquest. This castle was
attacked in 1069 by the men of Somerset and Dorset, in a last struggle for
freedom against their new and savage masters, but they were routed by the
warlike Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, when horrible sufferings were inflicted
upon the vanquished tribesmen. In 1091 William the son of Robert de Mortain
founded here a priory of Cluniac monks, and endowed it with this manor
and its castle. In the reign of Henry I., the castle being decayed, a chapel
was built on its site which existed in the time of Leland, but of which
no vestiges whatever remain at present. Round the hill are some traces of
earthworks which may be survivals of the old Norman castle, and a modern
look-out tower now occupies the hill-top.
Drogo's descendants held the rest of the lands here for many generations,
and in the persons of the earls of Salisbury became the greatest nobles in
England. Simon de Montacute was both a great soldier and an admiral
(temp. Edward I.), and his son was summoned to Parliament as baron in
2 Edward 1 1. The next, William, Lord Montacute, after performing great
services for Edward III., was in 1336 made Earl of Salisbury, and was Earl
Marshal ; and his son seems to have gone back to the old form of the name,
Montagu, which was adopted, and which followed the illustrious succession of
nobles and warriors and statesmen of the family who flourished after him.
The beautiful mansion known as Montacute House is in the possession
of a fine old Somersetshire family named Phelips, who have been settled at
Montacute since the middle of the fifteenth century.

64 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

NETHER STOWEY (non-eistent)
ON the northern slopes of the Quantock Hills, some nine miles from
Bridgwater, upon the hill still called Castle Hill, above the E. end of the
village of the above name, are the remains of an extensive fortification, which,
in view of the artificial character of the mound, must be of remote origin.
To the eastward of this site the steep hill rises another 300 feet, and within
a mile in the same direction, on the highest point of the Quantocks,
is Dowsborough Castle, an early British or ante-Roman earthwork of oval
form. The mound of Stowey, which rises out of the steep slope of the
Castle Hill, is circular and about- 100 yards in diameter at its base ; a
steep ascent leads to the edge of a circular ditch, now 10 feet in depth,
which environs the upper and quite artificially formed mound above, on
the summit of which are the foundations of a large tower, measuring about
60 feet by 50, and 7 or 8 feet in thickness, said to be those of a somewhat
modern erection, pulled down about fifty years ago. The plan of these
foundations has, however, a close resemblance to that of a Norman keep,
with its forebuilding for the staircase, and it seems probable that below the
later erection may lie the walls of the Norman castle alleged to have stood
on -the mound.
There do not appear to be any notices or records of this fortress in histoiy,
nor do we know who were its owners or builders, except that it is said to have
been the residence of James (Touchet), Baron Audley, who was one of the
leaders of the Cornish insurgents who in 1497 were defeated by the forces of
Henry VII. at the battle of Blackheath (June 24). Lord Audley being taken
prisoner, is said by Lord Bacon to have been "led from Newgate to Tower
HiU, in a paper coat painted with his own arms ; the arms reversed, the coat
torn, and he at Tower Hill beheaded."
Leland wrote : " Here is a goodly Maner place of the Lorde Audeley's,
stonding exceeding pleasauntly for good Pastures, & having by it a Parke of
redde Deare & another of falow & a faire Brooke serving al the offices of
the Maner Place. Lord Audeley that rebelled yn Henry the 7th Tyme
began great Foundations of Stone-work to the enlarging of his House, the
which can yet be seene onperfect."
Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerages shows that Sir James de Audley,
4th Lord Audley (originally Alditheley), the great warrior of Poictiers
(Froissart), and one of the original knights of the Garter, was succeeded
by his son Nicholas, who died s.p, 1392, when the barony of Audley devolved
on the grandson of his sister Joane, the wife of Sir John Touchet. His
descendant. Sir George Touchet, i8th Baron Audley, was created Earl
Castlehaven in the Peerage of Ireland, in 1616. The second earl, his son

SOMERSETSHIRE 65
Mervyn, 19th Baron Audley, being convicted of high crimes, was sentenced
to death, and executed on Tower HUI, August 14, 1631.
The site of the tower commands a wide prospect,- across the Bristol
Channel to the Welsh mountains on one hand, and away to the Mendips
and Glastonbury Tor on the other.

NUNNEY {minor)
ABOUT three miles from Frome, and the same from Witham Station, this
castle stands in the lowland under the hills, among the trees which grow
around the still perfect moat which almost washes the foot of the walls. It is
described by Parker as a good example of a tower-built house or castle, that
is, a house of tolerable refinement built in the form of a keep, in three or
four storeys, with windows on all four sides of each floor, and having four
towers or turrets, one at each angle, large enough to contain in one, bed-rooms,
in another, closets, the third being devoted to offices, and the fourth to the
staircase. In Nunney, the circular corner-turrets are so large as almost to
meet at the two ends of the house, which is long and narrow, and with walls
so thick as to curtail much the interior space. It is a strongly fortified
dwelling-house of the fourteenth century, and an interesting one ; along the
top of the walls outside are ranged the stone corbels, or brackets, which carried
the wooden gallery for defence of the walls in place of machicolations.
The first notice of the place is in 1259 (temp. Henry IIL), when its
manor is granted to Henry de Montfort, the eldest son of the Earl of
Leicester; but in 1262 the owner is Elias de Noney, ancestor of the
Delameres, and in 1315 (2 Edward II. ), when a second Domesday Register
was made of all owners of manors, " Noin " was owned by Nicholas de la
Mare, and Alexander and Delicia de Montfort ; then followed a Thomas,
whose son John Delamere is in 1372 scheduled as holding Nunney under
Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex. This is the Sir John who,
according to the Patent Rolls, obtained a licence in 1373 (47 Edward III.)
as " John de la Mare, chivaler," to creneUate his house of " Nonny." He was
a soldier of eminence, who served with Edward in the French wars, where no
doubt, like others, he amassed sufficient wealth by ransoms and loot to build
a suitable dwelling; he served as sheriff in 1377, and dying about 1389, was
succeeded by his son Philip, who had sufficient wealth to found a chantry
there. After him John Delamere held the property, which is next found in
the hands of an heiress Constantia, who had been the wife of one John Poulet,
and at her death in 1443, her son John Poulet, aged fourteen, succeeded to
the estate. He died in 1492, leaving a son and heir John, who is there in 1518.
At the dissolution of monasteries, this estate and chantry seems to have
VOL. II. I

66 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
fallen to the Crown, for in 1560 the descendant of these Poulets, having
become Lord St. John, Marquess of Winchester and Treasurer of England,
obtained from Elizabeth a grant of the house and the chantry of Nunney.
Then the estate is sold to Richard Parker, who again alienates to Richard
Prater ; and it was this man's grandson. Colonel Richard Prater, who sustained
the siege in 1645, and surrendered the castle after a fight of two days. He
hoped to save his property, but it was sequestered and ordered to be sold.
Prater died before this could be carried out, but in 1652 the estate and castle
were divided and sold to various persons, and the widow and family left
to penury. The walls of the castle are nearly perfect, and are 63 feet in height, the
oblong building measuring 61 feet by 25, but the roof and floors have gone ;
these have all been of timber, without any stone vaulting. The kitchen is on
the ground floor, wdiere are two large fireplaces ; above on the first floor was
the hall, occupying the whole stage, and the two upper storeys contained the
family rooms and State apartments. The N.W. tower held the staircase,
which seems to have been of wood, and in the S.E. turret, second floor, is a
very perfect example of a private chapel or oratory, the entrance to which
is contrived curiously through the jamb of a deeply recessed window,
perhaps in order to secure orientation ; the other window opens eastward,
and its sill, bracketed out, forms the altar ; there is a piscina also. The
windows and architecture generally are of the transition from Decorated to
Perpendicular. Leland visited Nunney twice ; for the first time in 1540, when he writes:
" A praty Castell, at the W. end of the Paroche church, having at eche end by
N. & S. 2 praty round Towres, gatheryd by Compace to joyne in to one.
The Waulls be very stronge & thykke, the Stayres narrow, the Lodginge within
some what darke. It standeth on the left ripe of the Ryver [which] dividithe
it from the Church Yarde. The Castell is servid by Water conveyed into it
owte of the Ryver. There is a stronge Waulle withe oute the Mote rownde
about, savinge at the E. Parte of the Castell, where it is defendyd by the
Brooke." In the Additional MSS. in the British Museum Library (No. 17062) is a
diary kept by a Royalist officer at this time, giving a rough sketch of the castle,
which shows the turrets with conical tops and a high roof to the main building.
The outer wall of defence is not shown in Buck's drawing — it was only 12 feet
high — nor are the gatehouse and drawbridge shown.
This, then, is the fortress which in 1645 Colonel Prater, its owner, garrisoned
for the king, and held against the Parliamentary force which Fairfax, on the
march to attack Bristol, detached under Colonel Rainsborough to besiege it,
and which consisted of the Colonel's own regiment and Colonel Hammond's
with two guns. Fairfax himself rode over to view Nunney, and found it to

SOMERSETSHIRE 67
be a very strong pl:ice (Sprigg), However, it was ill munitioned and pro
visioned, ancl after a days battering, during which a breach was made in the
castle wall. Colonel Prater surrendered ne.xt day (September 20th), when his
garrison of eighty men were made prisoners It is said that one of these, who
were chiefly Irish, deserted to the enemy ancl betrayed a weak spot in the
walls, — which is unlikely to ha\'e been known to him. The effects of the firing
are still visible on the wall, ancl were chiefly the work of a 36-pouncler gun
brought over from Shepton Mallet. The besiegers lost five men, chiefly by the
fire of one marksman who seldom failed to hit his man. One of them had the
temerity to climb a tree in the garden, where now stands the manor-house, to
steal fruit, but he was brought down at the first shot. The castle flag, a red one
with " a crucifix-cross " in the centre of it, was sent to London as a Papist
trophy. Then the old castle was burnt, to prevent further use of it to the king,
and it was ordered to be " slighted," which happily could only partially have
been carried out.

RICHMONT, OR HARPTREE (non-existenl)
ON the northern slopes of the Mendips, near the village of East Harptree,
stood a castle which was a stronghold of the Gournay branch of the
Harptree family. After the Conquest this parish was granted to Geoffrey,
Bishop of Coutances, another of the warrior churchmen of the period, and
it was held of him by Azelin Gouel de Perceval, ancestor of the Perceval
family, and, by a younger son, of the barons Harptree and Gournay.
From Sir John de Harptree, in the reign of Henry I., descended Sir Robert
(temp. Henry III)., who assumed the name of Gournay, and was ancestor of
several barons of that name, long seated at this their castle of Richmont ;
Joan, the daughter and heiress of the last of them. Sir Thomas, conveyed
the estate to her husband Walter de Cadicot, and thereafter it descended,
with the castle, by marriage to the family of Hampton, and then to that of
Newton, being held by Sir Richard Newton, who was Lord Chief-Justice
17 to 22 Henry VL His family continued to possess the property tiU the
reign of Charles 1 1., after which date it came to the Scropes of Louth in
Lincolnshire. It is likely that Azelin built a strong Norman castle here in the time of the
Conqueror, or soon after, since in the time of Stephen, that king marched to
Richmont Castle, after the siege of Bristol, pretending to lay siege to it in
the ordinary way with his military engines. The garrison organised a sally
in force to some distance, when the king, galloping up to the walls with his
horsemen, before the garrison could get back again, set fire to the castle gate
and secured the walls, and so obtained possession of the fortress.

68 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
The old structure is said to have continued in preservation till the time
of Henry VIIL, when Sir John Newton destroyed it, even to the foundations,
in order to build a new house near by, called Eastwood. It has now utterly
vanished, but the site, overhanging on the N. and E. a narrow wooded ravine, is
picturesque. It was an irregular fortress, approached from the S.W. only, and
CoUinson states that vestiges of a circular keep were visible in his time.

STOKECOURCY (pronounced Stogursey) {minor)
ON the border of the Lowlands, about two miles from the shore of Bridg
water Bay, lie the lands which were the head of the barony of Robert
and William de Courcy, Sewers to the Empress Maud and to Henry II.
William de Courcy died at the end of this king's reign, leaving a daughter and
heiress Alice, who carried
g-- , the estate, then of twenty-
four knights' fees, to War
ren Fitzgerald, Chamberlain
to King John. They had
two daughters, Margaret and
Joan, who divided the pro
perty ; Margaret married (i)
Baldwin de Redvers, s,p,, and
(2), against her will, Falk de
Brent or Brente, a Norman
of mean extraction, who,
being disaffected to Henry
III., fortified and garrisoned
against him the manor-house
of this barony ; and it be
came under him such a
grievance to the country round, that, on complaint made to the king, a
writ was sent to the sheriff to dismantle it (see Bedford), Falk, who had
been high in favour with King John, was banished 9 Henry IIL, and died
not long after. Margaret, his wife, lived till 20 Edward I., but did not
recover possession of the estate, which was granted to Hugh de Neville, and
at his death to his son-in-law, Robert de Waleron. In the time of Edward II.
it was the barony of Robert Fitzpayne, and from him, with the title of Lord
Fitzpayne, it descended to Eleanor, wife of Henry Percy, Earl of North
umberland. During her lifetime, in 33 Henry VI. , soon after the first battle
of St. Albans, the castle was surprised and burned by William, Lord Bon
ville, the brother-in-law of the King-maker, and has lain in ruins ever

STOKECOURCY

SOMERSETSHIRE

69

since, continuing in the Percy family till 1682. The castle is on the S. of
the village.
Buck's view of Stokecourcy (1733) shows a great deil of the fabric then
remaining ; there were half of the two round towers commanding the gateway,
but the drawbridge is not given. In rear is a large rectangular enclosure with
square towers at the extremities of the w.ills, remaining to about half their
original height, and from thence is a long bank sloping to the moat surrounding
the whole. The site only of the circular keep ancl a postern remain. A stream
from the Quantock
Hills supplied the !
moat, and worked i
the castle mill,
which is still in
use. In the Proceed
ings of the Somerset
A rchcFolog ical So
ciety, vol. viii., it is
said that excava
tions have been
made in and
around the re
mains, but that
very few charac
teristic portions of
the original struc
ture are left, except the ancient bridge across the moat and parts of the
main building, some walls, and the sally-postern.
It was a member of the De Courcy family who subdued the province of
Ulster, of which he was created earl.

STOKECOURCY

TAUNTON {chief)

INE, king of the West Saxons, in the beginning of the eighth century having
extended his kingdom beyond the Parret River, built a strong fortress on
his far west frontier, to protect his newly conquered lands from the Welsh of
Devon. It was an earthwork, with a timber palace, surrounded by a moat and
palisades, and some traces of it are said to be still visible ; but it was captured
and destroyed in 722 by Queen Ethelburga, and we hear of no stronghold at
Taunton from that time till the reign of Henry I., when, a town having mean-

70 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
time arisen, the lordship belonged to the diocese of Winchester, and William
Gifford, Bishop of Winchester, erected on the old site a stone Norman castle.
Great additions were made by his successors in the Decorated or Edwardian
period, of which there are still considerable remains.
The situation is on the right bank of the river Tone, upon a low elevation
of gravel that rises above what was then a waste of fen land, which added
strength to the position. The N. front, i8o yards in length, lies along the
river, while the W. face is protected by a mill-stream, falling into the Tone
here at right angles, and to obtain a water defence on the S. and E., a curved
ditch, 340 yards in extent, was cut from the smaller stream round to the
river, the whole enclosure thus forming somewhat the figure of a quadrant.
An artificial ditch separates the inner court in the N.E. corner of this area,
covering its S. and W. fronts ; and this court was again divided by a wall
into two parts, that on the W. containing the keep, which stood on the
enceinte wall. The outer court is called the " Castle Green," and in it the
dead were buried in war time, in the same way as the ground at the Tower
of London, on the N. of the White Tower, was until of late years occupied
by a graveyard.
Little *is heard about- the castle for a very long period after its building,
except that it is known from deeds dated there that the bishops of Winchester
occupied it, and from time to time enlarged and strengthened the fabric. In
1490 it had become ruinous, and Bishop Langton repaired the whole building,
and on the strength of this placed his arms upon the inner gatehouse. In 1496
the Cornish miners and others rose against the taxation incurred by a subsidy
given to King Henry by the Parliament, for prosecuting his war against the
Scottish king, who espoused the cause of Perkin Warbeck. The rioters marched
through Devon without committing any excesses, but on reaching Taunton,
we learn from Lord Bacon that "they killed in fury an officious and eager
commissioner for the subsidy, whom they called the Provost of Penrhyn," and
who had sought shelter in the castle. The next year Perkin himself landed at
Whitsand Bay, near Plymouth, under the title of Richard IV., and being re
pulsed at Exeter, came on to Taunton with between 6000 and 7000 men on
September 20, 1497, and made show of attacking the castle ; but being apprised
of the near approach of the king with a formidable army, about midnight, he
fled with sixty horsemen from Taunton to the New Forest in Hants, and took
sanctuary at Beaulieu Priory there, leaving his supporters to their fate. On
Henry's arrival at Taunton he was received with acclamations, and, the danger
being past, he wisely pardoned the rebels. Again in 1577 we hear of this
castle requiring repairs and alterations, which were then made by Bishop
Home, who built the Assize Hall.
When Sir Thomas Fairfax in May 1645 marched forth with his New Model
army, the king held the whole of Somerset with the exception of Taunton,

w
Htn <
uZ
o Hz;
¦<H

SOMERSETSHIRE

71

which had been secured in 1642 by Waller, but was retaken soon after by Lord
Hertford, who drove out the Roundheads, and held the town and castle for the
king. This was only for a time, as in July 1644, soon after Marston Moor, Colonel
Blake (who was afterwards also the great admiral) and Sir Robert Pye again
captured the place, when they found in the castle one demi-culverin, and ten
other small pieces, two tons of match, eight barrels of powder, and also arms and

¦IkTarsk

es

^'^^

TAUNTON

ammunition, furniture, and plenty of provisions. Early the following spring,
Lord Goring was sent with 10,000 troops to attack the town, when he summoned
the castle, but was disdainfully refused by Blake. Meanwhile the army of
Fairfax had advanced to within ten miles of Taunton, and the Royalists, being
repulsed by Blake in a final assault of the trenches, after setting fire to two
whole streets of the town, drew off, and on May nth the Parliamentary force

72 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
relieved their besieged comrades. The Royalists soon returned to the attack
under Goring, and carried on a fresh investment of Taunton till July 3rd,
when the advance of a strong Parliamentary force again obliged the raising
of the siege.
In 1685 (June i8th) Monmouth entered Taunton and suffered himself to be
proclaimed king here, but the castle of Taunton was not then concerned.
After the collapse of this rebellion, the infamous Judge Jeffreys held his Bloody
Assize in the great hall of the castle, causing it, according to his custom, to be
draped in red hangings for the occasion ; and here he sat, usually drunk, and
subject to wild outbursts of passion, showing neither justice, pity, nor mercy.
At this time the ancient castle must have become a heap of ruins, since at
the Restoration, Charles 1 1., taking a leaf from Cromwell's book, had caused
the walls and defensive works of the fortress to be demolished, in return for
the republican zeal of the town, whose charter also he annulled.
The entire enclosure, surrounded by river, stream, and moat, contains about
seven acres, the inner bailey or citadel occupying its N.E. corner. Nothing
remains of the outer walls of the lower bailey except a considerable part of the
E. gatehouse, defending the entrance on that side to a road which passed
through to the W. side, where the gatehouse has disappeared ; there were
drawbridges at each of these entrances over the moat and stream, and on the
other side of these were wooden barbicans, some timbers of which have been
dug up. None of the buildings exist now of the lower ward, — Bishop Fox's
school being, of course, early sixteenth-century work. A good deal of the
Norman building of the inner ward remains ; on the W. side is a portion of
the rectangular keep, forming part of the wall along the inner moat, and
measuring about 50 feet by 40, with walls 13 feet thick. The stone vaulting
of its basement remains, and there was a staircase in the N.E. corner, from
which extends the outer wall, forming, as at Leicester, the wall of the great
hall. The W. wall of the keep ends in a large circular tower, of early
Decorated or Edwardian architecture, and thence the S. inner baUium wall
ran for 123 yards; but the E. end of it, with the base of a circular tower,
has of late been removed. The inner moat was filled in by a municipal
" benefactor," one Sir Benjamin Hammet, who likewise greatly injured the
fabric. He also "restored" the great Hall, and placed therein a wall dividing
the building into two courts.
In the centre of the S. front is a gatehouse with an Edwardian portal, port
cullis groove, and gates, and in front are the holes for the drawbridge chains.
On the E. side of this ward was thrown up the earth excavated from the
ditches, forming a raised platform, whereon, in all probability, was erected the
dwelling of King Ine. Thus we have here earthworks of the eighth century,
walls and keep of the early twelfth, and towers and gatehouses of the thirteenth
or early fourteenth century (Clark). The inner moat was 25 feet broad and

SOMERSETSHIRE 73
12 feet deep. Jeffrey's guards were taken from Kirke's regiment, who had
lately formed the garrison of Tangiers (now 2nd Foot) ; these men were
encamped during the assize on the W. of the Castle Green, which part,
therefrom, is still called "Tangiers."

WALTON IN GORDANO (minor)
WALTON cannot be classed as a inediseval castle, having been built
probably in the reign of James I. as hunting quarters of the Paulett
family. It lies W. of Bristol near the village of Clevedon, standing on the
southern slopes of the hills there descending to the sea, and on the brink
of the Bristol Channel.
It is an octagonal enclosure having a turret of like shape at its S.E. face.
The place has a mediasval look, but its embattled walls are slight, and the
windows are large, and there is nothing venerable in the ruin, of which the
roof and floors had fallen in at the beginning of the present century. The
entrance is through a crenellated gateway.
The manor of Walton was given by the Conqueror to his kinsman, Robert
de Mortain, Earl of Cornwall, one of the leaders in his army of invasion, and
its possession followed the fortunes of the rest of his estates. In the third
year of Edward IV., the manor was held by Sir Thomas de Cheddar, whose
daughter brought it in marriage to Sir John Newton (see Richmont). In the
reign of Mary it was owned by Sir Edward Seymour, who sold it to Sir John
Thynne, and from him it passed to Christopher Ken of Ken, whose daughter
and heiress conveyed the estate to the family of Paulett.

VOL. II.

CHEPSTOW

/Iftonmoutbsbite

ABERGAVENNY (minor)
AN observer in 1801 writes that "only a few scattered portions of the
waUs and one poor gate are left " of this historic fortress, and guide
books to-day say that what is left is " a shattered and shapeless ruin.''
L But Coxe's "Tour in Monmouthshire" gives a very inteUigible plan
of these remains, which exist on a hill near the S. extremity of the town of
the same name, meagre though they be. The castle is said by Camden to have
been founded by Hameline de Baladun (or Barham) soon after the Conquest.
He left his nephew Brian of Wallingford, surnamed Fitz Count, his heir ; but,
this man's two sons being lepers, he left the greatest part of his estate to Walter,
son of Milo, Earl of Hereford. To him succeeded his brother Henry, who was
slain by the Welsh during an invasion upon his lands, when the property was
brought by his sister and heir to the Braoses of Bramber, and from them, by
marriage, by the Cantelupes and Hastings family to Reginald Grey of Ruthin
(Dugdale., i. 716). William de Beauchamp, however, recovered it by conveyance
74

MONMOUTHSHIRE

75

from Grey ; and he again, in default of further issue, made it over to his brother
Thomas, Earl of Warwick, and his heirs male. William de Beauchamp, lord of
Abergavenny, had a son named Richard, who for his valour was created Earl of
Worcester, and being slain in the French wars, his only daughter brought the
estate in marriage to Edward Nevill. From that date the NeviUs bore the style
of Barons Bergavenny, although they did not then obtain the castle. Henry,
the fourth lord, dying in 1586, left an only daughter Elizabeth, who married
Sir Thomas Fane, knight, between whom and Sir Edward Nevill, knight, the
castle and the greater part of the lands had fallen. The titles, then, of Berga
venny and Le Despencer
were contested by these r
two aspirants, when the
House of Lords deter- j
mined the matter by Sir E.
Nevill being summoned
as Baron Abergavenny,
while Elizabeth, Lady
Fane, was made, or re
stored to the title of. Bar
oness le Despencer. The
castle naturally remained
with the heirs male.
The castle is now a
picturesque ruin of the
walls and towers of the
fortifications, with no do
mestic portion left. In the
centre of the outer court
or bailey is a vast mound,
where stood the keep until
it was carted away as
material for mending the
roads. There are vestiges only of various chambers, and some fragments of walls
on the third storey remain, overhanging their supports. On the W. side, where the
walls are now nearly gone, is a grand and uninterrupted view of the valley below
the castle, with a chain of hills called the Blorenge rising beyond it, and the
river winding along through the meadows, passing an ancient bridge of many
pointed arches. The great gate of entrance remains, but the groining of its
roof has fallen. In the court it is still possible to make out the great hall, the
kitchens and other offices. Before the pacification of Wales and the Borderland,
there was a constant struggle between the Welsh and their rulers and oppressors,
the Lords Marchers, as the custodians of the marches were called, when this

ABERGAVENNY

76

CASTLES OF EiNGLAND

castle was more than once the scene of bloody deeds and murders. Giraldus
Cambrensis declares it was dishonoured by treason oftener than any other
castle in Wales. It was here that William de Braose — grandson of the lord of
Bramber of same name, whose family was starved to death by King John (see
Bramber, Susse.x), one of the most powerful and unscrupulous of the Norman
nobles, and famous, according to Matthew Paris, for his cruelty and treachery,
even in those times — invited some Welsh chieftains to meet in friendship to
arrange their differences, and whilst they were seated, unarmed, at table in
his hall, caused them to be assassinated. It is satisfactory to read that this
viUain was afterwards hanged on a tree by Llewellyn, Prince of Wales.
The lordship passed through the above-named succession of families into
the keeping of the Nevills, in which noble family it has remained since the
reign of Henry VL, the Marquis of Abergavenny deriving his title from it.

CALDlCOT

CALDICOT (chief)
CALDlCOT, which is the most westerly place mentioned in Domesday, was
originally held by Sheriff Durand, and afterwards by ten successive De
Bohuns, earls of Hereford and hereditary Constables of England, who held
it by this service. It passed from them by Eleanor, who was coheir of Earl
Humphrey (see Pleshy, Essex), in marriage to Thomas of Woodstock, Duke

MONMOUTHSHIRE

77

of Gloucester, and was afterwards annexed as royal property, by Henry VIII.,
to the Duchy of Lancaster.
It must have been a fortress of considerable importance in e.irly days,
since, from its position near the Bristol Channel and the port of Portskewit,
it protected the ingress and egress of Norman ships, and of the Angevin kings.
Great care was evidently lavished upon the building of this castle, in the
strength and finish of the masonry, which is .ill ashlar and of extraordinary
fineness, most of the latter work appearing to be of the time of Edward II.,

CALDICOT

though the great gatehouse and north postern are the work of Thomas of
Woodstock (Richard 1 1.).
The plan is that of an irregular oblong, forming six or eight angles, two of
which corners are occupied by towers, while on the lines of the curtain stand
other towers. The W. front is the chief feature, having on it the principal
vaulted entrance gateway. The portal is vaulted and groined, the corbels
being portraits. The portcullis and bridge arrangements are by far the
most finished in the kingdom, and the machicoulis are worked on corbels
sculptured with portraits, of a richness rarely met with in this country. The

7S

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

flanking towers on each side of the entrance are machicolated, being in fact
garderobe turrets, but the gatehouse has not this defence. On the other side
of the court is a postern, defended by a portcullis and bold machicolations ;
and on the E. of the gate tower is the great HaU, the windows of which still
retain their tracery.
On the N.E. side is the circular keep, of thirteenth-century work, standing
on a mound, and surrounded by its own ditch. The lowness of this keep tower
is one of the peculiarities of Caldicot, a form which is shared also by Hawarden,
but the excellence of its masonry is unsurpassed in England.

""miiiiiji

z>%.

CALDICOT

The exterior waUs, with their turrets, fortunately remain in very perfect
condition, except on the E., and upon the inside of these curtains it is
possible to observe how the offices and dwellings were contrived and built
against them, probably in timber or half-timber work ; the fireplaces recessed in
them, and the holes for the beams and rafters still remain. The most perfect
of the towers is that at the N.E. angle, in which, in one of the window-sills, is
an opening which may have led to a well. The towers attain a height of
about 30 feet, and, with the walls, enclose an area of about i| acres. The
great gatehouse, of Decorated style, is a noble structure ; it is still used as a
residence, and has a high roof. The S. front was protected by a moat.
Caldicot gives a title to the dukes of Beaufort, who, however, were never

MONMOUTHSHIRE

79

more than lessees; it derives all its dignity from tiie grandeur of its design
and from its architecture, since the position is not ennobhng, being in low
ground in the vale of the Trogoy, wliich falls into the Severn near this castle,
and being only about a mile distant from the shore of the Channel, wliere
troops and stores intended for South Wales were landed. The place is the
property of Mr. Joseph R. Cobb, F.S.A.

CHEPSTOW (cJiuf)
CHEPSTOW is a vast pile, to which or to its predecessor in Saxon or British
times the name of Castle Gwent was given. It stands grandly on a rocky
platform above the river Wye, on the summit of a perpendicular escarpment,
being on the N. side in this manner quite inaccessible, and protected on the
other three sides by deep
chtches of great breadth.
The general plan con
sists of four large courts
having an entrance both
on the E. and W. The
narrow parallelogram
enclosed by the for
tress is about three
acres in extent, and
each of the courts is
defensible. On the N.
side, overhanging the
river, are placed the
principal apartments,
the great hall with the
kitchens, and all the
chief chambers and
" bowers " ; here it was
safe to indulge in deco
rations and fine win
dows and mouldings,
while on the other fronts, susceptible of attack, the simplest and most de
fensible masonry was adopted, and the openings are loopholes and crenella-
tions only. The main entrance is on the town side, on the E., by a gatehouse
flanked by two circular towers, grooved for the portcullis. The whole is in
a tolerable state of preservation. Near this entrance is the lesser haU, with
windows of early Decorated style (about the time of Edward I.), and the chief

CHEPSTOW

8o

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

offices, with the lord's oratory in the angle. Thence, passing through into
the inner bailey, we arrive at the great Hall, of the same period, with rooms
below it having some Norman work. Beyond this is another courtyard with
entrance into the fourth, and leading to the western entrance.
The lords of this place were the Clares, earls of Pembroke, commonly
called Earls of StrighuU and Pembroke from the neighbouring castle of
Strighall, where they resided ; though some wrongly assert that Chepstow and
StrighuU mean the same place. The last of the earls was Richard, a man of
invincible spirit and of amazing strength of body, to whom, from the strength

CHEPSTOW

of the bow which he bent, the surname of " Strongbow " was given ; and he
it was who by his valour first opened the conquest of Ireland to the English.
By his daughter and heiress Isabel, Chepstow came to the Bigots, the MarshaUs,
and afterwards by marriage to the Herbert family, from whom the present
noble family of Somerset, who now own it, acquired the property.
On entering the chief court, on the left is a large round tower in the
angle of the wall, named Martin's Tower, because it served for twenty years
as the prison of the regicide and wit, Henry Martin, till his death in 1680.
His room was above and is still in fair condition ; in the basement of this tower
there appears to have been a dungeon. Here also was imprisoned Bishop

MONMOUTHSHIRE 8i
Jeremy Taylor, upon a charge of complicity with a Royalist insurrection. In
rear of the last and western court is another entrance, strongly defended, of later
date. Chepstow Castle endured many hard blows during the Civil War, being

CHEPSTOW

taken and retaken several times ; once it was besieged by Cromwell in person
in 1645, and was taken by assault ; it was again attacked in 1648, when its
commander. Sir Nicholas Kemyss, and forty of his garrison were killed. The
Long Parliament granted the castle, together with several estates belonging
to the Marquis of Worcester and others, to Oliver Cromwell, but they were
restored at the accession of Charles II.

DINHAM (non-existent)
DINHAM is situated about one and a half mile N.W. of Caerwent, the
Roman station of Venta Silurum. Here was formerly a castle mentioned
as one of the six that compassed the forest of Wentwood. The ruins stand on a
gently rising ground near the road, and are so overgrown with trees as to be
scarcely discernible. They are on a bank above the combe through which an
old road led to Wentwood, and show foundations of some of the walls. Dinham
Castle is said to have been built upon the spot where the heroic British king
Caractacus was buried. It was built by the family of Le Walleys or Walsh,
who were here for many generations, and existed in 1128. In the reign of
Elizabeth, Dinham was purchased by William Blethyn, Bishop of Llandaff
(1575-1591), whose descendants lived in a mansion that stood on the site of
the present great Dinham farm, and from them the property came to the
Bayly family, with whom it still continues. It must have been demolished in
very distant times, since neither Leland nor Camden make any mention of
Dinham Castle.
VOL. II. L

82 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

GREEN CASTLE (minor)
ABOUT one and a half mUe S.W. of Newport are ruins, not mentioned
^ by Leland or Camden, on the left bank of the Ebwy near its confluence
with the Usk River. The castle formerly belonged to the dukes of Lancaster,
and was esteemed a place of strength and security in the Civil Wars. The
remains consist now of a building used as a farm stable or byre for cattle,
a square tower with a spiral staircase, a building containing several apart
ments, one of which has a large fireplace, and a fine Gothic entrance and
doorways. Close at hand is a circular mound surrounded by a foss over
grown with thicket, overhanging the old channel of the Ebwy, the probable
site of the keep. The place now belongs to the family of Tredegar, and the
farm is called Greenfield (Coxe).

GROSMONT, OR GRISMONT {minor)
IN the N.E. corner of the county is the celebrated "Trilateral" of Monmouth
shire, being a group of three castles planted at a distance of from four to
five and a half miles apart from each other, in the form of a triangle, the centre
of which is occupied by the eminence known as the Graig Hill ; the other two
fortresses being the castles of Skenfrith and Whitecastle. Grosmont Castle, the
most northern of the three as well as the latest built, stands on an eminence
above the right bank of the river Monnow, on the confines of the county, and
at the foot of the Graig Hill. It is in a very ruinous condition, and the remains
are not extensive ; they consist chiefly of a gateway and two circular towers,
with a quadrangular enclosure of walls, attached to which is the shell of a great
baronial hall, 80 feet by 27, lighted by four windows on each side. There are,
too, on the N. side, the foundations of an apartment with a Gothic octagonal
chimney, high and tapering, and surmounted by a sort of coronet or Ian-
thorn. The castle is surrounded by a large and deep moat, and it was further
strengthened by ancient earthworks. On the S.E. are more outworks, still
partly visible, containing the barbican, and there are vestiges also on the S.
of further works. Grosmont was granted, together with Skenfrith, by King
John to WUUam de Braose, the lord of Bramber; and Henry III. gave
all three castles to Hubert de Burgh, who afterwards was forced to give
them back to that monarch, who then annexed them to the Duchy of
Lancaster (see Skenfrith and Whitecastle). The architecture is Early English of
Henry IIL, with Decorated additions (Clark). Grosmont was once a favourite
residence of the dukes of Lancaster, and Henry, grandson of Edmund Crouch-
back, was born there, and was from that fact surnamed "Grismont." In the

MONMOUTHSHIRE 83
time of Henry III. this fortress was invested by Llewelyn, Prince of Wales
but the king relieved it by moving thither with a large army, when the Welsh
fled. Some time later this king, marching against Richard Marshall, Earl of
Pembroke, retreated to Grosmont in order to protect his supplies, and encamped
there ; but he carelessly allowed his army to be surprised by Pembroke, who
beat up his quarters at night, and carried off 500 horses and much plunder.
The views here of the river flowing below the castle and of the country about
are very beautiful.

LLANGIBBY, formerly called TRAYGRUCK (minor)
LLANGIBBY is on the Caerleon road from Usk. It stood on a hill now
J overgrown with brushwood, where little but the lines of the outer walls
can be traced. This castle was the possession of the earls of Gloucester, of
the family of Clare, and is given among the lands appointed as dowry to Maud,
the widow of Gilbert, the last male of that line, through whose daughter it
came to the earls of March of the Mortimer line. Roger Mortimer styles
himself Lord of Tragrucke in a charter granted to the town of Usk. In the
beginning of the seventeenth century it belonged to the Williams family, and
is mentioned by Oliver Cromwell as "a very strong house, well stored with
arms." Llangibby then belonged to Sir Trevor Williams (created baronet
1641), who, says Cromwell, is "a man full of craft and subtiltye, very bould &
resolute, — and very malignant."
The trace of the castle is a long parallelogram, now a cider orchard,
having the front above the ditch protected by a circular tower on the E.,
and an entrance between two circular towers on the left with a curtain
between. There are the vestiges of three or four other towers flanking the
long line of walls, a postern, some walls of apartments with columns, and
part of a roof supported by them ; but all are greatly dilapidated. By the
several pointed arches, it must date subsequent to Norman times (Coxe).

LL ANV AIR {minor)
ANOTHER fortress of twelfth-century origin is Llanvair, prettily situated on
the declivity of a hill, on the road to Usk across Wentwood Forest. It is
not of any great extent, but has been of considerable strength. There were three
round towers connected by walls, and one square one joined to a modern farm
house ; but the place has been too effectually destroyed to make out the buildings.
Llanvair was the ancient residence of the Kemyss family. Edward Kemyss,
who attended Hameline de Baladun in his conquests in Gwent, received these
and other lands for his services.

84 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

MONMOUTH (minor)
IN the middle of the town near the market-place are the ruins of this castle,
which appears to have existed in the Conqueror's days. It belonged to
John, Baron of Monmouth, from whom it came to the house of Lancaster,
when Henry III. stripped him of his estates, because his heirs had taken the oath
of allegiance to the earls of Brittany. The fact that it was thus in the possession
of John of Gaunt and his son, in later years, accounts for Monmouth Castle
being the birthplace of Henry V., hence called " Harry of Monmouth." An old
writer in 1801, visiting the ruins, says : " Of the castle a poor diminished spot
remains, a part of the walls of the chamber where the hero of Agincourt, the
Conqueror of France, first drew his breath. The proportions of this chamber
show an air of grandeur, and the decorations (from one perfect window yet in
view) are of the first degree of refined taste" Only a small fragment exists of the
great hall. Monmouth was certainly a Norman walled town, but only one gate is
left — namely, the Bridge Gate, standing on the bridge leading to Abergavenny, —
under which Henry V. may often have passed — and there are but few remnants
of the walls. In 1646, Colonel Kyrle, who had originally sided with the king's
party, made his peace with the Parliament by betraying his trust and handing
over Monmouth to General Massy.
Here also was born, in 1152, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph,
the compiler of the romancing chronicle which bears his name.

NEWCASTLE (non-existent)
A SHORT distance on the Monmouth road S. of Skenfrith are the vestiges
of another castle to which this name was given, but they consist only of
some tumuli surrounded by a moat 300 feet in circumference. Of the origin
of this castle and of its demolition there are no records whatever in history.

NEWPORT (minor)
NEWPORT is not a large castle, but it deserves attention as a fine instance
of the adaptation of the Perpendicular style to a strictly military structure.
It stands on the right bank of the Usk, the walls and towers rising directly
out of the water. Williams says that this part of the country was subdued
by Martin, Lord of Cemais, who caused the castle to be built at the N.E.
angle of the town, on the W. side of the river. Other authorities state that
Robert Fitzhamon, the conqueror of Glamorgan, originally reared the edifice
at the end of the eleventh century, to defend the passage of the river at this

MONMOUTHSHIRE 85
point ; the present fortress, however, was built by the Stafford family, who
inherited the manor from the De Clares. Parker declares the river front,
which alone remains perfect, to be " a beautiful composition," particularly in
the way in which the towers, square and splayed at the base, become round
or octagonal as they rise, and he remarks on the way in which round towers
gave way to octagonal or square ones, as being better adapted to receive the
newer square-headed or pointed windows. The castle is sadly degraded by
being occupied as a brewery, which either destroys or conceals all except
some few walls and two towers. There is a fine gateway tower with octagonal

NEWPORT

turrets, and alarge pointed window over the entrance, but sadly blocked and
mutilated. Along the river front three towers supported the curtain, but on
the reverse side there is only the wall, without flank defence. The three front
towers were in existence at the beginning of the present century in nearly a
perfect state ; at each end of this face was an octagonal tower, with a large
square tower in the centre having turrets at each angle. This latter formed the
keep, which had a vaulted chamber called the State-room ; at the foot of it
is the water-gate, beneath a high arched passage, defended by a portcullis ;
between this and the lower tower was the hall, which can still be traced.
The enceinte is a right-angled parallelogram, measuring about 46 yards N. and
S., by 32 E. and W., and is built of rubble masonry, with ashlar quoins. The S.
tower was once used as a nail factory.

86 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

PENCOED (minor)
TEN miles from Chepstow, this castle stands on a gentle ascent overlooking
the Caldecot level, with a commanding view of the Bristol Channel. The
original castle belonged to the twelfth century, but the ruins are chiefly those
of an old mansion built in the reign of Henry VIIL, partly with the materials
of the former structure. The principal remains consist of a gateway with
circular arches flanked by two narrow pentagon turrets, a round embattled
tower, and portions of an ancient wall. It was the time-out-of-mind seat of the
Morgan family, and afterwards of the Montagues, who divided possession of
this county with the Herberts, Somersets, Seymours, and Morgans. Sir Walter
Montague obtained the estate by marriage with the heiress of Sir Edmund
Morgan, but it passed afterwards into several hands. When in the possession
of a Mr. Jefferies it was lost at play, and then came into the possession of
Admiral Mathews, whose grandson enjoyed it at the beginning of this century.
It is conjectured that Pencoed, with Troggy, Dinham, and many other petty
castles existing in this district, were built for the protection of the fertile Went
wood district by the retainers of the Bohuns and Clares, or other great lords in
the county.
PENHOW (minor)
THIS castle, which is of small size, is built on the top of a hill, on what was
perhaps a Roman site, two miles from Pencoed Castle. It is now a farm
house, and the chief remains of the old fortress are a square embattled tower of
the twelfth century and some low irregular walls ; the masonry generally is
indifferent, being composed of rubble plastered and grouted. Penhow was for
centuries the residence of the St. Maur, or Seymour, family, whose arms, cut in
stone and painted on glass, appear in the neighbouring church dedicated to
St. Maurus, whence is derived the name of St. Maur.

RAGLAN, OR RAGLAND (chief)
NOTICED by Parker ("Domestic Architecture," vol. iii. Part II.) as being a
splendid ruin of the fifteenth century, more of a military than domestic
character, the castle is still clearly inhabited as a nobleman's mansion of the
period. It is believed to have been chiefly built by Sir William Herbert ap
Thomas, who served with distinction in the French wars with Henry V. and
was knighted by that king. His son William was created (8 Edward IV.)
Earl of Pembroke, a title exchanged by his son and successor for the earldom

MONMOUTHSHIRE 87
of Huntingdon in 1479. Dying s.p. male, his only daughter and heiress
Elizabeth brought Raglan in marriage to Sir Charles Somerset, who assumed
the title of Lord Herbert, and for his services in France was in 1514 created
Earl of Worcester by Henry VIII. The fifth earl, Henry, the gallant defender
of Raglan for King Charles, was advanced to the dignity of Marquess of
Worcester in 1642. The third marquess, Henry, was created Duke of Beaufort
in 1682, and this family still includes Raglan Castle as one of the most cherished
portions of their extensive domain.
The castle stands on rising ground, ancl is now almost hidden by trees.

RAGLAN

Its thoroughly defensible nature is shown at once in the noble gateway, which is
contrived for this end as much as any castle of Norman or Edwardian times.
Flanked by two hexagonal towers set cornerwise to the front, the entrance has
grooves for two portcullises, being approached, after various external defences,
by a bridge over a moat. Two massive towers stand on the extreme right and
left of the fortress, that on the left of the entrance having the name of " The
Yellow Tower of Gwent," and supposed to have been added temp. James I.
This forms a genuine keep, standing detached on an island surrounded by
a walled moat, with an outer circuit of low curtain walls, and only con
nected with the body of the castle by a drawbridge. The entrance gateway
leads into the first court, at the far end of which is a pentagonal tower contain
ing the kitchens and offices ; on the right is the breach made by Fairfax at the

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

siege, when he opened fire on the walls at a range of only sixty yards. On the left
or W. side of the first court is the great hall, the walls of which remain, with
its bay window ; the roof, which was of Irish oak, is entirely destroyed. This
hall is of stately proportions and preserves its importance, as in earlier times,
while alongside it is the chapel, and on the other side of these chambers lies
the fountain court, with the grand staircase and approach to the state apart
ments. In the N.E. angle of
these are the rooms occupied
by Charles I. when he stayed
at Raglan after the defeat of
Naseby, one of the windows
still bearing his name. A gate
tower leads from this court
out upon the terrace, which is
called King Charles' Walk. The
smaller gate, with its simple
pointed arches, is one of the
most pleasing portions of the
castle. An old writer in the
Gentleman s Magazine remarks
how, on entering into the great
court, the visitor sees the rich
and uncommon front of the
gallery-range, behind the en
trance, the baronial hall with
its porch and oriel, and the gal
lery door ; while on the left is
one of the gate towers, — the
whole "presenting one of the
most interesting castellated
court scenes to be witnessed
in the kingdom. The interior
of the hall shows the grandeur
of the style of what it once was,
as does every other apartment
in this once splendid residence. Then there are the vestiges of the chapel,
and the fountain court, and, passing on to the terrace with its still smooth
enamelled surface, one beholds the mountains of Abergavenny with their
cloud-capped summits."
The siege of 1646 was sustained by the old Marquess of Worcester, aged
eighty-four, in company with his daughter-in-law. Lady Glamorgan, his sixth
son. Lord Charles, his chaplain, Dr. Bailey, and a few friends, with a garrison

RAGLAN

I. GATEHOUSE AND ]
ENTRANCE.
3, BARRACKS.
4. GARDEROBE TOWER.
5. officers' QUARTERS.
6. THE PAVED COURT.
8. KITCHEN TOWER.
TT. GREAT HALL.
13. SECOND HALL.

T4. CHAPEL.
15. CHARLES I.'s APARTMENTS.
16. FOUNTAIN COURT.
18. GALLERY.
19. GRAND STAIRCASE TO STATE
APARTMENTS.
21. PORTAL TO GRAND TERRACE.
25. MOAT.
26. TOWER OF GWENT, OR KEEP.

v^,

MONMOUTHSHIRE

89

of 800 men, horse and foot. The attack, which lasted for two months, was at
first under the command of Colonel Morgan and a captain-engineer named
Hooper, who had reduced Banbury a short while before, and a besieging force
of 1500 men. The garrison made many desperate sallies, and in one of these
captured a Parliamentary colour, while they lost several ol'ficeis and men killed
and wounded. Then 2000 troops reinforced the besiegers, and Sir Thomas
Fairfax came himself from Bath to press the siege, and summoned the defendeis.
But the old marquess, with many excuses and objections, put off the demands
of Fairfax for many weeks,
until, in the middle of
August, the artillery of the
besiegers being now ad
vanced in the trenches
close to the castle walls,
he found it necessary to
treat, and articles for sur
rendering the castle were
eventually agreed on, and
carried out on August 19th,
the garrison marching out
with all the honours of war
(see Sprigg's " England's
Recovery "). In the worst
of bad faith, the Parlia
ment refused to ratify Fair
fax's articles of treaty, and
sent the Marquess of Wor
cester to London, where
he died in a few months.
He had spent ;£6o,ooo in
equipping and maintain
ing 1500 foot and 500 horse
soldiers for the king, though they did small service, being routed at Glou
cester without striking a blow. His estates with a revenue of ^20,000 a year
were confiscated, the woods of his three parks were destroyed, the deer
killed, and the castle of Raglan was dismantled and " slighted," the lead and
the timber being carted to Bristol. The great tower, after being battered
at the top with pick-axes, was undermined, and the weight propped up with
timbers, which being burnt, a great portion of the structure fell in a lump,
and so remains to this day. The staircase fortunately was uninjured, so
the summit of this keep is still attainable. The greatest injury to this
splendid castle, however, was caused by the depredations of the country

RAGLAN

VOL. II.

M

90 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
people, who for more than a century were allowed to use the place as a
quarry, to obtain building stone.
Among the many historical personages who were immured in this castle
was Henry, Earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry VII. As a scion of
Lancaster (on his mother's side), Edward IV. conceived a particular jealousy
against this youth, and committed him for safe keeping in this fortress to the
custody of Sir William Herbert, Lord of Raglan. Then, after the lapse of
some time, Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, the lad's uncle, who had stayed in France
since the battle of Tewkesbury, came over and paid a secret visit to the castle
of Raglan in the absence of Sir W. Herbert ; he managed to elude the vigi
lance or corrupted the fidelity of Lady Herbert, and carried off his nephew
to Pembroke Castle, the place of Henry's birth, and soon after found means
to send him over into Brittany, to the castle of Elven, where he remained
hidden for a great many years, until the time came for him to strike for the
crown of England. SKENFRITH (minor)
THIS castle forms the S.E. point of the Trilateral group, about five miles S.
of Grosmont, in the low land close to the same river, the Monnow (see Gros-
mo7it). It is built in trapezium form, with four outer walls and circular flanking
towers at the angles, one of which is absent, and has in the midst a disconnected
circular tower or keep, upon a low artificial mound. The walls are in good con
dition, but the upper parts are ruinous. It is probably the most ancient castle
in the county, and during the prevalence of border warfare was of much import
ance, but after the settlement of Wales by Edward I., the necessity for these
fortresses no longer existed, and from neglect they rapidly fell into decay.
Skenfrith was conveyed with the other castles to Hubert de Burgh, but was
afterwards seized again by Henry III. and granted to his son Edmund, Earl of
Lancaster. It then, with the others, passed to John of Gaunt, and temp. Henry
V. became parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster. In the reign of James I. it was
reported as " ruinous and decayed, time out of the memory of man."
From the fact of the ground inside being from 6 to lo feet higher than
the level outside, there seems to have existed here an ancient earthen platform,
having a mound on it, with probably a wooden fort and palisading defences,
along the four sides of which the Norman curtain wall was built. Upon the
mound was erected a circular stone tower 36 feet in diameter and from
45 to 50 feet high, having a battering base, like Coningsborough. There is a
basement chamber for stores, a chief room above, 22^ feet in diameter and
14 feet high, with two windows, wherein was the only entrance. From this
floor a mural spiral stair led to the upper storey, in which is a recess for the
kitchen fire, and the roof. The floors were all of timber.

MONMOUTHSHIRE 91
The curtain wall of the work measures 74 and 71 yards N. and S., and 31
and 59 E. and W., has a thickness of 8 feet, and is frcjm 30 to 40 feet
in height, the battlements having been lemoveil. The four circular corner
lowers arc 11 feet diameter internally, closed in the gorge and entered by a
door on the ground, and had three floors each ; the S.W. tower has been
removed. There is on the S. front a solid half-round buttress tower, and
opposite this is a low-arched opening in the curtain, supposed by Mr. Clark
to have admitted boats from the river, as was done at Tonbridge and Leeds.
The moat cut from the Monnow River protected the three sides, while the
river flowed beneath the N. front of the fortress. Leland mentions a stone
bridge here, which crosses the river just below the castle.

STRIGUIL, OR STRIGIL {minor)
THE castle of Striguil is five miles W. of Chepstow, on the small stream of
Ystriguil, which falls into the Usk. It stands in an extremely beautiful
situation, on gently rising ground, commanding fine views of the valley.
Williams says it was built by Gilbert, Earl of Ogie, the father of Richard
Strongbow, and must be of later date than Chepstow, having Gothic windows
and doorways. It was built, according to the Domesday Survey, by William
Fitz-Osborn, Earl of Hereford, and it afterwards became the residence of the
earls of Pembroke of the great house of Clare ; it is remarkable in having
given its name to a branch of this ancient family, who were called earls of
Striguil from this their abode. Afterwards it was a seat of the Kemyss family,
and in more modern times was acquired by the dukes of Beaufort. It has
been a common error to give this name to the castle of Chepstow, which is
sometimes called Chepstow or Striguil, the difficulty arising from both castles
being possessed by the same family.
The remains are those of a square redoubt, having one face only existent,
which contains a good circular tower attached to a piece of semicircular wall,
and a straight curtain wall ending in part of a hexagonal tower, with some
outworks and the remains of a moat in front.

TROGGY (minor)
CAMDEN says: "The little river Trogoy falls into the Severn near
Caldicot, where I saw the walls of a castle belonging anciently to the
Constables of England," and held by the service of that office. It lies five
or six miles from Chepstow, in a forest under a hillside, — "very notable
ruins." At the present day, an octagon tower with arched windows is all
that is left.

92 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

USK (minor)
THE ruins of this castle stand over the little town of Usk, on the bank of
the river of the same name. It is beheved to have been commenced by
William, Earl of Ewe and Matterel, who came to England with Duke William the
Conqueror, and received from him certain manors in this west country, and "all
he could conquer from the Welsh." With so promising a future, the noble
Norman appears to have presumed too far, since he was banished for rebellion,
and his lands were conferred on Walter Fitz Richard his nephew, who settled
at Usk and built there ; after which, carrying his inroads towards the west, he
acquired Chepstow and Striguil. On his death without issue, his estates were
granted to his nephew Gilbert de Clare, a stUl greater chieftain. In the time
of Henry IIL, the castle belonged to Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester
and Hereford. In the fifteenth century it was the property of Edward IV.,
and before that time had been a favourite resort of his father Richard,
Duke of York ; it was afterwards in favour with Henry VIL, and with William,
Earl of Pembroke, from whose female descendant's son by her last husband,
Thomas, Viscount Windsor, it passed by purchase to the dukes of Beaufort.
Usk Castle has considerable remains, including the keep, the gatehouse, and
the great hall. The outer walls are extant, enclosing a court and some outworks
to the W., formed by two walls united by a round tower. At the end of the S.
wall is a grand pointed gateway, grooved for the portcullis, and there remains
a chamber of the castle, with an arched window and fireplace.

WHITECASTLE (chief)
WHITECASTLE, the third fortress of the Trilateral (see Grosmont), placed
on its W. point, five and a half iniles from Skenfrith, and five miles
from Grosmont, upon very high ground, was one of the strongest castles of
the Welsh marches. It consists of a central elliptical or hexagonal fortress, the
longer axis of which lies N. and S., with a large outwork at each of these
points, and the walls and towers are mostly standing. The centre ward is
formed by a curtain wall lo feet thick at base, and 30 feet high to the rampart
walk, with circular towers at each angle, about 45 feet in height, all these
towers having three storeys with wooden floors, and communicating with the
wall. The two adjacent towers on the N. form between them the chief
entrance or gatehouse, defended by gates and a portcullis, beyond which was
a bridge over the moat, at this place 100 feet wide and nearly 40 feet deep.
At the S. end of the ward was a smaller entrance, close to the S.W. angle tower.
There was no keep, and the contained lodgings or barracks must have been
of timber^ as at Skenfrith ; nor are there any traces of a hall or chapel.

MONMOUTHSHIRE

9.3

^^^"  '"%,

.^:^^:^?^^ '^^'""^^'''r''''^^^^

^^;:sr-^^,-^

In front of the main entrance is a large open barbican or outwork, some
what rectangular in shape, and measuring 5^) yards in depth, with a front of
74 yards, formed of a masonry wall 15 to 18 feet high, having flanking towers
at intervals, three of which are circular, and a square tower cont'aining the
kitchen. /V lesser outwork of half-moon shape similarly covers the S. entrance;
it is composed entirely of earthwork, and connected witli the main work by ;i
bridge across the ditch, which encircles this outwork as well as the castle itself.
The N. barbican is also defended throughout by a ditch, carried in a wide
bend on the E. of the castle, and is defended on the outside by another huge
earthwork, cover
ing the flanks of
the barbicans.
The whole work
is to afford pro
tection to a large ^ .-^T' ,*¦' /^'¦:^^u. .^Wi, '" "-^ AV^.,a ^p ^
body of troops,
as well as to the
country people
and their cattle,
by earthworks and
ditches of very
great strength. It
is believed to
have been built
by King John, and
was conveyed by
him, together with
the other castles,
to William de Bra
ose (see Skenfrith
and Grosmont),
Henry III. first gave these castles to Hubert de Burgh, and afterwards
demanding them from him, imprisoned and almost starved him to death, nor
did De Burgh obtain his liberty until he had surrendered the castles to the king.
From the Duchy of Lancaster they were held on lease by a family called
Powell, of Llandilo, and afterwards by one John Lewis, who married the
heiress of the Powells, ancl then by his son, after which they were demised
to the dukes of Beaufort. The first Norman who overran the north of
Monmouth was Brian Fitz Count, a companion of the Conqueror ; he obtained
these three castles, and also the castle of Abergavenny, in marriage, but they
afterwards passed to the Braoses and the Cantelupes as lords of the manor of
Abergavenny.

\

%

^ti/wc?/-/^.

%

^//ll"""""Hy"l

'"""'mii|HiM»«mm„„„„»mn,iu»>oU'\W\\v

WHITECASTLE

WILTON

Ibereforbsbive

A L M E L E Y (non-existent)
IT is supposed that a Roman encampment first occupied the site of the
lost castle of Almeley, which is on a turf-covered mound at the side of
a small stream near the church of Almeley ; at least it is thought that the
keep was erected on this artificial mound, and there was a moat which
was supplied by the rivulet. The name of the stronghold was Old Castle, and
the site is now called Old Court, but nothing is to be found in history regarding
its erection, except that the family of Oldcastle dwelt there in the fourteenth
century, and the tradition goes that Sir John Oldcastle, better known as Lord
Cobham, lived within its walls, his family being connected wath this county
at that period. Sir John was arrested for spreading the doctrines of Wicliffe,
by command of that virtuous zealot Henry V., who caused him to be brought
to London, and after interrogation, finding he denied the supremacy of the
94

HEREFORDSHIRE 95
Pope and other Catholic doctrines, handed him over to the priests ; they
caused him to be hung in chains over a bonfire on Christmas Day 1417, and
so roasted him to death. He was both a most learned and accomplished man,
and had been a great soldier in France. He was esteemed as the first English
martyr after his cruel death (see Couliiig, Kent),
ASHPERTON {uon-cxistenl)
IN the parish of Stretton Gransham is a moat still holding water, which is
all that remains of a castle of the Grandisons, who held lands in this county
in the thirteenth century, and had a licence to crenellate a "mansum" or
manor-house, in 20 Edward 1., obtained by Willielmas de Grandison, the
son of a Burgundian noble, the castle of whose territory is still on the Lake
of Neuchatel (Robinson), It was this William's brother, or son, who was made
Bishop of E.xeter in 1327, and his elder brother. Sir Peter, was buried in
Hereford Cathedral, on the N. side of the Lady Chapel, in a well-known tomb
there. Sir Otho Grandison was a warrior and alderman temp. Edward II.,
and was sent by that king as ambassador to the Pope. Two hundred years
ago there existed at this place a noble park belonging to the Lingen family ;
this is now a coppice wood, the property of Lady Emily Foley.
BRAMPTON BRIAN {minor)
THIS castle, which was built in the latter end of the reign of Henry 1., seems
to have been conferred on Barnard Unspec, Lord of Kinlet in Salop, as he
made it his abode and took the name of De Brampton. His great-grandson
married Matilda de Braose (see Castles in Monmouth), and their descendants
for four generations held this castle, after which time it passed in marriage to
Robert de Harley. In 1398, at the death of the last Bryan de Brampton, it is
stated to have been held under the Mortimers, by the performance of a castle
guard at Wigmore, for forty days in war time. Bryan, second son of Robert
de Harley, succeeded to his mother's property, and serving with great dis
tinction under the Black Prince, was made a Knight of the Garter by him.
Either he or his son built the gateway at Brampton, the most ancient part
of the ruins now existing, and of Edwardian date. The Harleys espoused
the side of the White Rose ; John Harley fought at the battle of Tewkesbury,
and was knighted by Edward IV. ; his grandson fought at Flodden.
Thomas Harley of Brampton Brian was sheriff 36 Elizabeth (1594), and
was a distinguished councillor in the reign of James I., from whom he had a
grant of the honour of Wigmore Castle. His son Robert was born in 1579,
and was made a Knight of the Bath at James I.'s coronation ; he was M.P.

96 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
for Radnor, and in 1623 married for his third wife Brilliana, second daughter
of Lord Conway, who had been born and bred in Holland (whence her name),
and who keenlv joined in the e.xtreme Puritanism of her husband, a strenuous
supporter of Cromwell. Naturally, therefore, in the Civil War the Harleys were
objects of offence in so loyal a county as Hereford, and Lady Harley, in the
absence of her husband at Westminster, was harassed by the Royalists, and at
last was shut up in Brampton with her family and some of her neighbours who
sought shelter there with her. The eldest son, Edward, was serving with the
Parliament army at Plymouth in 1643, when the long-expected attack was
made upon the castle ; but the Lady of Brampton was equal to the occasion,
and placed her house in a fit state of defence, throwing up earthworks and
getting in provisions and ammunition. She writes to her son in May (see
her Letters, published by the Camden Society) : "The water is brought quite
into the greene court, & I think you wUl like the worke [fortifications] well.
I like it soe well that I would not haue it undoun for a great deal." On July 25th
the castle was besieged by Sir W. Vavasour and a force of 600 men, but so
stout a defence was maintained by Lady Brilliana and her servants, that after
six weeks no impression had been made, and, fearful of the enemy's operations
in the Forest of Dean, the Royalists retired. But the strain was too much for
the brave Lady Harley ; delicate always, and with her health undermined
by repeated illness and the anxieties involved by her troubles, she took " a
verie bad colde " towards the end of the siege, and died a month only after its
termination. Early in 1644 Sir Michael Woodhouse, the Roundhead governor of Ludlow,
came against Brampton again, after the taking of Hopton Castle, when the
place was gallantly defended for a period of three weeks, but was then
forced to surrender at the mercy of the victors, whose artillery had battered
down some of the walls, the spoils being si.xty-seven prisoners, a hundred
stand of arms, two barrels of powder, and a whole year's provisions. The
spelling of the name at that time was always " Brompton."
No traces exist of the original Border fortress, which the Rev. C. J.
Robinson, in his " History of the Castles of Hereford," thinks may have stood
on the N.W. side. The entrance gateway, with its pointed arches and vaulted
passage with portcullis, has on each side a low circular flanking tower, with
loopholes and crenellated parapets ; the rest is what remains of the Tudor
buildings, made in the middle of the sixteenth century. Sir Edward Harley,
on his return from the governorship of Dunkirk, did what he could to repair
the ruin of the Civil War, and built a new hall, partly on the site of the old
structure. Some rooms over the inner gateway were inhabited till about the
middle of the last century, when a violent storm did so much injury to the
fabric that it was rendered unsafe and was dismantled. The existing front
was added about 1748, on the marriage of Edward, 4th Earl of Oxford,

HEREFORDSHIRE 97
of the Harley title. Here was born Robert, the first earl, grandson of Sir
Robert Harley of the Civil War, the illustrious minister who in 1711 w.as
created Baron Harley of Wigmore, Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, Lord
High Treasurer, and Knight of the Garter ; and here he ched in 1724. Why
they renewed in him the splendid dignity of the old De Veres is hard to say.
Here too was formed the great Harleian Collection of MSS. and books, now in
the British Museum. Brampton is now owned by Mr. Robert W. D. Harley.
BREDWARDINE (non-existent)
THE manor belonged at the Conquest to John de Bradwardyn, and after
wards was the property of the Baskerville family, and later of the Vaughans.
The site of this castle is now merely a huge green hillock, ornamented with
trees, with a few fragments of masonry appearing. There remain some cellars
and passages underground, whose entrance is choked with thicket.
BRONSIL (minor)
HERE in the parish of Eastnor was a castellated and defensible mansion
of the Beauchamps. The ruins, overgrown with copse and ivy, lie in a
deep glen below Midsummer Hill, a branch of the Malvern range.
Richard Beauchamp, son and heir of John, ist Lord Beauchamp of
Powyke, who was Lord High Treasurer to Henry VI. , obtained a licence in
29 and 36 Henry VI. to enclose lands and to crenellate a mansion. In 1496,
on the death of Richard, 2nd Lord Beauchamp, without male issue, his three
daughters divided the estates ; one of them married WiUiam Rede of Lugwardine,
and brought Bronsil to him. Mr. Robinson says that their occupation of the
castle was much disturbed by ghosts, so that in 1600 Mr. Gabriel Rede went
to consult the learned Mr. Allen of Gloster Hall, Oxford, on the subject. His
advice was that some of the bones of old Lord Beauchamp should be taken
from the distant place at which they were interred and brought to Bronsil.
This was accordingly done, and the bones were taken in a box to Bronsil,
" which ever after was quiet." These bones, which were portions of the
vertebras, were long regarded as heirlooms in the Rede family, and escaped
destruction during the Civil War, when the castle was burnt. Bronsil was
purchased from the Redes in the middle of the last century by Mr. Cocks of
Castleditch, whose descendant now owns the property.
The enclosure of the walls was quadrangular, with an octagonal tower at
each corner, one of which only was standing in 1779. A sketch made in 1731
of the ruins shows most of the outer walls and the towers then standing. It
was defended by two moats, placed two yards apart, and these can easily be
traced. The entrance gateway was on the W. side.
VOL. II. N

98 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

CLIFFORD (minor)
THIS historic fortress, the home of the Cliffords, stands on the summit of
a lofty escarpment of the bank of the Wye, guarding an important ford,
from whence the name is derived. It is one of the five castles of Herefordshire
mentioned in the Domesday Survey as belonging to Ralph de Todenei, and
was built by William Fitz Osborn, Earl of Hereford, — the same who built
Wigmore, — to whom the Conqueror gave lands here. On his son's revolt and
confiscation, it passed to the above-named Norman, his cousin, and went in
dower with his daughter Margaret to Richard des Ponts ; the second son of this
marriage succeeding to his mother's property of Clifford, assumed that surname.
His eldest daughter was the lady known as Fair Rosamond, the mistress of
Henry 1 1., who may have been born at this castle, having spent her early life
there. Walter de Clifford, her brother, succeeded in 1221, and had many
contests with King Henry IIL, one of these being occasioned by his obliging a
king's messenger to eat up the royal letter that he had brought, seal and all, — a
joke which cost him a thousand marks. His only daughter Maud was married
to her cousin, William Longdpee (the great-grandson of Fair Rosamond), who
was killed at a tournament in 1256, when his widow, in default of heirs male,
inherited the best estates of the De Cliffords. She was forcibly carried off and
married against her will by John, Lord Giffard of Brimpsfield (q.v., Gloucester
shire), who fought on the king's side in the Barons' War, and died in 1290. He
was made to pay a fine of 300 marks for his escapade, which reminds one of
a similar feat perpetrated by Simon, Lord Lovat. Maud's daughter Margery
married Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and in 4 Edward IV. is represented
as holding this manor and castle. Clifford next appears to have been given by
the Crown to the Mortimers, and after the House of York came to the throne,
it was retained as royal property. It is probable that at that period Clifford
Castle ceased to be inhabited, and therefore fell into neglect, disrepair, and ruin.
An account of the place, written early in the present century, says that from
the antiquity of some oak-trees growing about the ruins and mounds, 300 or
400 years old, it is likely that the castle has been disused as a fortress, if not
in ruins, at a very distant period. It speaks of the picturesqueness and beauty
of the scenery amid which Clifford stands, with the Wye flowing round it, and
winding about in glittering clearness among the rich meadows, encircled with
fine hills, which are fringed with forest and excellently cultivated fields.
The remains of this fortress. Fair Rosamond's cradle, are not very extensive ;
they consist of a fragment of the N. wall, very massive, standing on the edge
of the cliff. At the N.W. is a round tower, and there are scanty vestiges of the
square E. tower, which perhaps was the keep. There were an outer and an
inner bailey, or ward, and the existing remains belong solely to the latter.

HEREFORDSHIRE

99

which seems to have measured about loo feet square. Only one of its many
towers survives, with some garderobes. On the N. front are to be traced the
foundations of the two circular towers flanking the gatehouse to the inner ward,
in front of which was a ditch dividing the two wards, and running from the
ravine on the E. to the river, along which ran the curtain wall. On the S. is
a curious triangular outwork without any traces now of masonry, perhaps
defended by a stockade. The outer ward had the river bank for its defence
on the W. and on the S. the ditch, the other sides being protected by the

CLIFFORD

ravine and a wall. In the centre is a mound, and the approach appears to
have been from the N. side. Whatever the antiquity of the earthworks, the .
existing masonry does not appear to be older than Henry II. or Henry III.
The castle chapel, on the E. of the outer ward, was standing in 1657, near the
present cottage, which seems to have been built from its ruin.
There is an island higher up the river, below which was the ford ; this was
a very shallow one, and there is another and a deeper one lower down the
stream. On the island stood the Castle Mill, and the Castle Park extended from
the river downwards, where is a tract still called " The Parks."
The manor of Clifford, together with the castle, was in 1547 granted to Lord

loo CASTLES OF ENGLAND
CUnton for his services against the Scots at the memorable battle of Pinkie.
Clinton was admiral in command of the English fleet which co-operated with
great effect with the land forces under the Protector Somerset, by lying in
the bay of Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, and supporting them with fire
from the ships. The late owner was Mr. Tomkyns Dew, whose grandfather
obtained the ruins from the Wardour family.

CROFT (minor)
AT the time of the Domesday Survey, one Bernard held the manor of Croft,
and from him the family of Croft deduce their origin, having been
landowners in this county from the time of Edward the Confessor until
the close of the eighteenth century. Richard Croft captured Prince Edward,
son of Henry VL, at Tewkesbury, and for his valour during the insurrec
tion under Lambert Simnel, was made a knight banneret on the field of
Stoke by Henry VII. In the sixteenth century (1551) James Croft, only son
of Richard Croft of Croft Castle by Catherine, daughter of Richard Herbert
of Montgomery, was appointed, by Edward VL, Lord Deputy of Ireland,
and was afterwards made Deputy Constable of the Tower of London ; but
when he headed the Protestant movement in Herefordshire in favour of
Lady Jane Grey, he was himself brought to the Tower, and being examined
on the charge of being also concerned in Wyatt's rebellion, was condemned,
but allowed to escape. Queen Elizabeth made him governor of Berwick, and
he was comptroller of her household. His grandson. Sir Herbert, succeeded
him, whose son Sir William was killed in 1645 at Stokesay Castle, Shropshire,
fighting for King Charles. His brother was Herbert, Dean and Bishop of Here
ford, and chaplain to the king, whose son and heir, long time M.P. for the
county, was made baronet. Sir Archer, the third baronet, straitened in means
through the losses of the family in the Civil War, was in 1746 obliged to part
with his ancestral estates, and the castle passed from the mortgagee to the
families of Knight, and then Johnes, and then by sale to Mr. Somerset Davies
of Wigmore, whose grandson, the Rev. W. K. Davies, is the present proprietor.
The approach to the ruins is through a fine avenue of beeches half a mile
in length. Leland, early in the sixteenth century, speaks of Croft as a ditched
and walled castle set on the brow of a hill. Perhaps a castle existed here in
Norman times, but there are now no traces of any building earlier than the
fourteenth century. Croft is a quadrangular structure having a circular tower
at each of the four corners of the outer wall, enclosing a fine courtyard ; but in
1746 there was no fourth side, and the building stood in the form of an E, after
a custom not unusual in those days, in compliment to Queen Elizabeth.
In 1645 Croft was dismantled by the Royalists, to prevent the fortress proving

HEREFORDSHIRE loi
of utility to the eneiny, and much damage w;is wrought on it then. The N.
side, where is a square centre turret between the two corner towers, suffered
least. Since then the whole fabric has been modernised, and West Hall
was built probably on the site of the old castle hall.

A

CUBLINGTON, or CUBBESTON (non-exislent)
LL traces of this castle, which was in the parish of Madley, have long
disappeared. C U S O P (non-existent)

THIS was a peel, the site of which is no longer visible. It belonged to
a family named Clavenogh from the time of Henry III. to that of
Edward IV.

M

D O R S T O N (non-existent)
R. ROBINSON says this castle was situated on the river Dore, at the head
of the Golden Valley, but it has disappeared. Henry IV. entrusted it
to Sir Walter Fitzwalter, when the place was probably captured by Glendwr
and destroyed. During the Civil War in 1645, it is mentioned that the forces
of Charles met " neare Durston Castle." The lands belong to the Cornewall
family. EARDISLEY (non-existent)
THIS is included in a list of Hereford castles early in the reign of Henry IIL,
and from its situation in the rich valley of the Wye, was exposed to
the frequent inroads of Welsh invaders. The De Bohuns held it during the
Barons' War, but Edward I. gave it to Roger de Clifford, who had afterwards
to restore it to De Bohun (Robinson). On the extinction, however, of the
earldom of Hereford, it vested in the Crown. Next it became the pro
perty and abode of the BaskerviUes, a family of warriors who lived in
the reigns of Henry V. to Henry VII. In the Civil War of the seventeenth
century Sir Humphrey Baskerville took the king's side, and his castle was
burnt to the ground, only one of the gatehouses remaining intact, in which
-the unfortunate family, then reduced to poverty, were living in 1670, but
s'^n after the family was extinguished.
- The -castle stood on the W. side of the church, insulated by a threefold
moat ; but these and the mound of the keep are the only reUcs ; not a
fragment of the castle exists. *

I02 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
EATON TREGOZ (non-existent)
BUILT perhaps temp. John, in the parish of Foy, this castle was the property
of the Tregoz family. Robert de Tregoz carried the Barons' standard at
Evesham, and fell in that field of slaughter ; then it came to the Grandisons,
who had licence to crenellate in 1309, and who were extinct in 1375. There is
no further notice of the place.
ECCLESWALL (non-existent)
THE castle now called Eccleswall Court lies 3^ miles from Ross, on the
road between Broms Ash and Castle End, and is interesting as the cradle
of the great family of Talbot in England, a castle being erected here be
tween 1 160 and 1170 by Richard de Talbot, who obtained the lordship from
Henry II. He was succeeded by his eldest son and their direct descendants.
In 1331 Sir George Talbot had summons to Parliament as Baron Talbot, and
Richard, the second baron, died in 1356 possessed of immense estates, including
Goodrich Castle, where he resided {q.v,), giving up Eccleswall, which accord
ingly declined, and finally, like Goodrich, on the death of the last Earl of
Shrewsbury, in 1616, passed with his daughter Elizabeth in marriage to Henry
Grey, Earl of Kent, and was sold.
About 100 yards E. from the farm-house is a circular green mound, about
40 yards in diameter, upon which, within the memory of living people, there
stood a large square tower of masonry, and a building used as a barn. There
existed also here at one time a chapel, and on the N. side is a large pond and
a line of fish stews.
At the end of the last century, a silver seal of Philip de Henbury was found
in the ruins.
ELLINGHAM (non-existent)
ELLINGHAM, in the parish of Much Marcle, was in the fourteenth century
the property of the Audley family. It was the home of Sir James Audley,
K.G., the hero of Poictiers, told of by Froissart. Nothing is recorded concerning
the castle, the site of which is near the town, within a thick wood, but there is
nothing to be seen (see Stowey, Somerset).
EWIAS HAROLD (non-existent)
THIS castle stood in the S.W. corner of the county, about six miles from
the border, and being liable to attacks from the Welsh frontier, was well
fortified against them. The position chosen for it was where two streams
uniting formed an elevated triangle of ground, the larger one defending the

HEREFORDSHIRE 103
N. side, while on the S. and E. were a brook and ravine ; then a deep ditch
was cut across the neck, and the excavation thrown up into a huge mound,
in the usual manner, possibly in the tenth century. This circular burh,
measuring 120 feet across, and from 60 to 70 feet high, occupied the W. end
of the area, and upon it in Norman times was built a circular or polygonal
shell keep. On the E. was a courtyard where were placed the castle buildings,
and a curtain wall surrounded the whole, outside of which the slopes of the
ground fell thirty or forty feet.
Not a particle of masonry exists, everything, even to the foundations, having
been overthrown and removed for building purposes elsewhere.
In Domesday, this castle was held by Alured de Merleberge, or Marleboro,
a great tenant-in-chief in Wiltshire ; and in iioo it was owned by one Harold,
son of Randulph, Earl of Hereford, "The Timid," of Sudeley, Gloucester, a
grand-nephew of the Confessor. He had five sons (the castle of Sudeley
going to John), the eldest of whom, Robert de Ewias, had this castle, and
his grand-daughter Sybilla manded (i) Robert de Tregoz, (2) William de
Newmarch, s,p,, (3) Roger de Clifford, from whom sprung the earls of
Cumberland. Sybilla died 20 Henry IIL Her son Robert de Tregoz was
one of the barons killed at Evesham in 1265, and his son John de Tregoz,
dying in 1300, left three daughters, the eldest of whom, Clarice, married Roger
la Warre, whose descendants for three generations succeeded at this castle ;
but in 13 Richard II. it had been permanently alienated into the hands of
the Montacute family, and in 1429 (7 Henry VI.) Thomas, Earl of Salisbury,
possessed it. Thence it went, like other estates, to the Beauchamps, and finally
Edward, Lord Abergavenny, died seised of the castle and manor, as well as
of the manor of Treffort Ewias, Wiltshire.

FROME, KINGSLAND, and KINGTON (non-existent)

K

LL these places are known to have existed in Herefordshire, but even
their sites cannot now be traced.

GOODRICH (chief)

THIS splendid fortress occupies a commanding position on the top of a
red sandstone hill, forming a small promontory in the S.E. corner of the
county, on the border of Monmouthshire, and, environed with woods, has a
fine appearance with the Wye sweeping along its base. It was founded in
very early days, after an incursion of the Welsh hordes, in order to protect
the ferry below it, which formed part of the chief thoroughfare between
England and the marches of Wales. We find the possession of this castle by

I04

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

WiUiam the Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, confirmed by King John in 1203, the
king being strenuously supported by him against the rebellious barons. He
became, however, at the death of John, the mainstay of the kingdom, and was
appointed governor of the young Henry III. ; being chosen Protector of the
realm, he delivered it from the presence of a foreign army, defeating the French
with great loss at Lincoln, and thus putting an end to the Civil War. He died
in 1 2 19, leaving five sons, who all succeeded to Goodrich, but all of whom died
without issue — the eldest son, William, having married one of the king's daughters.

GOODRICH

The tomb of this great noble is to be seen in the Temple Church, together
with those of two of his sons. His daughters therefore succeeded to his estates,
the eldest bringing Goodrich in marriage to Warren de Monchensi (Mont Cenis).
Her only son William fought on the popular side in the Barons' War at Lewes,
and accordingly, after his capture at Kenilworth, his estates being forfeited
were granted by Henry III. to WUliam de Valence, the French half-brother to
the king, who was married to Monchensi's sister Joan ; he obtained restitution
of them later, but was kUled some years after, by the fall of a tower at the
siege of Drossellan Castle, when fighting under Edward I. He left an only
daughter, but the De Valences seem to have enjoyed Goodrich. William died
in 1296, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, and his son Aymer de Valence

HEREFORDSHIRE

105

was murdered in 1323, when attending Queen Isabella in France ; then Goodrich,
falling to his niece Elizabeth Comyn, went in marriage with her to her husband,
Richard, 2nd Baron Talbot. This nobleman served in the French wars of
Edward IIL, and gained much ransom-money there, which he expended on
the fortress ; he died in 1356, and was succeeded by his eldest son Gilbert, who
also served in France under the Black Prince. His grandson was Sir John
Talbot, ist Earl of Shrewsbury, who, after taking his share of all the fighting
in France during this reign and that of Henry V., was killed when eighty years
of age at Chatillon in 1453 (see Shef
field), His son was one of the band
of nobles who were killed fighting
round the tent of their sovereign at
the battle of Northampton in 1640,
when his possessions were seized by
the Yorkists and given to William
Herbert, Earl of Pembroke ; how
ever, John, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury,
managed, probably after the reverse
of the White Rose at Wakefield four
months later, to recover his estates,
and Goodrich remained with his de
scendants till the seventeenth cen
tury. Gilbert, the seventh earl, died
in 1616 without male issue, and Good
rich was inherited by his daughter
Elizabeth, wife of Henry Grey, Earl
of Kent. The castle was held in the
Civil War for the king, and bravely
defended against the forces of the
Parliament by Sir Henry Lingen in
1646 until, the fabric being much in
jured by the besiegers' heavy artillery
and the stores of the garrison being consumed, the fortress was surrendered,
when it was slighted by order of Parliament, and left a wreck.
The general plan of the castle is a parallelogram with large towers at the
four corners, protected by the river and a steep cliff on the N. and W. sides,
and on the landward side by a deep ditch cut in the rock, with a circular
barbican leading to a drawbridge at the N.E. angle, where the entrance lies
through a naiTOw vaulted passage, 50 feet in length, defended by gates and
two portcullises, and rows of machicoulis. Close to the entrance, on the left
hand entering the courtyard, is the chapel, restored temp. Henry VI. and VIL,
and attached to it is the warder's or deacon tower, a tall octagonal turret ;
VOL. H. O

GOODRICH

I APPROACH.
¦.i. BARBICAN.
3. MOAT.
4. DRAWBRIDGE.
5. ENTRANCE.
6. porter's LODGE.
7. INNER WARD.
8. BEACON TOWER.
9. CHAPEL.
10. STABLES.
IT. GARDEROBES.
12. STATE PRISON.

13. DUNGEON (below).
14. KEEP.
15. PUISON.
16. officers' TOWER.
T7. GREAT HALL.
18. ANTEROOM.
ig. /DRAWING-ROOMS (kitcliens
20. I under).
21. ladies' tower.
22. garrison stables.
23. breach in wall.
24. pleasaunce tower.

io6

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

next to which extended along the E. front a range of stabling for the lord
and his knights, with windows and seats looking down on the deep ditch.
Then comes a garderobe tower, and next to it at the S.E. angle the prison
tower in three storeys, on the recesses of which in the middle storey are
some curious carvings in relief, perhaps of the time of Henry IV., whose
cognizance, a swan, together with that of his victim Richard 1 1., a white hart
couchant, are there sculptured, with other figures. The old Norman keep
of the twelfth century stands near the prison tower, close to the outer S.

GOODRICH (LADIES' TOWER)

wall. It is a small building, 14 feet square internally, in three storeys, the
floors having been of timber, and its inner front contains two windows ; a
spiral stair in the N.W. corner leads from the first floor to the roof, the
entrance having been in the usual way by an exterior staircase, in a fore-
building, to the first floor on the E. side. Here is the breach made in the
outer wall by the Parliament cannon, at point-blank range, from the other
side of the S. ditch. The S.W. angle is occupied by the great circular W. or
officers' tower, which, together with the noble adjoining banqueting-hall, is
of the time of Edward I. ; this hall is 65 feet long by 30 broad, a proportion
usual in Edwardian halls, and has a good fireplace and trefoil-headed lancet
windows, together with a fine oriel ; at its N. end is the solar, with a window

Hl'.REFORDSHIRE 107
looking into the hall, beyond which, along the N. face, is the great reception
or baronial hall, at the W. end of which is a very fine double-pointed arch,
supported by a single shaft, at the N.W. angle, leading to the Ladies' Tower,
which formed the lodging of the family. A large portion of this tower has
fallen — the work, it is said, of the siege in 1646 ; but it is difficult to see where
the battering-guns of that period could have been placed, lielow this was
the pleasaunce or garden, with a small tower, and the garrison stabling.
In 1740, on the death of Henry, Duke of Kent, s.p,, Goodrich was sold to
Admiral Thomas Griffin, from whom it passed to his brother George, whose
daughter Catherine, married to Major Marriott of Sellarsbrooke, inherited the
property. In 1876 Mrs. Marriott gave the castle to her adopted daughter on
her marriage with Mr. Edmund F. Bosanquet of Goodrich Court, and Mrs.
Bosanquet is the present lady of the manor and castle.

HEREFORD (non-e.xistent)
THE absence of all vestiges of this great fortress exemplifies the lengths to
which a spirit of reckless destructiveness ancl careless vandalism, exerted
in favour of some supposed " benefit " to their precious townsfolk, freciuently
lead municipalities. This we have seen of recent years in the lamentable
destruction worked in Rome, where, amongst other outrages on that ancient
mother of cities, the beautiful gardens of Sallust with their buildings have
been swept away, and the pleasant valley levelled up, to build a vulgar
boulevard. Leland says that Hereford Castle had been " one of the fayrest,
largest ancl strongest castells in all England." It was nearly as large as
Windsor, enclosing an area of about 5! acres. A great portion of it re
mained into the last century, but in 1748 the site was levelled and converted
into "a public proiTienade" Stukeley speaks of it as "a noble work, built by
one of the Edwards before the Conquest." He says, "The city of Hereford
is encompassed with strong walls, towers, ancl lunets, all which with the
embattailments are pretty perfect, and enabled them to withstand a most
vigorous siege of the Scots army under General Lesly." The situation of the
castle was by nature very strong ; on the S. side, the river Wye, flowing below
the steep bank 20 feet high, and the eminence whereon it was built, effectually
defended that front ; while the little stream Eign in a deep ravine kept the E.
front ; and the N. and W. lines were protected by a broad moat. Speed gives
a rough view of this castle, showing on the E. the great outer court, called
the Castle Green, or bailey, surrounded by strong walls with flanking towers,
the entrance gatehouse being on the N. side, approached by a drawbridge
with stone arches across the moat ; on the W. end was a smaller enclosure
of pentagonal trace, walled, and with towers at the angles, which formed the

io8 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
inner court, in the centre of which stood, on a high artificial mound, the great
keep, consisting of a cluster of four or five lesser embattled towers with one
lofty tower in the centre. Of this massive and extensive fortress not a vestige
now remains ; even the great mound of the keep was levelled, and all that is
left are the names of the localities. Castle Green, Castle Street, and Castle Mill.
It is probable that in very early times a Saxon stronghold of earth was
formed here, upon which Earl Harold began to erect a castle of stone,
completed by others after his death. In the time of William the Conqueror,
Fitz Osborn, the first Norman earl of Hereford, was governor of this castle,
and these earls held it until Earl Milo, the son of Walter, the Constable of
England, espousing the side of the Empress Maud, received the castle of
Hereford from her, during her short period of success ; he was displaced by
Stephen, but his son and heir, Roger, was made governor by Henry IL, who
also restored to him his father's lost honours, together with "the mote and
whole castel of Hereford." This earl, however, joined with Mortimer in resist
ing this king's order for the demolition of the numerous unnecessary castles
that had been reared in England during the wars of Stephen and Maud,
especially on the Borderlands, and Henry withdrew to himself the earldom of
Hereford and the castle (cir. 1115). King John frequently came here, from
1200 to 1 2 17, when endeavouring to obtain for himself the assistance of the
Welsh, and in his time the castle was committed to the tutelage of Hubert de
Burgh, his Grand Justiciary. Henry III. was here as often as his father, and
it was at Hereford that the first hostile acts occurred at the opening of the
Barons' War. Peter, son of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, was then
governor, and hither was brought prisoner, after the battle of Lewes, Prince
Edward. Here too it was that the prince cleverly escaped on the horse he was
exercising on the plain of Widemar.sh, N. of the town, by previously tiring out
his companions' horses, and then riding away to the castle of Wigmore {q,v,). In
Hereford Castle, 17 Henry IIL, "a fair and decent chapel " was added tothe
king's apartments. Here it was that Queen Isabella, the " She-Wolf of France,"
declared her son, afterwards Edward IIL, Protector of the Realm ; here too
the younger Despencer, — the great favourite of Edward 1 1., — who had been
taken at Bristol, was hanged on a gallows 50 feet high. For a time this castle
was under John of Gaunt, but after the disturbances had been quelled on the
Welsh border, and no more troubles were expected, its repairs were neglected,
and so fell rapidly into disrepair. " It hath been decayed," says Leland in 1520,
" since the Bohuns' time " ; the last De Bohun, Earl of Hereford, being
Humphrey, who lived late temp. Edward IIL, and he adds that in his time the
drawbridge was " cleane down, and the whole castel tended towards ruine."
After the battle of Mortimer's Cross, Owen Tudor, stepfather to King
Henry VL, ancl some other officers of rank suffered death here, after confine
ment in the castle. In the Civil War of the Commonwealth, the keep, being

HEREFORDSHIRh: 109
fortified and defended, receix'ed much damage ; it was held by the Royalists
in April 1643, but on Sir William Waller appearing before it with a strong
force, it was surrendered to him after a very short resistance.
By a survey made in 1652, we learn that the outer court and governor's lodge
were then completely ruinous, for the fabric had evidently been deserted before
that date. At last a Colonel Birch sold to the county members and sundry
other representatives, for ;46oo> "^^ the circuit and precinct of the ruinous
castle of Hereford," when the ancient structure was left to the mercy of the
town authorities.

HUNTINGTON (non-existenl)

MR. ROBINSON shows us that a few fragments of walls .standing on
a circular hillock are all the remains existing of this castle, which was a
large one standing at the brink of a steep ravine which defended it on the
N. and W., while on the S. and E. it was protected by a moat, supplied by a
neighbouring rivulet.
North of the early mound, the outer walls formed an oval enclosure,
probably with towers, and on the mound there was a keep on the E. side, of
usual Norman construction. The entrance was approached by a drawbridge,
but what the buildings were in the court cannot now be known, though by
the manor rolls they seem to have been complete. The earthworks are very
perfect, and we see the outer and inner wards with the ditches and moat.
This castle seems to have been built temp. Henry IIL, and was then owned
by William de Braose, Lord of Bramber Castle and of Brecknock, and many
other places, which passed with Huntington to his widow Eva, sister of Richard
Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, and in 1248 to her daughter Elenor, married
to Humphrey de Bohun, eldest son of the Earl of Hereford. He joined
the side of Simon de Montfort in the Barons' War, and after the fight and
slaughter of Evesham, was sent prisoner to Beeston Castle in Cheshire,
where he soon after died. Still Huntington continued with the Bohuns
for four generations, and the story of this race of warriors is a part of the
history of our country. The last of them dying 1372 without male issue, his
two daughters inherited, the eldest marrying Thomas of Woodstock, sixth
son of Edward III., and the other Henry, then Earl of Derby, afterwards King
Henry IV. The latter, created Duke of Hereford by his cousin Richard 1 1.,
possessed Huntington Castle among others through his wife, and lived here
occasionally until his accession to the throne ; and it was here, at the ferry of
Huntington, that he heard of the birth at Monmouth Castle of his eldest son
Henry, who thereby .acquired the name of Henry of Monmouth. The earldom
of Hereford was then renewed in the person of Edmund de Staft'ord, Earl of
Buckingham, who married the only daughter of Thomas of Woodstock ; he

no CASTLES OF ENGLAND
was killed at the battle of Shrewsbury (July 31, 1403) fighting on the king's side,
when the castle came to Humphrey de Stafford, ist Duke of Buckingham, at
whose death in 1460 it was found to be in a ruinous state. The unfortunate
second duke Henry vainly sought refuge here from the wrath of Richard III.
A survey of the castle was made when Edward, the last duke, fell a victim
to Henry VIII. and Wolsey (see Thornbury, Gloucester), when there was
evidently a tower in it used as a prison, and in 1670 the keep too was
standing. After the attainder and execution of this last duke, the manor
and the ruins became the property of the Crown, and then passed through
many hands by sale. In 1818 Huntington was bought by Edward Watkins
Cheese, whose representatives continue to hold it.

K I L P E C K (non-existent)
ABOUT seven miles from Hereford stood this once important Border
fortress. It was by design of great strength, in order to restrain the
incursions of the Welsh tribes. The Conqueror granted it to William
Fitz Norman, who was succeeded by his son Hugh, and grandson Henry de
Kilpeck. King John seems to have used the place as an abode when on his
frequent journeys to the Welsh marches. Hugh de Kilpeck, about the middle
of the thirteenth century, left a daughter who married William de Waleraund
or Waleran, who thus obtained Kilpeck. His son Robert was a Royalist
baron of much importance during the Civil War in Henry III.'s reign ; he
was one of the ambassadors to the French king in 1253 and 1260, and Sheriff
of Kent and Gloster. The insurgent barons confiscated his lands, but the
King, for whom he fought at Evesham, rewarded him with grants of Hugh
de Neville's forfeited estates, and made him one of the four governors over
London. He died without issue in 1272, leaving Kilpeck to his nephew and
heir, Alan de Plukenet. In the Wars of the Roses, Kilpeck fell to the Crown,
and was given by Edward IV. to William Herbert, ist Earl of Pembroke ;
he however was taken prisoner at the battle at Edgecote (1469), and was
beheaded at Northampton by order of the Earl of Warwick. After this, the
castle came into the possession of James Butler, ist Earl of Ormond, and
early in the seventeenth century it passed to the family of Pye, at which
time it was in a decayed condition, and though during the war in Charles'
reign it held a garrison under Sir Walter Pye, it was of little use as a fortress,
and was slighted and demolished. The Pyes followed James II. into exile, and
had the title of Barons Kilpeck. Two large fragments of the keep, enclosing
a space of from 70 to 80 yards in diameter, are all that remain now of this
Border stronghold, built of massive masonry upon an elevation near the
church. The site is partially surrounded by two wide moats or ditches, and

HEREFORDSHIRE iii
as the hill they enclose is lofty, and the sides very steep, the situation was a
commanding one in the valley of the river Worme. The keep w;is a polygonal
shell one, set on an ancient Saxon artificial mound, and surrounded by eai th-
works of still greater antiquity.

KINNERSLEY (non-rxislcnt)
THERE was a mediaeval castle here, belonging to the De la Bere family,
who held it from the fourteenth till late in the sixteenth century, but
the existing Elizabethan house, which was built on the site of the castle,
has obliterated all traces of it.

LONGTOWN (minor)
THIS is one of a chain of fortresses built along the frontier to re
strain the incursions of the Welsh, and was formerly called Ewias Lacy,
or Clodock Castle. It stands on the site of a Roman station, and was reared by
W. Fitz Osborne, the first Norman Earl of Hereford, who also built the castles
of Wigmore and Clifford, and others ; from him it went to Walter de Lacy, a
warrior of Senlac, who died in 1085, when his family continued in possession.
We find Walter de Lacy (see Ludloiv, Salop) rebelling against John, and having
a heavy fine to pay to retain his lands, a usual method with that king for obtain
ing money. He was son-in-law to WiUiam de Braose, Lord of Bramber and
Brecknock, and Maud his wife, who with some of her family were starved to
death by John at Windsor (see Bramber, Sussex), De Lacy was faithful to
Henry IIL, and died worn out and blind in 1241, when his two grand-daughters
inherited his estates ; the younger of them married John de Verdon and
brought him Longtown. De Verdon went to the Holy Land as a Crusader
with the expedition which Prince Edward (afterwards Edward I.) led there in
1270; he died in 1274, and when his son died without male issue, his grand
daughter Elizabeth succeeded to the property ; she was married to Bartholomew
de Burghersh, who was one of the most distinguished warriors of Edward III.
in the French wars, and was made a Knight of the Garter. Their son was the
famous Thomas de Spencer, Earl of Gloucester, who adhered too closely to his
king, Richard 1 1., and thereby lost both his lands and his life.
His only daughter Isabel married Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester,
whose heiress Elizabeth Beauchamp became wife of Sir Edward Neville, K.G.,
ist Lord Bergavenny, who thus obtained Longtown, and with whose descen
dants the lands still remain.
Longtown clearly occupied a position of much importance in times of
border warfare, and was a place of great strength. Its trace resembled that of

112 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
many similar fortresses. An outer wall, about 20 feet high, enclosed a bailey or
court measuring nearly 100 yards on the square, in the N.W. angle of which,
on an artificial mound, stood a circular tower or keep, of which the greater
part still remains, having three round buttresses or turrets at equal distances,
between which are circular openings for windows (Mjirray). The walls are
very thick, and are composed of a hard laminated shale built in thin layers.
Access to the inner court is through an arched gateway defended by a portcullis
and strong circular flanking towers.

LYONSHALL (minor)
LYONSHALL is mentioned in the Survey of Domesday as Lenehalle, in the
_j possession of Roger de Lacy, and was temp. Edward the Confessor the
property of Earl Harold, son of Godwin, and under the De Lacys it was held by
a branch of the family of d'Ebroicis or Devereux, who afterwards became its
lords. One Stephen of that race adhered to the fortunes of King John, and his
successor fell fighting on the side of the barons at the battle of Evesham, in 1265,
when his lands were seized and granted by Henry III. to Roger Mortimer of
Wigmore ; the disinherited son, William Devereux, however, on payment of the
fine of 100 marks, obtained restitution of Lyonshall Castle. Litigation appears
to have supervened, and the castle afterwards passed to William Touchet (temp.
Edward II.), on whose death it became part of the estate of Bartholomew, Lord
Badlesmere, " a great baron and as great a rebel," as he is called. The story
of the offence given to Queen Isabella in 1321 is told in the account of Leeds
Castle, Kent (q,v,), and it is probable that the ignominious death inflicted on
this baron, who being taken in arms with the Earl of Lancaster at Borough-
bridge the next year was brought to Canterbury and hung there, was owing to
the resentment of the queen at the insult offered to her by his wife at Leeds.
At any rate Badlesmere's son Giles was permitted to succeed in the estates,
and the attainder was reversed in 1328 in his favour ; he died, however, s,p,
in 1338, and his sister Maud inheriting Lyonshall, brought it to her husband,
John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford, who fought at Cre9y and Poictiers.
Towards the end of the fourteenth century, we find the estate transferred to
Sir Simon Burley, who was a Knight of the Garter, and had been a favourite
companion of the Black Prince ; but he did not long enjoy it, for being con
cerned in the attempt of the Duke of Gloucester, uncle of Richard 1 1., to
usurp the royal authority, he was charged with high treason, and executed.
Richard then conferred Lyonshall upon Sir John Devereux, the husband
of Margaret, daughter of John, 7th Earl of Oxford, who also succeeded
Burley in his stall at Windsor and other honours ; but in default of male
issue, his daughter brought the castle in marriage to Walter, 5th Baron

HEREFORDSHIRE 113
Fitz Walter, and again in the same way (temp. Henry V.) Lyonshall got
back into the Devereux family, where it remained until the death of
Robert, 3rd Earl of Essex, in 1641. His daughter, who was Duchess of
Somerset, inherited it, and at her death bequeathed it to the Thynnes, whose
descendant, the first Marquess of Bath, sold Lyonshall to John Cheese, and the
representatives of that gentleman still possess the castle site.
The fortress was never made use of as a residence after the early part of
the fifteenth century, and so fell into decay, as has been the fate of all such
structures not suited to the improved requirements of the age. If the owner
at that era was not wealthy enough to remodel or rebuild, he deserted the old
fortress, whose accommodation was too scanty or too rude for the growing
refinement of the family. Leland says, " It seems to have been a noble structure,
but now [cir. 1538] nothing remains of it but the old walls." At the present day
one can trace the form and extent of the castle by the two moats which still exist,
and by the walls of the inner bailey, which are tolerably perfect. These walls
enclosed an irregular space, about 60 yards across, with towers at the angles.
On the N. side was a circular keep, about 12 yards in diameter, entered by a
flight of steps on the S. As was generally the case in this country, the church
was built close to the castle, and now the former alone survives.

M O C C A S (non-existent)
HUGH DE FRENE had a licence in 1291 (21 Edward I.) to buUd a stone
and lime wall to fortify his house, such wall to be of the height of
ten feet below the crenellation or battlement ; and his family were here in
1375. The site can still be traced in a meadow on the E. side of the park,
having a swampy circle round it, and a few grassy hillocks (Robinson),

MORTIMER'S CASTLE
VERY little is known about the castle that bore this name, except that it was
one of the fortresses belonging to that powerful family. In the beginning
of the last century its site could be traced near the church, but all marks are
now effaced.
PEMBRIDGE (minor)
THIS castle, distant five miles from Monmouth, was a fee of the Honour
of Wigmore, and was thus held in the beginning of the thirteenth
century by Ralph de Pembridge, whose abode it was, though their chief seat
was at Pembridge town. It was afterwards appended to the manor of
VOL. II. P

114 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Newland, and was held temp. Edward III. by Richard Pembridge, whose
son Richard was a great warrior, and a very important officer on King
Edward's staff in the French wars, fighting at Cre9y, and at the siege of
Calais, and obtaining great renown at the battle of Poictiers. The king
rewarded him with many honours, making him Custodian of Southampton
Castle in 1361, and then of Bamborough Castle ; he was also Lord Warden
of the Cinque Ports. In 1368 he was made a Knight of the Garter, and
appointed Chamberlain of the Royal Household ; he died in 1375, and his
tomb in Hereford Cathedral is well known. His castle of Pembridge was
inherited by his sister, who was the wife of his comrade in arms. Sir Richard
Burley, a nephew of Sir Simon Burley of Lyonshall {q,v.), and a soldier of
almost equal renown. Sir Richard had one of the principal commands at
the battle of Auray, Brittany, in 1364, and distinguished himself greatly in
other engagements in France ; he likewise obtained the Garter in 1382, and
a splendid monument adorned his tomb in old St. Paul's. He too left
no issue, and after his death we find Pembridge possessed by the Hopton
family ; they gave way in 1427 to Thomas, Duke of Exeter, the third son
of John of Gaunt. It then fell into the hands of the Knights of St. John,
and after the Reformation, in the sixteenth century, it belonged to a family
named Baynham, and in the next century it was sold to Sir Walter Pye, knight.
During the Civil War it was held, in 1644, as an outpost of the royal
forces, lying at the king's fortress of Monmouth. After the dastardly betrayal
of the latter castle, Pembridge underwent some severe usage at the hands
of the Parliamentary forces under General Murray, and was taken after a
two days' siege ; it was, however, recaptured by the Royalist troops, when,
after an investment lasting two weeks, provisions failed the garrison. The
castle was afterwards bought from the Pyes by one George Kemble, who
repaired the ruins and rendered the place habitable in 1675. Afterwards
we find it sold by the Townley family to Sir Joseph Bailey, baronet, and
the structure is still owned by his descendants.
The trace of this fortress is quadrangular, enclosing an area of 45 yards by
35, the walls being protected by a moat 36 feet wide, with a defensible banquette
of earth behind it. Part of it is in a tolerably perfect condition, although
many of the buildings have disappeared, and what is left has been con
verted into a farm-house. The entrance is on the S. side, and is flanked by
two unequal circular towers, the approach being through a long vaulted passage
of pointed arches, 33 feet in length, well defended throughout by three
gates and two portcullises. Of the keep in the S.W. angle only the basement
remains ; and the great hall has been converted into a parlour and kitchen
for the farmer. In a square turret is a curious staircase formed of solid
blocks of oak 5 feet long, which is undoubtedly original ; there are also in the
old fortress some remarkable towers which well deserve examination.

HEREFORDSHIRE

115

PENZARD
THIS was a castle belonging to the Talbot family in the thirteenth century,
or perhaps only a fortified hunting lodge, like Knepp in Sussex (q.v,), in
the wooded hillside above Weston, near Ross. There are still to be seen some
fragments of massive walls and the remains of groinings (Robinson),

RICHARD'S CASTLE (non-e.xistent)
THE place of this name is remarkable as having been possessed and built by
a Norman lord, one Richard Fitz-Scrob, of the court of the Confessor, before
the Conquest. It stood below the summit of the Vinnall Hill, which extends
from Ludlow, on the borders of Shropshire, and commanded a grand and very
extensive prospect

VoJ^

over the rich lands
of the Welsh fron
tier. Placed on the
very high ground of
the spur, it is amply
defended on the W.
and S. by a broad
and deep ravine in
clining to the S., and
by a lesser valley on
the N. which meets
the gorge below the
castle ; upon the E.
side had been raised
vast prehistoric de
fences of earthwork.
Just above the meet
ing of the two glens
had been thrown up
a vast and steep
mound, 60 feet in
height, with a summit 30 feet in diameter, 300 feet above the valley, and sur
rounded by a deep ditch, beyond which was a high rampart of earth, and, on
the E. side, a second ditch.
The Norman parvenu coming here found himself opposed by Earl God
win and the English in 1052, and again by Harold in 1056, but he appears

RICHARD'S CASTLE

ii6 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
to have held his ground, and after the coming of Duke William, Fitz-Scrob
received from the Conqueror further grants of land in this county and else
where. He probably was at the outset obliged to further fortify his position,
and this he did by erecting on the crown of the mound some sort of Norman
keep, supporting it by two massive wing walls of masonry on either side, which
ran down the sides of the mound, and thus divided it in half, N. and S. ;
he connected their two extremities by a semicircular wall, along and round
the counterscarp of the ditch ; then within this segmental enclosure were
built the lodgings and other works of the castle. Outside this wall encircling
the mound ran the outer moat, which was supplied with water from a brook
above. From this founder and his son Osbert, came Hugo Fitz-Osbert or Osborne,
in the reign of Henry I., whose descendant dying cir. 1200, left a daughter
Margaret at that time married to Robert de Mortimer, but who had, as her
third husband, William de Stuteville, the possessor of the manor. He died
in 1259, and devised the manor and castle to his stepson, Hugh de Mortimer,
who actively espoused the king's side in the Barons' War, and received other
lands from Henry in reward for his services. His descendants enjoyed
the property until from want of male issue an heiress brought it in marriage
to Sir Richard Talbot of the Eccleswall family ; but after the lapse of
many years this estate seems to have fallen to the Crown, since we find
Edward VI. granting Richard's Castle to Nicholas, Bishop of Worcester.
Then one Rowland Bradshaw obtained a long lease of it, and marrying into
the Solway family, his son and grandson possessed the place, and the latter
sold it to Richard Solway, the son of a member of the Long Parliament,
whose descendants are stiU proprietors of the old ruin and of the parish of
Richard's Castle.
Leland says : " It standeth on the toppe of a very rocky hill, well wooded.
The Keep, the walls, and the Towers of it stand, but going to Ruyne." A serious
engagement took place near this castle during the Civil War in 1645, between
a body of Royalists 2000 strong, under Sir Thomas Lansford, who was sur
prised by the Parliamentary leader. Colonel Birch, and was routed with much
slaughter. At the present day, all that survives to show us where this important
old border stronghold stood are some fragments of very massive walls hidden
in woods. The waU on the N.E. slope is " tolerably perfect" (Clark), as is that
on the N.W. front. " Farther on the wall seems to have been lifted with gun
powder, and a vast fragment lies in the ditch." The entrance was in an arch
on the S. side.

HEREFORDSHIRE 117

SNODHILL (minor)
THE ruin of this fortress, for 200 years the abode of the Chandos fainily,
is on the top of a low hill in the Golden Valley, and near the vanished
castle of Dorston. The manor was a barony of this family under the
Plantagenet kings, and their manors were held subordinate to the superior
court held within these walls. A follower of the Conqueror, with the queer
surname of I'Asne, held Snodhill at the Domesday Survey. Then we find
(temp. Henry I.) that Roger de Chandos owned it, and his descendants appear
to have held the honour of Snodhill during the time of John and during the
four succeeding reigns. A Roger de Chandos was knighted, and was governor
of Hereford Castle, dying in 1355. His grandson Sir John held this castle
against Glendower in 1403 ; he died s.p, in 142 1, when the Chandos ownership
ended. The castle during the reign of Henry VI. became the property of
Richard Nevill, the mighty Earl of Warwick, in right of his wife Anne
Beauchamp, who after her husband's death at Barnet, and the accession of the
Lancastrian King Henry VIL, settled this castle on the king. Queen Elizabeth
conferred it on her worthless favourite Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester ;
and in 1665 we find it purchased by one William Prosser of London, whose
initials with the date 1665 appear on the house of Snodhill Court, which he
erected out of the materials of the old castle. It still continues in the Prosser
family. The keep is Norman and octagonal in shape, and therefore it is likely
that the castle was built before the end of the twelfth century. One of
the gateways is tolerably perfect, being of Edwardian architecture, and with
a portcullis groove, and there are still some fragments of the walls of the
outer bailey. The place was ruinous even in Leland's time, and it suffered
severely at the hands of the Parliamentary forces. Many cannon-balls have
been found among the ruins.

STAPLETON
ON the extreme N.W. confines of the county was a mediaeval castle,
an appanage of Richard's Castle. In 1314 it became the property
of Sir Geoffrey de Cornwall, a natural son of Richard, king of the Romans,
brother of Henry IIL, and a family of the name of CornewaU held it till
the beginning of the eighteenth century. The castle was demolished in
1645 by the Parliam(Jntary troops, to prevent it falling into the king's hands,
and a farmhouse occupies its site.

ii8 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

WEOBLEY

THIS castle stood on the S. side of the town of that name; it was held
by one William Talbot on behalf of Maud the Empress against Stephen,
but it was captured by that king, as were the neighbouring castles of Hereford
and Ludlow. A sketch of the plan of Weobley is to be found in the Harleian
MSS. (6726), Library of the British Museum, which shows its appearance in the
seventeenth century. The trace is a four-sided enclosure of considerable length,
having the S. wall much longer than that on the N. side, with circular towers
at the four corners, and a semicircular bastion midway on each E. and W.
curtain. The entrance was on the N. side between two square towers. At
the S. end of the area, almost touching the S. curtain, was the keep, a square
building with round towers at each angle, standing on a mound, and having
walls 12 feet thick. In front of the keep are shown two quadrangular buildings,
marked " dwellings."
At the entrance of the town exist some large grassy mounds, surrounded
by a wide ditch, the ground enclosed being planted with fine timber trees.
Walter de Lacy was lord of this castle temp. John, and was married to
Margery, daughter of William de Braose, the powerful lord of Bramber,
Sussex (q.v.), whose family were starved to death by John ; De Braose took
refuge here in 1208-9. After De Lacy the castle was owned in succession by
the Verdons, the Blounts, and then by the family of Devereu.x, and so it came
to Walter Devereux, the unfortunate favourite of Elizabeth, by whose daughter
Frances, Duchess of Somerset, it passed in time into the hands of the Marquis
of Bath.
WIGMORE (chief)
WIGMORE is a most interesting ruin among the many castles of the
Welsh borderland, having been in its days of prosperity the splendid
abode of the warlike family of the Mortimers, who intermarried with the
Plantagenets, and themselves begat kings of England.
Ralph de Mortimer, one of the most valiant among the followers of Duke
William at Hastings, whose kinsman he was, being sent by him against
Edric, Earl of Shrewsbury, the then lord of Wigmore, gained possession of
his castle of Wigmore, after a siege, and led the earl himself in bonds to the
king, who consigned his prisoner to perpetual confinement, and granted his land
to Mortimer. Ralph's grandson Hugo or Hugh took part against Henry IL,
but being worsted was forced to surrender the castle to the king. In the fourth
generation later we find Roger de Mortimer, during the Baron's War, an eager
and active supporter of the side of Henry IIL; he was married to Maud,

HEREFORDSHIRE 119
daughter of William de Braose, the lord of Bramber in Sussex (q.v.) and of
large estates in Wales, whose bloodthirsty character seems to have been inherited
by his daughter, as we shall see. This Roger Mortimer was a young, violent
partisan, who, in 1263, by his desolating ravages on the neighbouring pro
perties of barons opposed to the king, which naturally provoked retaliation,
may be said to have begun the war. He was prominent at the storming of
Northampton, and took part in the battle of Lewes in 1264, when, after being
made prisoner, he must have found means to get back to Wigmore, since in the
following year we find him assisting there at the escape of Prince Edward from
the custody of the barons at Hereford. This escape was cleverly managed. The
prince, who was treated as a prisoner on parole, was allowed the companionship
of some of his friends, and took riding exercise with them beyond the town.
A fine and spirited horse was presented to him, whose paces and speed he
expressed a wish to try in order to approve its fitness for a tournament ; so the
party with the escort repaired to the plain N. of Hereford, called Widemarsh,
where the prince, first trying and retrying the horses of his escort, galloped them
till they were exhausted, and then mounting his own fresh horse rode straight
away from the party, followed by two or three of his friends who were in
the plot, and who, meeting the horsemen sent out by Mortimer to assist him,
conducted the prince in safety the twenty-four miles to Wigmore Castle (see
Hereford and Kenilworth). This escape raised at once the hopes of the
Royalist party, and obliged a counter-movement on the part of Simon de
Montfort and the barons, who on both sides collected their forces, and in
August of the same year (1265) the fatal battle of Evesham was fought, where
De Montfort lost his life, and where Mortimer commanded the third division of
the Royal army. Not however content with his death, the old hero's body was
mutilated in a horrible manner by the Royalists, and, with an excess of savagery,
Roger de Mortimer caused de Montfort's head, fixed on a spear-point, together
with his hands, cut from the body, to be sent as a worthy offering to his wife at
Wigmore. When the messenger arrived there with this fearful trophy he found
the Lady Maud away from the castle, attending mass at the neighbouring abbey
founded by the Mortimers, and thither he followed her, still bearing the head, and
having in his bosom the maimed hands, sewn up in a cloth. It is said that the
lady refused to admit the hands into the castle, which implies that she received
the head. Mortimer was rewarded for his services with the forfeited earldom of
Oxford and the lands, but the De Veres managed to recover both shortly after.
The grandson of this man was the historical character of Edward the
Second's reign. When in 1322 Queen Isabella took up her quarters at the
Tower of London, she found in prison there two Mortimers, condemned for
treason and attack on the property of the king's favourite, Despencer. The
elder of them, Roger, the uncle, died of starvation ; but Roger the nephew,
the heir of Wigmore, being a handsome fellow of good address, managed

I20 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
to get into the good graces of the queen, and eventually became her
paramour. With Isabella's help, he obtained commutation of his death-
sentence into imprisonment in the Tower, and afterwards, when convicted
of further treason, he made his escape by the queen's aid, and fled
to Paris. Then began the hostility of Isabella to the Despencers, and
later to the king, from whom she separated in 1325 for ever, to go to
Paris to her brother Charles le Bel, King of France — the cruel torturer and
murderer of the Knights Templar, — where she was joined by Mortimer. The
scandalous attachment of the queen to Mortimer, leading to the murder
of King Edward, attracted the odium of the nation against him. He was
taken from the queen's side in Nottingham Castle in 1330 (see Notting
ham), conducted to London and hanged at Tyburn (being the first person
executed there), and all his estates and honours, including the earldom of
March, were forfeited to the Crown. His grandson, however, obtained
their restoration, dying Earl of March and K.G. in 1360. His only son
married the Lady Philippa Plantagenet, daughter and heiress of Lionel, Duke
of Clarence, third son of Edward IIL, whose son, Roger Mortimer, was,
in his mother's right, declared by Parliament heir presumptive to fhe Crown,
failing issue of Richard II. He, however, was killed when Deputy in Ireland
(1398), and his only son Edmund, 5th Earl of March, died s.p., when the
representation of the great house of Mortimer devolved on the son of his
sister Ann, married to Richard, Duke of York, grandfather of Edward IV.
Thus Wigmore and the vast estates of the Mortimers fell to the throne, where
they rested till Elizabeth granted them to one or two persons ; but in 1601
Wigmore, with a large estate, was conveyed to Thomas Harley of Brampton
Brian (q.v) for ;^26oo. Here Sir Robert Harley was born, and, when Lord
High Treasurer to Queen Anne, took his titles of Earl of March and Baron
Wigmore from them, and his descendants continue in possession of the property.
The ruins of Wigmore extend over a large area, standing on rising ground
above the stream that flows around. On the W. and N. it is defended by
precipitous ground, but the dismantling which it received after the Civil War
has destroyed most of its features. It has a square trace in the outer walls
with four corner towers. The Norman keep, placed on a still more ancient
high artfficial mound, overlooks a wide range of country, and from this tower
a strong battlemented wall is continued to the main buildings of the castle ;
at the bottom of the hill is a second wall, each wall being defended by a
ditch. A drawbridge led to the entrance gateway, on the S. side of the
castle, and this is the most perfect part remaining ; the right tower has a
staircase leading to the porter's room, from which the portcuUis was worked.
Lady Brilliana Harley wished to garrison it for the Parliament, like
Brampton (q.v), but Colonel Massy not being able to spare men and stores
for its defence, it was decided to slight the fortress.

HEREFORDSHIRE 121

WILTON (minor)
THIS castle stands on the right bank of the Wye, which in former times flowed
beneath its E. front, opposite the town of Ross, and is almost hidden by
overshadowing trees. Leland says it was built by Stephen in iiqi, to defend
the ford over the river, but Henry I. had before granted the manor of Wilton
to Hugo de Longchamp, to hold by service of two men-at-arms in the wars in
Wales, and so it is possible that it was Longchamp who built the castle. His
descendant, Henry de Longchamp, had a daughter Hawisia, who brought it and
the lands in marriage to Reginald de Grey, Lord of Monmouth. Their descen
dant, Henry de Grey of Wilton, the fifth baron, was ancestor of that noble
family, who held the title of Wilton till the beginning of the seventeenth
century, and the lands belonged to Lord Grey de WiUon till 1555, when
Edward, Lord Grey, being prisoner in France, had to sell Wilton to pay his
ransom ; then in the reign of Elizabeth the property was conveyed to the Hon.
Charles Brydges, second son of Sir John Brydges, ist Baron Chandos (see
Sudley Castle, Gloucester), who was in Queen Mary's household. He was
Deputy -Lieutenant of the Tower when the warrant was issued for the
execution of the Princess Elizabeth, and his delay in obeying the mandate
was the means of saving her life It was in his day that the castle was
rebuilt and added to. His eldest son, Giles, was created a baronet in 1627,
whose successor. Sir John, incurred the enmity of his compeers and of the
county by abstaining from taking any part in the war between king and
Parliament, as he preferred to keep out of the way, and betook himself to
Ireland. On his return after the war was over, the people of the county
showed their aversion to him by burning down the greater part of Wilton
Castle. At his death in 1651, his only son. Sir James, succeeded to the barony
of Chandos; he died in 1714, and was succeeded by his son — the "Timon"
of Pope — who was created Marquess of Carnarvon and Duke of Chandos.
He parted with all his Hereford property about 1732, when Wilton Castle was
purchased by the trustees of Guy's Hospital, and is still held by that institution.
A small modern house has been incorporated with the S. end of the ruin.
The castle commanded the strong five-arched bridge (built 1599) which
spans the rushing Wye opposite the town. It was a quadrilateral enclosure
of 75 yards by 65 (about an acre), surrounded by a high curtain wall with towers
at the four corners. That on the N.W. angle is a fine octagonal turret of
three storeys, in tolerable preservation, the middle floor being furnished with
good pointed windows. The N.E. tower has vanished, as likewise that which
held the S.E. angle. The curtain wall, which was battlemented, remains upon
three sides, and has a semicircular bastion on the E. face, i.e. fronting the river ;
the entrance was probably in the S.W. corner (where was a gateway that has
VOL. II. Q

122 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
disappeared), with a drawbridge across the broad and deep moat which still
surrounds three of the faces. This was probably supported by a barbican.
On the S.W. angle was the keep, of which a large portion exists, and upon
the S. side are two large portions of the walls of the sixteenth-century mansion,
which was burnt after the Civil War. The kitchens, at a great depth below
the present level of the ground, can also be seen, and a fine bay-window
in the apartments which are said to have received Queen Elizabeth. These
later buildings are of the soft red sandstone of the district, and the whole of
the area within the walls is now a fertile kitchen and fruit garden. AU traces
of buildings and of the lodgings, which must have been reared against the walls
within the enceinte, have quite vanished, but in the cellars beneath the inha
bited part of the castle are several lancet and pointed arches of the thirteenth
century, with stairs in perfect preservation. The three lofty openings in the W.
wall mark the position of the great hall.

SHREWSBURY

Sbropsbire

ACTON BURNELL (minor)
LELAND wrote that Acton Burnell was "a goodly manor place and
castle, 4 myles from Shrewsburie, where a Parliament was kepte in
a great barne. It longed once to the Lord Lovel, then to the Duke
^ of Norfolke, & now to Sir John Dudle N.B. Burnelles daughter was
married to the Lorde Lovel, thereby the Lovelle's landes increased."
Robert Burnell was a priest who in the reign of Henry III. was tutor to
Prince Edward. The king wrote of him as his "beloved clerk," and sent him
with the prince to the Crusade ; but Burnell returned home before his master,
and at the death of Henry III. in November 1272 was appointed, with the
Archbishop of York and Roger de Mortimer, to the Regency during Edward's
absence, who on his return in 1274 bestowed the Great Seal on Burnell.
Having thus become Lord Chancellor as well as Lord Treasurer, Burnell was
the following year consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells. Acton was his native
place, and he purchased the manor of it, and had here a house and a park.
Edward I. stayed with him here in 1282, and two years later granted his old
tutor a licence to strengthen with a wall of stone and lime, and to crenellate
his mansion here, and also one to cut timber in the king's forests for the
building. It is likely, therefore, that the old house was pulled down, and the new
building erected some time between 1284 and 1292, the year of the bishop's
death (T. H. Turner). 123

124 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
This eminent man died at Berwick while attending the king, when his
nephew and heir, Philip Burnell, obtained his large property. He must
have been a man of high standing, for he married Matilda, the daughter of
Richard Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundel ; but he enjoyed his fortune for two years
only, dying 1294, and was succeeded by his son Edward, who, however,
died s.p. in 131 5, when his sister Maud inherited, and carried Acton to her
husband, John Lovel, ancestor of the Lords Lovel, in which family the castle
and lands continued till their forfeiture by Henry VIL, after the battle of
Stoke (see Castle Cary, Somerset).
Henry VIII. gave Acton Burnell to the Earl of Surrey, among other
rewards, for his great services in the war which ended in Flodden Field.
Afterwards the property came into the possession of the family of Lee,
and in the reign of Charles II. Sir Edward Smythe married the heiress of Sir
Richard Lee of Acton Burnell, and in his family it still remains, the present
owner being Sir C. F. Smythe, Bart., whose seat is the more modern mansion of
at the same locality.
The ground plan of the building is a parallelogram measuring about
95 feet by 60, each corner being capped by a projecting turret, and the whole
was battlemented throughout, and defended by a broad moat. The tower
walls are very thick, and they contained dwelling apartments, the whole
internal space of the building being occupied by large chambers, of which
the hall, on the N. side, was 54 feet by 24 feet, and took up in height the
whole of the three storeys of which the castle was composed. All this internal
building has been destroyed, and stabling erected in its place ; but the fine
transomed pointed windows of the hall remain, and many interesting archi
tectural details which are treated of in detail, and illustrated in the valuable
work of Mr. Hudson Turner. Since Bishop Burnell also built the episcopal
palace at Wells, the style of both buildings is similar, being Early English
passing into Decorated.
Close to the castle are two curious gable waUs, the remains of the earlier
buildings, which formed the two ends of a huge barn, whose length was
157 feet, and width 40 feet. To these remains a high interest attaches, since
this barn is supposed to have witnessed, in the autumn of 1283, the assembly,
by adjournment from Shrewsbury, of the first Parliament in which the
Commons had any share by legal authority. " In this assembly we find the
earliest legitimate traces of that popular representation of the constitution, to
which, under God, Englishmen have been indebted for aU their subsequent
prosperity." The nobles were probably assembled in the manor-house hall, under the
presidency of the king, and the Commons are said to have met in a tithe
barn near by. The laws confirmed here are known as the Statute of Acton
Burnell.

SHROPSHIRE 125

ALBERBURY (minor)
ALBERBURY was a small manor, on the W. of Shrewsbury, held at
Domesday by Roger Corbet of Cans, and under the Corbels there was a
castle which served as the fortress of the Fitzwarines before they obtained
Whittington, as feoffees of the Corbels. Apparently, in 11 45 Fulk Fitzwarine
was here. All the family seem to have had the pre-name of P'ulk, and were
men of importance and power, esteemed by their sovereigns. The third Fitz
warine of King John's reign turned against that monarch and joined the side
of the barons, and he was among the excommunicated ones in the Bull of
Innocent III. in 1215. He made his peace, however, with the young King
Henry in 1221, and was permitted to strengthen Whittington Castle. The
fourth Fitzwarine was killed at the battle of Lewes in 1264, fighting on the
king's side, being drowned in crossing the river. Towards the end of this
reign Alberbury passed to a junior branch of the Whittington family, namely
that of Fulk Glas, who were there in 1324.
The drawing given by Eyton .shows the massive walls of a small keep of
rectangular form, of which two corners exist, and the curtain wall is extended
to the church, which, as usual, is close at hand.
This castle, as well as that of Wattlesborough, stood in the ancient park
of Loton.

A P L E Y (non-existent)
APLEY is situated one mUe to the N. of Wellington. It is said to be the
third castle built here, the original one having been erected by John de
Charlton, who owned the manor and married Hawise, the heiress of Powis
Castle ; he obtained in 1308 a licence to crenellate his house. The present
owner of the site. Colonel Sir Thomas Meyrick, Bart., who is a descendant
of this founder, still holds the original document.
There are no remains whatever of this first castle, and what is left of the
fine Jacobean mansion that succeeded it is used as an outhouse for a third
castle of Apley. The second house was built at a cost of ;^6ooo by one
Thomas Hanmer, who had married the widow of Francis Charlton, and was
living when the Civil War broke out. Being so near to Shrewsbury, the
fortress was coveted by both sides, and the owner, being obliged to declare
himself one way or the other, or have his house blown up, fortified it for the
king, arming his servants and tenants for a garrison. But the place was very
soon taken from him, and at once dismantled, after being plundered to the
extent of ;^i500, and the lead of the roof taken away for the repairs of
Shrewsbury Castle.

126 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

BISHOP'S CASTLE, or LYDBURY (non-existent)
THIS castle, which was six miles N. from Clun, was reported by Leland to
be " well mainteined " and " set on a stronge Rokke, but not very hy."
There are now no traces of it, — the site being occupied by a bowling-
green attached to the Castle Hotel, — with the exception of the old wall
enclosing the green, on a level with the second floor of the inn. It was
built about seventy years after Domesday by a bishop of Hereford, — that
is, between 1085 and 1154, and it was then called Lydbury Castle, its inten
tion being to guard the great episcopal manor of this name, whose lands
had been given to the Church by a Saxon lord before the Conquest, in
memory of his having been cured of palsy at St. Ethelbert's shrine. The
bishops incurred the military service of Lords Marchers by virtue of their
tenure here.
In the reign of Henry II. it was in the hands of Hugh de Mortimer,
who, however, had to surrender it to the see. The bishops do not appear
to have cared for it as a palace, for in the Barons' War we find the king
insisting on the personal residence of a bishop, under threats of forfeiture,
whereon the prelate returned to Lydbury, but only to fall into the hands
of the rebellious barons, and to suffer imprisonment in the castle of Eard-
island. In July (47 Henry III.) Sir John Fitz Alan of Arundel came to Bishop's
Castle, and took it by storm, its Constable being treacherously slain, when its
contents were plundered, much grain and some armour, including "an iron
surcoat of the Bishop," being taken.
There is an account of a visit here of four days, in May 1290, by Bishop
Swinfield with a large suite, and thirty or forty horses. The bishops of
Hereford enjoyed full feudal rights of the seniory, with their, forest lands,
deer park, dovecotes, and gardens, and the garrison of the castle was effi
ciently provided for by the tenants of the great Lydbury estates, who all
owed service here.
In 1610 James I. granted the manor and castle to Arthur Ingram and
Thomas Williams, who in 1618 transferred the same to Henry, Earl of Arundel,
together with the honour of Clun. From that time the castle appears to
have been neglected, and allowed to go to ruin, since no allusion occurs to
it during the Civil War of the seventeenth century.
An old sketch of the fortress shows an outer ward surrounded by a wall
on one side and a rampart on the other, with an entrance gatehouse and
a drum tower in front of the keep, which appears as a rectangular building
with turrets at the four corners, and its entrance flanked by two circular
turrets. It was built in two storeys and a basement, and was evidently a
place of great strength.

SHROPSHIRE 127

BRIDGNORTH, anciently called BRUGGE and BRUGES {mvwr)
ETHELFLEDA'S Mound, raised by that Lady of the Mercians in 912 at
the river-side as a fortification against her neighbours, is still there ; it
was called in the time of Edward I. the Old Castle, and its modern appellation
is Pam-pudding Hill. It is but a short distance from the commanding site
above the bridge over Severn whereon afterwards the fearful third Earl of
Shrewsbury, Robert de Beleme — "The Devil Belcme" — built his castle. On
the death of Hugh de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1098, his elder
brother Robert, of Beleme in Normandy, obtained the earldom from the Red
King, but retained it for four years only, being then outlawed for treason against
Henry I., in supporting the just claims of that king's elder brother Robert,
Duke of Normandy.
During his tenure he had transferred the settlement of a borough with
a castle and church, made by his father and mother. Earl Roger ancl the
Countess Adeliza, at Quatford, a short distance down the river, to this place,
where he reared a very strong Norman castle on a barren rock, which was
naturally fortified on three sides by ravines, and on the fourth overhung the
Severn at a still greater elevation. The original building was doubtless the
usual square keep, called for long after in the Rolls, the Tower of Brug, and
though it is said to have been erected within a year, was yet of sufficient strength
to stand a vehement siege.
The king having with great sagacity first come to terms with his brother,
Duke Robert, and induced him to return to Normandy, promptly proceeded
in force against the conspirators. He cited Beleme to appear before him,
and then, proclaiming him an outlaw, went with a strong force against his
castle of Arundel in Sussex, which he took, and sending the Bishop of London
to besiege the earl's house of Tickhill, he passed northwards against him in
person at Bridgnorth, where he had been working day and night to complete
the defences of the new fortress. Beleme had effected this before the king
could arrive, and had garrisoned the castle with stipendiary soldiers under the
command of Robert Corbet, while he himself retired to await the king at
Shrewsbury Castle. Henry came with all his army to Bridgnorth, and laid
siege to the castle ; after three days he summoned the fortress a second time,
threatening to hang the whole garrison, whereon Corbet surrendered the place
to him. The king then advanced to Shrewsbury, and Robert de Beleme, seeing
the game was up, hastened to make peace, and meeting the king on the road,
threw himself at his feet, and sued for mercy. His life was spared, but he
was sent prisoner into Normandy, and his estates and castles were forfeited
to the Crown. It is said that this Earl Robert died paralytic in St. Osyth's
Priory in Essex, a place founded by him as a set-off against his many crimes.

128 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Thenceforth Bridgnorth was a royal castle, whose importance may be
fairly estimated from the large amounts expended on its repairs and improve
ments during succeeding reigns, its custody being remitted to the sheriffs
of the county.
In 1 155 Hugh de Mortimer of Wigmore, a supporter of King Stephen,
defying Henry II. here, was besieged by him, but was soon forced to
yield the place, which was at once garrisoned for the Crown. The most
interesting story connected with this siege is that of the devotion of Hubert
St. Clair, Constable of Colchester, who, while reconnoitring with the king,
saved Henry's life at the sacrifice of his own by interposing his body to
receive a shaft aimed at him from the walls.
King John was here on five several occasions, on one of these being
entertained with costly festivities. On another visit here it is related of this
scrupulous monarch that, having on a Friday indulged in food twice, he
atoned for this misdeed by feeding one hundred paupers with bread, fish,
and beer. Henry III. also was frequently at Bridgnorth on account of
the disputes between himself and Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, and its
Constable, Hamo le Strange, held the castle bravely for him against De
Montfort. During the civU war, about 1321, which followed Edward II.'s pursuit of
Badlesmere, the confederate barons besieged Bridgnorth, burned the town
and took the castle, when the king came with a strong force and retook it.
He came here again, a fugitive from Mortimer, who led him thence to his
deposition at Kenilworth (q,v), Shakespeare makes Henry IV. name Bridg
north as the point for assembling his army before the battle of Shrewsbury.
Charles I. in the fourth year of his reign granted the castle to Gilbert North,
one of his gentlemen, who at once sold it to Sir William Whitmore of Apley, in
whose family it has ever since continued. The town was Royalist in the seven
teenth century, when it and the castle were put into a state of defence in 1642,
and Charles and his two sons were there and lodged in the castle eight days
before the battle of Edgehill. He was here again in 1645. In March 1646
the Parliamentary Committee holding Shrewsbury sent a party of horse and
foot against Bridgnorth and summoned the place, but received from Colonel
Howard, commanding in the castle, a defiant reply. The Roundheads then
attacked the town at three points, and penetrating through St. Leonard's
churchyard opened the town gates and took possession, the Royalists retreat
ing to the castle and firing the town. A furious siege against it was then
commenced ; a battery was established on Ethelfleda's Mound, and a bom
bardment kept up for three weeks, but with little effect. It was next
determined to undermine the walls, and a large hole was made on the
S. side of the hill, which can still be seen, called Lavingstone's Hole ;
the governor, accordingly, being short of ammunition, and foreseeing that

SHROPSHIRE 129
the explosion of a mine here would ruin his defences, capitulated with
all honours.By order of the committee, the castle of l^ridgnorlh was entirely demolished,
and in the lapse of time the whole of the ruins have been taken away with
the exception of an immense corner fragment of the Norman keep, on
the S.E. of the Castle Hill, which having been undermined and partially
thrown over, is called the Leaning Tower.
King, in his Munimenta Antiqua, says that, from the fragment left of the
keep, it was a building 41 i feet squaie, containing three storeys, and had walls
8 to 9 feet thick. The side of the tower next the town was covered with iron
hooks, said by tradition to have been placed for hanging woolpacks during
the siege ; but King thinks them far more ancient, and that they rather remind
one of the savage custom which sometimes prevailed of fastening the bodies
of enemies on the outside of the walls of fortresses.
Mr. Eyton in his paper on Bridgnorth shows that in 1281 this castle was
in grievous disrepair ; the great tower was rotted, from the lead having been
carried away from the roof ; the chambers in the barbican were uninhabitable
and threatened to fall ; the king's and the other stables were thrown down and
the woodwork was stolen ; the bridge, too, was in so bad a state that it
could scarce be crossed on foot. Again, after the lapse of 250 years, Leland
wrote thus of the fortress : " The walles of it be of a great height. There
were 2 or 3 stronge wardes in the Castle, that nowe goe totally to ruine.
I count the Castle to be more in compasse than the third part of the
towne. There is one mighty Gate by North in it, now stopped up, and one
little posterne made by force thereby through the wall to enter into the
Castell. The Castell ground & especially the base court hath now many
dwelling houses of tymbre in it newly erected."
There is a pleasant terrace walk about the ancient walls nearly 600 yards in
compass, which was much admired by King Charles I.

BRONCROFT (non-existent)
LITTLE is known of the origin of this castle. Leland calls it "a very
J goodly place like a Castell longging to the Erie of Shrewsbire. It stondeth
in the Cle Hilles." The present building has the appearance of a farm-house.
It was made a royal garrison in King Charles' war, but, like other untenable
quarters hereabout, was abandoned by the royal troops in January 1645.
A strong force of 500 foot and 300 horse from Shrewsbury garrison then made
a reconnaissance through that part of the country to block Ludlow, and viewed
Broncroft and Holgate, both of which stations had been greatly demolished.
The latter place was left untouched, but at Broncroft they made repairs, and
VOL. II. ^

I30 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
placed a garrison under Lord Calvin, who fortified it anew. It was then the
property of Mr. John LuUey, whose family inhabited the house for many
generations. Of late years the castle, which is believed to have been built in the
fourteenth century, has been restored, and converted into a stately residence
by the present owner, Mr. James Whitaker. It lies about five miles S.E. from
Rushbury station. C A U S (minor)
CAUS is believed to be the place called " Alretone " in Domesday, whose
lord, then Roger Fitz Corbet, built a castle and called it Caux, from his own
Norman home. The situation is most imposing, being on an isolated eminence
overlooking the valley of the Rea, about ten miles W. of Shrewsbury.
Cans is shown to have been by some means in the hands of Pagan or
Pain Fitz John, sheriff of this county in 1134, at which time Ordericus relates
that it was taken and burnt by the Welsh. The Corbets renewed their
tenure at the accession of Henry II., and Roger Corbet became baron of
Cans, and in 1155 attended the king at the siege of Bridgnorth (q,v,) against
Robert de Beleme. In 1165, probably on the death of this Roger and the
minority of his heir, it was garrisoned by the king.
In 1 217 the castle was again in royal hands, owing to a recent rebellion of
Thomas Corbet, eldest son and heir of Robert, the holder of the barony, but
it was restored to the family at the end of the same year. The three grandsons
of this Thomas Corbet all dying s,p, before the middle of the fourteenth century,
the barony passed (temp. Edward III.) to the descendants of his daughter
Alice, the wife of Robert de Stafford, and thence to the earls of that name.
With them it remained, like their other properties, till the execution of the
last Duke of Buckingham, when it was forfeited to the Crown, but was at
length restored to his son, by whom the property was sold to Robert Howard
(temp. Elizabeth) ; from him it came to Lord Weymouth, whose family held
it during the Civil Wars.
The ruins of Cans Castle give no clue to the date of its erection ; for
the masonry remaining is little more than rubble hearting, from which all
the ashlar facing and dressings have been removed. The massive keep, which
stood on the summit of a lofty conical mound, partly raised and scarped
from the natural hill, and proving the prior antiquity of a former fortress
here, can be traced.
An old drawing, copied into "The Garrisons of Shropshire in 1642 to 1648,"
shows this castle with its lofty and steep mound, its enceinte wall forming a
parallelogram round the crest of the hill, with a massive round tower at each
corner. This formed the outer ward or bailey, from the E. end of which — that

SHROPSHIRE 131
nearest to the mound— is formed a three-sided inner ward, having another
round tower at its inner corner, with its walls running up to the mound,
half of wliich is thus included in the work, as at Castle Aci'e, Clare, and other
places. The commanding keep w;is probably one of the shell type, and the
whole formed an enclosure of about six acres. At the foot of the hill was a
ditch. In the time of King John there was a town which covered eight acres al
the base of the hill. An enormous well existed in the castle, which can still
be traced, and vestiges of other water-works e.-m be found on the N. side,
near the brook supplying the great ditch, intended for the necessities of the
crowd of country-folk who, with their cattle, might take refuge in this strong
hold during a sudden irruption of the Welsh.
In the Civil War a force of 300 men held Cans for King Charles, and in June
1642, as it still displayed the royal colours, a strong force under Colonel Hunt
was sent against the place, and, as is related, "sat down before Cause Castle, a place
of great strength and little inferior to Basing : it standing on a rock not mineable ;
which was surrendered to them after seven days' siege. By this the country is
cleared on that side Severne to Ludlow, and so quite up to Montgomery."
To exemplify the effect of the war on the proprietors of such castles. Lord
Henry F. Thynne, the owner of Cans, having submitted to the committee at
Shrewsbury, before December 1645, was imprisoned and fined ;^i75o. He
then went to the Fleet, and so late as 1652 was unable to raise sufficient
money to clear the claim. His family appears to have been in great
distress.
CLUN (minor)
THE village, church, and castle of Clun stand in an amphitheatre of hills
in the ancient forest of Clun, on the left bank of a bend of the river of
the same name. The castle is placed on a mound which has been originally
formed by cutting and scarping a natural elevation of rock surface, surrounded
by a deep ditch on its S. and E. sides, the river bank forming its defence N.
and W. It was further defended on the S. and E. by three other raised and
scarped platforms on the other side of the castle ditch, each of these again
being separated and insulated by ditches or moats. It is not known when
these four mounds, or burhs, were formed, but the strength of the position
was early recognised by a Norman follower of the Conqueror, Picot de Say,
and taken possession of and held by him, together with Hopton, as a fief of
Roger de Montgomery, the great Earl of Shrewsbury.
Picot lived till 1098, and was succeeded by his son Henry (alive in
1 130), and next by Hellas de Say, whose daughter Isabel, the Lady of
Clun, married, first, William FitzAlan ; secondly, Geoffrey de Vere ; and
thirdly, William Boterell, in whose time the castle was stormed and burned

132

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

by Llewellyn. FitzAlan left a son, William, who inherited Clun, and
probably built this castle on the site of the original timber one which
had been burnt. John, the third FitzAlan from him, acquired through
his mother Arundel Castle in Sussex ; he died 1267, leaving John Fitz
Alan, lord of Clun and Earl of Arundel; he died in 1272.

,er C^^^ze

^^"^mMimiiiim^^^^^^

%

%

\%TAeTobI %

11^
''I #"%^ ".nn'M

CLUN

About that time a report was made on this fortress, in which it appears
that a bridge existed, and that outside the castle was a bailey enclosed by a
ditch and gatehouse. Clun continued to be held by the FitzAlans, but
they no longer resided here, and when Philip, Earl of Arundel, died under
attainder in 1595, his son Thomas did not retain Clun, which King James
granted to the brother of that earl's grandfather, Henry Howard, Earl of
Southampton, and his descendants sold the property. It lately passed to the
Duke of Norfolk, under whom careful restoration is proceeding.

SHROPSHIRE 133
The barony or honour and hundred of Clun formed a tract of vast
extent, having on the N. and W. sides the ancient forest of the same name,
extending to a radius of about five miles. From this forest four streams descend
ing combine to form the river Clone or Clun, which, a short distance from their
union, now a stream of consideiable volume makes a sudden bend to the
S. and then again another eastward, enclosing a space in which, on the
left or inner bank, the fortress of Clun is situated, thus surrounded on
three sides by the river. Within this space there is a cluster of rocky knolls
that have been artificially scarped and formed into raised platforms and
mounds, whereon the works of the castle were placed. The most northern
forms a lofty mound, the top of which is 40 yards in diameter, and standing 60
feet above the enclosing ditch, which area formed the inner ward, on which are
the remains of the keep. Southward are three other islands, forming the defences
and approaches on this side, and divided from each other and the first mound
by ditches. On the inner side of the platform on the W. appear the rudiments
of the bridge which led to the central mound, the approach road from
the village lying through this work. In the middle of the third platform on
the E. is a hollow pool which perhaps formed a stew and was furnished
"with sluices.
When these earthworks were formed it is impossible to decide, but it was
probably in the ninth or tenth century {Clark) ; they were taken by the
Normans, and made into a stronghold, which in the twelfth century developed
into buildings of which we have now some remains.
The keep is a rectangular tower built, like Guildford, on the edge of the
mound, measuring 68 feet by 42 feet, with walls 11 feet thick, and with three
storeys. Its height is about 80 feet, and the floors were of timber. The W.
wall has disappeared. The quoins were strengthened with pilasters of the late
Norman style, and ended perhaps in corner turrets. Each floor had five
windows and a fireplace, the second containing the state rooms, and the upper
one the bed-chambers. The entrance door is on the S. side, and a mural stair
case led to the several floors. Round the summit of the mound ran a curtain
wall attached to the keep on two sides, two large fragments of which remain,
and within the enceinte is a small artificial mound, which seems to have carried
a separate tower. There are no traces of walls on the outer platforms, the
defences of which may have been of timber.
Further earthworks appear some way to the E., and beyond the fine old
church of St. George, where is a natural ravine, whose sides have been
scarped. Clun is supposed to form the scene of Sir Walter Scott's " Betrothed."

34 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

ELLESMERE (non-existent)
ELLESMERE, which lies between Oswestry and Whitchurch, was the most
important castle entrusted or granted by Henry I. to his half-brother
William Peverell of Dover, and was fortified against Stephen in 1138 by his
nephew, William Peverell the younger, for this lord naturally and gallantly sup
ported the cause of his cousin, the Empress Maud, in the south, afterwards
ending his life of devotion in Palestine. Henry II. on his accession resumed
possession, but in 11 77 gave EUesmere to David ap Owen, who had married his
illegitimate sister Emma.
King John held the castle himself, but gave it in 1205 to his son-in-law,
Llewellyn ap Jorworth, the husband of his natural daughter Joan, who forfeited
it by rebellion, recovering it afterwards from Henry III. In the Welsh wars it
again became royal property, and was granted to Prince Edward, after being
repaired at the king's expense. The "Mad Parliament" of 1258 made Peter de
Montfort governor of EUesmere, and in 1260 Hamo le Strange was rewarded
for his loyal services by a grant of the place for seventeen years, which on the
death of Simon de Montfort was extended into possession of the fee ; he died
at the Crusade of 1270, s,p,, when EUesmere was seized, but was given up in
1276 by Edward I. to Roger le Strange, Hamo's brother, a great and successful
man, who was Sheriff of Yorkshire, and Justice of the Forests E. of Trent. At
his death, it again reverted to the Crown (131 1), and was farmed to different
people till 1330, when Edward III. gave it back to the Strange family, in the
person of Eubolo le Strange, and then to his brother, who transmitted the
property to his descendants. Thus it continued till the heir-general carried
EUesmere to the Stanleys. Eyton says that at present this barony is in abeyance
between the representatives of the three daughters and coheirs of Ferdinando
Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby of his line (see Middle Castle),
In 1644 Prince Maurice took up his residence at EUesmere, defeating a
cavalry attack by Colonel Mytton in the neighbourhood at Oateley HaU. The
fortress was utterly destroyed, ancl its site is now occupied by a bowling-green.

HOLGATE (minor)
THIS castle lies about six miles to the N. of Ludlow, in the head of Corve
Dale. It was owned by a soldier of the Conqueror named Helget, whose
son or grandson, Herbert Fitz Helget, entertained Henry I. in 1109 at this place,
which at that period must have been a timber stronghold taken from its Saxon
lord, and strengthened by its new Norman master. In 1115 a court was held
here to settle some disputes regarding the estates of the priory of Wenlock.
In the reign of Richard I. the manor and castle passed to the Mauduits

SHROPSHIRE 135
of Warminster, as collateral heirs of Helget, but the barony was forfeited by
them in the Barons' War, and, temp. Edward I., was sold to Richard, Earl of
Cornwall, the king's uncle, who conveyed it to Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and
Wells, the chancellor (see Acton Burnell), By an inquest held in 1295 it is thus
recorded : " The old castle is not to be retained because it is worth nothing."
In the next reign the heiress of Burnell brought Holgate by marriage to the
Lovels, with whom it rested till the forfeiture of the last lord, Francis Lovel,
in the reign of Henry VII. (see Castle Cary, Somerset), when that king gave
Holgate to Jasper, Duke of Bedford, at whose death it reverted to the Crown ;
Henry VIII. granted it to the Duke of Norfolk, beheaded by Elizabeth, but
before his death he had exchanged it for lands of the Dudley family.
Holgate became the property of the Cressetts before 1584, and it continues
with their descendants, being now in the possession of Mr. Thursby Pelham.
When the Civil War broke out between King Charles I. and the Parliament,
Holgate received a royal garrison, but, as it was deemed untenable, the Royalists
abandoned it, as they did Broncroft, and they then dismantled and demolished this
fortress so completely, that in 1645 the Parliamentary Committee of Shrewsbury
reported it as too far dilapidated to be worth holding, and in this state it was left.
The ruins consist of a fine circular tower, built into the modern farm-house,
which tower is perhaps the surviving portion of the Norman castle, while an
ancient lofty mound, standing near it on the edge of what was the water
defence, shows that a far earlier settlement had been formed, where perhaps
the Norman lord built a keep. The tower, which has a conical roof of wood,
has a broad spreading base, ancl is lighted by loops on two floors. When this
castle was rebuilt is not recorded.
The neighbouring church is Norman.
HOPTON (minor)
THE castle of Hopton lies about five miles S.E. of Clun, and one mile from
Hopton Heath railway station. The remains consist of the strong square
keep of a fortress of the Decorated period, in good preservation, standing on
a knoll of gravel in a low situation, and surrounded by a circular moat fed by
a passing streamlet. The manor was granted by the Conqueror in his third
year, as we learn by a curious metrical deed, which runs thus :
" I, Will king, the third of my reign.
Give to the Northern Hunter,
To me that art both Laine and Deare,
The Hoppe and ihe Hoptoune,
And all the bounds up and downe,
Under the earth to Hell,
Above the earth to Heaven," &c.

136 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
The place was a fief of Clun, and was held by Picot as the successor of Edric.
In 1 165 it was held by Walter de Opton, as two knights' fees, under Geoffrey de
Vere, one of the three husbands of Isabel de Say (see Whittington) — that is,
Sai near Exmes, the Norman viscounty of Earl Roger) — and by Peter de Opton
in 1 201. Then two Walters de Hopton succeeded from 1223 to 1272, on the
tenure of war service to Clun Castle, and the family continued here for many
generations, enjoying much of the surrounding property.
In the reign of Henry VI. the heiress of Thomas Hopton married, first, Sir
Roger Corbet of Moreton ; secondly, the Earl of Worcester; and lastly, SirWilliam
Stanley. Hopton went to the Corbets, and by an heiress of that family to the
Wallops of Hampshire, one of whom, Henry Wallop, a fierce republican, owned
it during the Civil War of the seventeenth century, whendhe old castle was still
strong enough to stand a violent siege. It was held for the Parliament by one
Samuel More with a small garrison of thirty-one men, and was attacked in
February 1644 by a Royalist force which took the outer wall, and then retired
for a week or so, returning 500 strong, under Sir Michael Woodhouse, when
the place was summoned in the name of Prince Rupert. A fierce attack fol
lowed, in which a breach was made, but was repulsed, whereon the Royalist
force again retired for a week, and came back with three pieces of ordnance.
A fresh summons being rejected they bombarded the castle ; ninety-six shots
were fired, and a breach was again made, and unsuccessfully stormed ; but the
next day the governor, finding the castle was mined, asked for a parley, and
surrendered unconditionally, other terms having been refused him.
The Parliamentary account makes out that the garrison were inhumanly
mutilated and butchered by the king's troops, which is a very unlikely story,
although 150 Royalists were killed in the siege. The fortress was then
dismantled. Hopton was long the property of Mr. Salwey Beale, whose ancestor purchased
it early in the last century, but Sir Edward Ripley, Bart., is the present owner.
From the tower mound with its earthworks and ditches, the work is evidently
of Saxon origin. The keep measures 50 feet by 48, and the walls are 10 feet
thick ; each angle is strengthened by a broad projecting pilaster on both faces,
which quoins were probably carried up in turrets above the battlements. The
entrance is in the N.W. angle by a circular stair, and a gateway without port
cullis, but well guarded by a bold machicoulis chamber overhead. The base
ment forms a single large chamber with several mural recesses and a garderobe ;
the floors above this were of timber, and a spiral stair led to them, the first
having recesses like the lowest stage, and some windows of large size. The roof
was formed with two gables, N. and S., and a ridge roof over, and altogether
it was more like a Scottish than an English tower ; it is all of one date, being
probably the work of Walter de Hopton, who died 1304 or (305, and who seems
to have been a man of wealth and power (Clark),

SHROPSHIRE 137

K N O C K Y N (non-existent)
THE fortress of Knockyn, which lies six miles S.E. from Oswestry, was one
of the outer chain of castles on the borders of Wales. It was founded
by Guy le Strange of Weston and Alveley (temp. Henry IL), and passed at his
death in 1179 to his son Ralph, who dying s.p, 1195, left his three sisters his
coheirs. They and their husbands concurred in transferring Knockyn, manor
and castle, to their cousin John le Strange of Ness and Cheswardine, since " a
Border Castle and Estate was no fit matter for female coparcenary" (Eyton),
This castle followed the fortunes of Middle Castle (q,v), and passed to the
Stanleys. It was first demolished in the troublous times of King John, and was
repaired by John le Strange in the following reign.
There is now scarcely a vestige of the castle remaining, its stones having
been appropriated for building the churchyard wall and the adjacent bridge,
and even for road mending-. The site of the keep is to be seen.

LUDLOW (chief)
LUDLOW, the glory of the Border castles, chief of the thirty-two that guarded
J the Welsh Marches, occupies the summit of a rock which stands over
the river Tene at the point of its confluence with the Corve, from whence
they flow together to meet the Severn. The green meadow-lands on the N., as
we now see them, were anciently a marsh protecting the fortress on that side
as effectively as did the river channels elsewhere. The broad point of this
promontory, having thus a natural defence upon two sides, was chosen, in very
early times probably, for the site of a fortress. One Osborne Fitz Richard
was the Norman lord of the place called Lude, after the Conquest, and from
him Roger de Lacy is believed to have obtained enough land to build a castle
shortly after Doomsday. In 1088, however, he rebelled against Rufus in favour
of Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, and again in 1095 he took part in the
Mowbray or second rebellion, when he was exiled, and his possessions, torn
from him, were bestowed on his more loyal brother Hugh, who died s.p,
between 1108 and 1121, when the estates were escheated to the Crown.
Henry I. then gave Ludlow to Pagan, or Pain, Fitzjohn, but on his being slain
by the Welsh in 1136, Stephen placed here a Flemish knight. Sir Joyce de
Dinant, who is said to have completed the building of the castle, and is called
" a strong and valiant knight." He it was who built at this time the beautiful
circular Norman chapel in the middle ward, and extended the structure gene
rally over the ground as we now see it. Before, however. Sir Joyce could
obtain his grant King Stephen had to wrest the castle from Gervase de Paganel
VOL. II. s

138

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

who in 1 139 held it on behalf of the Empress Maud, and who offered an
obstinate and successful resistance. It was at this siege of Ludlow that Stephen
is said to have by bodily strength and great courage rescued his hostage. Prince
Henry of Scotland, from being seized and dragged off his horse by a grappling-
iron (unco ferreo) thrown on him from the walls which he had incautiously
approached. On the accession of Henry II. we find Joyce de Dinant at war with Hugh
de Mortimer, lord of Wigmore, whom h.e contrived to waylay and capture, and

LUDLOW

then immured in a high turret at Ludlow, called to this day Mortimer's Tower.
Sir Hugh only regained his liberty by payment of 3000 marks, together with
all his plate, horses, and hawks. Sir Joyce died s,p. about 1166, when Henry II.
gave Ludlow to Hugh de Lacy, a descendant of the original lord by a sister of
Roger and Hugh de Lacy. This Hugh was a powerful baron both here and
in Ireland; but on his suspected treachery the king seized on Ludlow in 1181,
and retained it till 1190, when, Hugh de Lacy being slain in Ireland, he allowed
the lands to go to his son Walter, who was made to pay a fine for Ludlow in
1206 by King John. That monarch, however, seized the castle the next year,
and gave it in charge temporarily to several barons, restoring it at last in 12 14
to Walter de Lacy. He died in 1241, when Ludlow went to a granddaughter.

SHROPSHIRE 139
who was married, first to Peter de Geneva, one of the foreign favourites of
Henry IIL, and, secondly, to Geoffry cle GeneviUe or JoinvUle, who had custody
of Ludlow and held half the manor, Matilda's other sister Marjory having
the other half, and being married to John de Verdon. Matilda's son Peter de
GeneviUe then succeeded.
Rishanger says that Simon de Montfort, in his raid into Wales after the
victory of Lewes, actually reduced Ludlow Castle (1264), but it was certainly
recovered by the Royalists after the escape of Prince Edward from Hereford
Castle in May 1 265, and it was here that the prince assembled his friends and
their forces before the battle of Evesham, being joined by Gilbert de Clare,
Earl of Gloucester.
Peter de GeneviUe had Ludlow from his father and mother in 1283, but
he predeceased them in 1292, leaving three daughters, two of whom became
nuns. The other, Joan, carried the whole GeneviUe property, and a moiety
of the great estates of De Lacy, to her husband Roger de Mortimer, ist Earl
of March (born 1287), famous as the paramour of Queen IsabeUa, the "She-
Wolf of France," and who, taken at Nottingham Castle (q.v) by Edward IIL,
was hung at Tyburn in 1330.
Ludlow soon eclipsed Wigmore as the caput of the Mortimer baronies ;
hence in a short time Wigmore was deserted for Ludlow, and fell into neglect
and consequent ruin. Roger Mortimer's story is sufficiently told in the memoirs
of Nottingham and other castles. His eldest son Edmund died the year after
his father's execution, leaving a son Roger, in whose favour Edward III.
repealed the judgments against his grandfather, and restored to him his title,
with Ludlow and other large possessions. He died in 1360, and was followed
by his son Edward (born 135 1), whose marriage with the Lady Philippa, the
daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III., gave to his son
and heir, Roger, a title to the throne of England, as heir-presumptive, which
was recognised by Richard 1 1., and worked incredible woe to his country in
the Wars of the Roses. Being appointed Viceroy of Ireland, he was slain
there by a party of rebels when his son and heir was a child of six years. The
fourth earl obtained by exchange with the Ferrars family the moiety of Ludlow
which had gone to the Verdons by the marriage of the coheiress Marjory,
and the fifth earl therefore, Edmund, now enjoyed the entire Ludlow estates.
This Earl Edmund held a command in the French wars under Henry V.,
having been as a boy, together with his brother, the jealously watched
prisoner of Henry IV., whose right to the crown was undoubtedly second to
his (see BerkJiamstead and Windsor). He died s.p., at the age of only twenty-
three, when his nephew Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, son of his sister
Anne, Countess of Cambridge, was returned heir to his honours, including
Ludlow ; his son, afterwards Edward IV., enjoyed them as an appanage then
of the Crown.

140

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

Ludlow Castle became famous in its later days as the place where the Lords
Marchers (Barones Marchice) held the courts of their peculiar jurisdiction.
In 1472 King Edward gave the Castle to his two young sons as a residence,
and here they remained till 1483, when they were taken by their mother to the
sanctuary of Westminster, from which their uncle Richard III. removed them to
their prison in the Tower of London, where they were subsequently murdered.
Henry VII. also made Ludlow the abode of his eldest son. Prince Arthur,
coming here frequently to visit him ; and here the prince died in 1502. Under

Henry VIIL it was neglected and fell into disrepair, although still used by the
Lords President as the Court of Council of the Marches under the Prince of
Wales. In 1559, however. Sir Henry Sidney was appointed by Elizabeth Lord
President of this Council, and he retained the post and lived here in much state
for twenty-seven years, during which time large alterations were made on
the castle. Sidney built the gatehouse into the middle ward (on which is an
inscription dated 1581) and the bridge leading to the castle, and he repaired
the chapel and the structure generally, particularly the keep, which was used
as a prison for the principality, the inner ward forming the exercise ground
for the prisoners. He died in 1586.
In 1642 1:he Earl of Essex with an army of 20,000 horse and foot advanced

SHROPSHIRE

141

against Ludlow, where Prince Rupert had entrenched himself very strongly,
and opened batteries against it, which were replied to by guns from the
castle. It was shortly after abandoned by Rupert and taken possession of by
the Parliament, which could not have held it long, as in May 1643 we find Sir
W. Waller again besieging the castle, to which it had been planned that the
king should retire in the event of the fall of Oxford. In March 1645 Prince
Rupert was here again preparing levies to receive the king, and in May Colonel
Birch sat down before it with 700 horse and foot, the castle being under the
command of Sir M. Woodhouse with 250 foot and 100 horse. By July, however,
Birch must have re
tired, as Charles came
there after Naseby, and
held a council in the
castle, at which a levy
was decreed of one
foot soldier from every
person worth .£'30 a
year, to be maintained
at his charge, and from
those of an income of
;6^200 was demanded a
horse and rider. In
May 1646 Ludlow, the
only royal garrison in
Shropshire, was sur
rendered to the Parlia-
inent. Then it was
dismantled by order
of the committee, and
in 165 1 the fittings and
furniture were sold.
The Court of the Councd continued to be held here nominaUy after the
Restoration, but this was abolished by William III., at which time the rooms of
state were all in tolerable repair. George I., however, caused the destruction of
the old fortress by selling the lead off the roofs. Buck's drawing of 1731 shows
the outer walls almost uninjured, therefore much ruin must have accrued since
that time. The Powis family held a lease of the place, which was in 1811
converted into a freehold.
At the site of the castle, before described, the point of the promontory was
cut off by a great ditch like a quadrant excavated in the rock from cliff to cliff,
13 yards wide and 4 yards deep, inside which the main fortress was erected,
with a line of walls following the cliff edge and carried round the curve of the

LUDLOW

142 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
ditch. By prolonging the N. and W. walls and returning them on the E. and
S. a large outer court was formed, of rectangular figure, containing about
four acres.
The entrance gatehouse is in the middle of the E. curtain, and N. of it is a
square Norman tower projecting from the wall. On the W. curtain is an
Early English bastion of semicircular form, closed at the gorge, called
Mortimer's Tower, in three storeys ; and in the S.W. corner, where was the
junction with the town wall, are the ruins of some later buildings. Against the
E. wall is a range of Tudor stabling.
The entrance in Castle Street is through a Decorated gatehouse with two
flanking walls covering the drawbridge, and under a low-pointed gateway— the
walls here being 35 feet high and 6 feet thick. Crossing the outer ward we
enter through a second gateway, by a bridge over the ditch, under a low arch
which is a Tudor insertion in the Norman wall. There is no portcullis, and the
long passage has doors on the left into the keep and porter's lodge, and on the
right into the lodgings.
The keep, which stands on the highest part of the ground, and consists of
a basement and three floors, was probably built by Roger de Lacy, and forms
on its S. face part of the wall of the ward ; it is rectangular, and has had later
constructions added to it on the E. and W. The basement is vaulted, and has
an arcade of Norman work. A newel stair conducts to the several floors ; the
first being a room 30 feet by 17J feet, having a mural chamber and a garde
robe, and the stair communicates on both sides with the walls, an unusual
feature in a keep. The floors were of timber, and Tudor windows have
replaced the Norman lights.
The salient is formed by a group of towers with wondrous thick walls,
having the buttery below, and giving exit to a large sewer. Set against this is
a second tower, half octagonal, from which stretches S.E. a strong short wall
forming the W. end of the great hall, of which the curtain continuing is its
N. side, pierced with three tall Early English windows on the exterior. Below
this wall on the outside is a broad platform, whence a second steep slope
descends to the fields beneath. Beyond the Hall are the state apartments, and
attached to these, projecting from the wall, is an immense garderobe tower
of five stages. Then come the private lodgings, of Decorated style, with much
Tudor alteration and insertion. The N.E. angle of the inner ward ends in a
Norman tower at the junction of the inner and outer curtain walls. This outer
wall, which continues along the N. face and curves round to the first-named
square Norman tower, seems to have been partly rebuilt in Elizabeth's reign as
far as a smaU postern. The outer ditch has been filled in for a great length of
time. The Hall was a grand chamber, 60 feet long, 30 feet broad, and 35 feet
high to the springing of its open roof ; all this and the state rooms are of
Decorated work of the fourteenth century.

1. ." ... .^'^.".^ .i'S^'

J^iuIuM^c^ (.-cuf/Le.

SHROPSHIRE

143

The chapel of St. Mary Magdalene is "the most remarkable part of the
castle," standing alone in the centre of the ward between the gatehouse and
the hall. Only its circular part remains, being twelfth-century work, with a
good Norman doorway. This is 28 feet in diameter inside, with walls 4 feet

"[..,.?...

lOOR

LUDLOW

thick, and there is a chancel arch on the E. side, but the chancel has vanished.
It has three Early English windows.
It is of interest to know that Milton was from Ludlow, and wrote his
Comus there, taking as his scene a lovely valley some two miles out on the
Wigmore road. The masque was first acted in May 1633 in the banqueting-
hall of this castle.

144 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

MIDDLE CASTLE (minor)
THE remains of this castle are situated between Shrewsbury and Chester,
about 2| miles from Baschurch. It was embattled and fortified in 1308,
in the reign of Edward 1 1., by John, Lord le Strange, who held the manor
under the FitzAlans. The original founder is said to have received from the
Conqueror, Myddle, Knockyn, and Nesse Strange, and this manor remained in
the same family for over 400 years, during the reigns of eighteen kings.
In the time of Henry VIL, on the failure of male issue, Joan, daughter of the
last Lord le Strange, brought it to her husband Sir George Stanley, the son of
Lord Stanley, who being held by Richard III. as a hostage for his father's
loyalty, was ordered to be executed by the king, just before the commencement
of the battle of Bosworth, when Lord Stanley failed to join the royal army. He
took the title of Lord Strange, and dying before his father, was succeeded by
his son Thomas, 2nd Lord Derby.
The Stanleys held Middle for about no years, when William, Earl of Derby,
sold it to the Lord Keeper Egerton, who was created Baron EUesmere and
became Lord Chancellor. After his death King James made his son Earl of
Bridgwater, and in that family Middle continued.
The castle was a small one, of which Richard Gough (born 1634) gives a
description as he remembered it sixty years before. It was built square, with
a courtyard in the centre, and stood within a moat ; beyond it on the E. side
was a piece of land, nearly an acre in extent, also enclosed by a moat, evidently
the site of an outer ward. There was a drawbridge and a gatehouse near the
N.E. corner of the castle moat, the latter containing two chambers on each side
of the entrance passage which led into the courtyard. On the S. side was a
large room, supposed to be the kitchen, having a huge fireplace, and another
pleasant apartment ; on the W. were two rooms together, perhaps the hall and
solar, that were used for holding " the court leet of the manor." The castle was
only two storeys in height, and had a flat roof. In the N.E. corner of the
inner court was a high tower with a staircase, giving access to the upper
floors and the roof, a part of which tower was thrown down by an earthquake
in 1688. Another stair was in the S.W. angle. The whole buildings stood
in the N.E. corner of a pretty large park which had a lane round it, called
Moor Lane.
This castle appears to have been committed to the charge of a constable
or keeper, who at one time was Sir Roger Kynaston of Hordeley, being
succeeded in the office and as tenant by his son Humphrey about 1564 — a
dissolute man who was called Wild Humphrey, and was outlawed for debt ; he
allowed the fabric to go to ruin for want of repairs, and after him it was
never inhabited, and became a wreck.

SHROPSHIRE 145

MORETON CORBET (minor)
THE beautiful ruin of Moreton Corbet is situated about nine miles N. from
Shrewsbury, having been erected in 1576 and 1578, adjacent to the
foundations of a more ancient castle, which was probably demolished to make
room for it. This early building may have been the work of one of the
Turret family who were long settled here, ancl from them the place received
its name of Moreton Turret, ancl continued to be so called until the year
1516. The heiress of that family married, in the reign of Henry III., Sir
Richard Corbet of Wattlesbury, and the Corbets have possessed the place and
lands ever since.
The above dates are those of Sir Andrew Corbet, knight, who died in 1578,
and of his son Robert, who, having travelled in Italy, brought back a craze for
renaissance art ancl a design for a house in that style. Camden says that he
began to build " a inost gorgeous and stately house, after the Italian model ;
but death prevented him, so that he left the new work unfinished, and the old
castle defaced." He died of the plague in London s.p,, and his estates passed
to his cousin Sir Richard, who died 1606, and was succeeded by his brother
Sir Vincent, created a baronet in 1642. He served King Charles zealously, and
had afterwards to compound for his estates so heavily that he was obliged to
sell a part, including Moreton Corbet, but this property was redeemed in 1743
by Andrew Corbet of Shawbury Park.
The ruin consists of two houses of different characters, and, not being
defensible, could not have been noticed here, but for the fact of its representing
an ancient castle now vanished. It must have been sufficiently completed
to contain, with closed doors, a small garrison of eighty foot and thirty
horse, to keep the place for the king in 1644. In September of that year,
however, a Parliamentary force was sent against Moreton Corbet under Colonel
Rinking, who, coming from Wem in the night, surprised the garrison and
captured the house with little difficulty, losing only one man. After that the
building was ruined and the roof removed. It is now the property of Sir
Walter O. Corbet, of Acton-Reynald, Bart.

OSWESTRY, OR OSWALDESTRE (non-existent)
OSWESTRY is so called in memory of a battle fought here a.d. 642, when
Oswald, King of Northumbria, fell fighting against Penda, the pagan
Prince of Mercia. Within a mile is the ancient ea!rthwork called Old Oswestry,
the British Caer Ogyrvan, the birthplace, it is said, of King Arthur's third wife,
the fair and frail Guinevere.
'' VOL. II. T

146 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Oswestry lies on the N.W. frontier of Salop, almost upon Welsh territory,
having been supported by the castle of Whittington, two miles off. In Saxon
times it was the head of the lordship, and here was one of the many earthwork
mounds which are found in this region, where the Saxon chief had his timber
house fortified with palisades and ditches.
In 1071, when Morcar and Edwin were deprived of their possessions, the
Conqueror bestowed this district on Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury,
who granted the fee to Warin the Bald, Sheriff of Shropshire under him — "a
man little in body but great in soul " — married to the earl's niece. On the death
of Warin in 1085, Oswestry, or as the place is called in Domesday, Meresberie,
was enjoyed by Reginald de Bailleul, who married his widow, and built a castle
here, called " Luure " or Luvre (i.e. I'CEuvre, or The Work), held after him by
his stepson Hugh, the son of Warin. He died young, and was succeeded here
by Alan Fitz Flaen.
In the metrical Norman history of Fulke Fitz Warine (translated by Mr.
Thomas Wright) is given the first mention of this castle, such as it then was,
in the year 1608, when all the N.W. and S.W. of England rose against the
Normans, and York was stormed, 3000 of the usurpers being massacred (a
manifest exaggeration). William I. travelling in the Forest of Dean, learning
this, swore "by the splendour of God" to avenge himself, and the Norman
garrison at Shrewsbury being besieged at the time, he marched thither and
relieved the place. Then he is said to have come to a little castle "which is
called 'The Tree Town of Oswald,' but now Oswaldestre Here the king called
a knight Aleyn or Alan Fitz Flaen and gave him the little castle and the honour
appertaining to it ; and from this Alan came all the lords of England who had
the surname of FitzAlan. Subsequently, this Alan caused the castle to be
much enlarged."
Eyton, however, shows that Alan did not obtain Oswestry till after William's
death, and tradition traces him to the court of Macbeth in Scotland. He was
undoubtedly of the royal house of Stuart, and the ancestor of the FitzAlans
of Oswestre His eldest son William acquired also the lordship of Clun (q.v),
by his second wife Isabel de Say, and both places were long held by the Fitz
Alans, earls of Arundel, and afterwards by their representatives the Howards.
His second son was Walter, Steward of Scotland, who supported the Empress
Maud, and during her reverses took refuge in Scotland at the court of her
relative David I.; he died in 1177, and his great-great-grandson Walter, who
died cir. 1320, married Marjory Bruce, whose son was Robert Bruce, King of
Scotland. His successors were Lords Marchers, who, with other Norman nobles,
had power and lands conferred on them on condition that they kept the Welsh
quiet, and any territory they were able to annex was to be counted their own.
It followed therefore that these Border fortresses of theirs should be strongly
built and garrisoned, and in their dealings with the wretched natives these lords

SHROPSHIRE 147
were domineering, rapacious, and unscrupulous, ill-treating the inhabitants,
confiscating their property, and ignoring their rights. Many of the castles in
this district were held by military service clue at Oswestry Castle.
William FitzAlan dying in 1160, during the minority of his son William,
the sheriff", Guy le Strange, had custody of Oswestry and Clun, with other
castles, and in 1165 a determined onslaught was made on the Welsh by
Henry 1 1., who advanced to this castle and encamped his forces near it. In
1 188 William FitzAlan entertained here Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury,
and Giraldus Cambrensis ; he died in 1210, when, his son being a minor. King
John seized the place, and during his wars in Wales made Oswestry his head-
cjuarters, storing in the castle immense quantities of munitions of war. Upon
his coming of age young FitzAlan was called on to pay a fine for his in
heritance of 10,000 marks (equal to about -^70,000 now), and as he was unable
to do this his lands were given to Thomas de Eardington. William FitzAlan
died, and his brother John at once attacked and took Oswestry Castle by force,
and joined himself to the party of the barons in their revolt. When in 12 16
the raging king proceeded to retaliate on his opponents, he came to avenge
himself at Oswestry and burned that town to the ground. During the next
reign Prince Llewellyn overran the district, burning Clun and Redcastle, but
Oswestry was too strong for him.
Then came King Edward I., whom Green describes as "a born soldier, tall,
deep-chested, long of limb, capable alike of endurance and action, and sharing
to the full his people's love of venture and hard fighting." He, in 1277, built
a wall round Oswestry, including the castle in its circuit ; he visited the place
in 1282, and again in 1295 after an insurrection of the Welsh. During the
minority of Richard, the young Earl of Arundel (8 Edward I.), his mother
Isabel had the custody of this castle ; he died in 1302, and his son Earl
Edmund became a warm supporter of Edward 1 1., in whose defence he
gathered a force together at Oswestry, but being taken prisoner at Shrewsbury,
was executed at Hereford in 1326. His enemy the notorious Roger Mortimer
then took possession of Oswestry Castle, on being made Lord of the Welsh
Marches (from whence his descendants took their title of Earls of March),
but after his execution the family estates were restored to Earl Edmund's son
Richard. This earl was present at Cre9y with 200 retainers from Oswestry
and Clun.
In 1397, on the attainder and execution of Richard, Earl of Arundel,
Richard II. gave his estates to William Scrope, the newly created Earl of
WiUshire ; but when Henry IV. led that unfortunate king from Flint Casde
to Chester, he delivered the captive prince to Thomas, the son of Earl Richard,
saying : " Here is the murderer of your father, you must be answerable for
him." It was shortly before this time that Richard II. had adjourned the great
Parliament of Shrewsbury to Oswestry, when the remarkable scene took place.

148 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
wrongly portrayed by Shakespeare as happening at the Tower of London, —
when the king determined the dispute between Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford,
and Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, these two nobles having there referred their
quarrel to the king, who directed that they should fight out their feud at
Coventry (see Baginton and Caludon, Warwickshire),
Little is heard of Oswestry during the Wars of the Roses, and the property
went to heirs male, with the earldom of Arundel, till 1580, when, on the death
of Earl Henry FitzAlan s,p. male, his daughter ancl heiress Mary married
Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, and carried the titles and honours of FitzAlan to
the Howards, with whom the title of Baron Oswaldestre still remains. Philip,
Earl of Arundel, died in the Tower in 1595, when the Crown took possession
of his lands, but James I. in 1603 granted, by letters patent, the lordship,
manor, and castle of Oswestry, to Philip's half-brother, Thomas Howard,
Earl of Suffolk, one of the captains of the fleet which defeated the Armada.
He sold the property to Dame Elizabeth Craven, from whom it descended
to William Herbert, Marquess of Powis, and by the female line to the present
lord of the manor of Oswestry, the Earl of Powis.
In June 1644, Oswestry town having been captured by the Earl of Den
bigh with a large Parliamentary force, the besieged took refuge in the castle,
which was held for the king ; but the gate was blown in with a petard,
and the garrison surrendered, 400 of them marching out. Then in 1647,
by order of the committee, the castle was demolished, and that so
effectually that after the Restoration a proclamation was made at Oswestry
that "the swine market will be kept on the hill or voyd place where the
castle is."
The mound, which recent excavations have proved to be chiefly a natural
elevation, has on it some fragments of the ancient keep which crowned it,
and this is all that is left of the historic Border fortress. The hill is about
30 feet high and 200 feet in circumference ; according to Mr. Clark the
keep was one of the shell type, and polygonal. The moat, which extended
to the Beatrice Gate of the town on the one side and to the Willow (Wallia,
or Whales) Gate on the other, has disappeared with all the walls and buildings.
A sketch of the last century given in the Transactions of the Shropshire
A rchcEo logical Society (vol. vi. Part II. ), shows that a considerable portion of
the castle was then standing, a plain strong building with a gatehouse and
drawbridge. Edward's "History of Oswestry" (1815) says: "It had a tower
called Madoc's Tower, while the Bailey's Head, as we now term it, formed
the ballium or courtyard. The barbican or outer gate, where the maimed
and blind were relieved, would be situate on the mound in Castle Street, —
cleared away about thirty years ago, and then called Cripple's Gate." It was
probably approached by a bridge over the moat, which ran across the site
of the new municipal buildings.

SHROPSHIRE 149

QUATFORD (non-c.xislcnl)
THIS district is an important historic position on Severn-side, where
the Danes in their last campaign with Alfred had left their name at
a ford on the river, still called Danesford. Near to this, on the right bank,
they appear to have raised a mound, or rather scarped ancl fortified a natural
eminence, which at the Domesday Survey was called Oldbury, and still bears
that name. Then, after sixteen years, came the Lady of Mercia, Ethelfleda,
who on a high cliff on the same side, separated from Oldbury by a marshy
tract of land, reared a Saxon timber fortress at the place called Brugge or
Bridge, afterwards Bridgnorth (q.v).
About two miles lower down the river, ancl on the E. side of it, is the
ditched and scarped natural mound where was a Saxon stronghold called
Quatford, and near it, on a little isolated hill, somewhat above on the river
side. Earl Roger de Montgomery, soon after the Conquest, with his pious
countess, erected a Norman castle and a church, and lived here when not at
Shrewsbury or at his southern home of Arundel. At his death his possessions
went to his second son Hugh, who, being killed in 1094, was succeeded by
his terrible elder brother Robert. He had hitherto been in the enjoyment
of Beleme (or Belesme) and all the other family possessions in Normandy,
and now came over to espouse the cause of his patron, Duke Robert of
Normandy, eldest son of the Conqueror, against the Red King. This " Devil
of Beleme," as he is called, seeing the inferiority of his father's castle at
Quatford, demolished it, and transferred the stones to the very superior site,
higher up the river, at Brugge, where, on a commanding position not far
from Ethelfleda's Mound, he built, in the short period of twelve months, the
strong Norman castle of Bridgnorth (Freeman).

REDCASTLE {minor)
THIS ancient ruin lies about four miles E. from Wem in Hawkstone Park,
the seat of Viscount HiU. Camden wrote : " Upon a woody hill, or
rather rock (which was anciently called Radcliffe), stood a castle, upon a very
high ground, called from the reddish stone, Redcastle, and by the Normans
Castle Rous, heretofore the seat of the Audleys by the bounty of Mawd the
stranger, or Le Strange : but now there is nothing to be seen but decayed walls."
And Leland, cir. 1539, declared it to be "now al ruinns. It hath been strong
& hath decayid many a Day." Henry, the first of the Aldithley or Audley
family noted by Dugdale, had a licence in 16 Hen. III. to build a castle upon
his demesne, but it is believed that the hill was fortified in earlier days.

ISO CASTLES OF ENGLAND
The most famous of the Audleys was James, Lord Audley, who, accord
ing to Walsingham, by his extraordinary valour at the battle of Poictiers in
30 Edward IIL, "brake through the French army, and caused much slaughter
that day to the enemy." And Froissart recounts how, with his four esquires,
" he fought always in the chief of the Battle. He was sore hurt in the body,
and in the visage. As long as his breath served him he fought ; " for which
service the Black Prince gave him a yearly fee of 500 marks, and when Lord
James handed this to his esquires, the prince added 600 marks a year more.
He died in 1386.
In 1459, James Touchet, Lord Audley, issuing from Redcastle with the
Lancastrian forces 10,000 strong, to oppose the march of the Yorkists before
the battle of Bloreheath (a place distant ten miles only from Redcastle), was there
defeated and killed. Lord James, the son of John, Lord Audley, was in 1497
beheaded for his share in the Cornish rising, after the battle of Blackheath
(see Nether Stowey, Somerset), when his possessions were confiscated, but re
stored to his son John 25 Henry VIIL, though he regained his title in 1513.
Then we hear no more of that family, and Redcastle passed through many
hands, a partition of it being made in 1654.
The ruined castle and the demesne were purchased in the last century by
Sir Rowland Hill, between 1737 and 1756, and his family have continued
there. The ruin spoken of in the sixteenth century must have been repaired
subsequently, since during the Civil War "Mr. Rowland Hill of Hawkstone,
a zealous Royalist, hid himself in the Tower glen, and being discovered, was
imprisoned in the adjacent castle, commonly called Redcastle, whilst his house
was pillaged and ransacked by the rebels. The castle was soon after
demolished." A few remains exist. One ancient tower, perhaps the keep, is still standing,
in great dilapidation, and there is a part of a tower containing the well, 200 feet
deep. A ravine divides the Castle Hill into two parts, and this has been fortified
by a cross ditch, while a wall carried round the top of the rock defended the
buildings on it.
R O W T O N (miiior)
ROWTON is on the W. of Shrewsbury, near the Severn, and is said by
Camden to be the most ancient of Shropshire castles. It was held in
the twelfth century by Roger de Say, under the Honour of Montgomery, and
from him passed to his two daughters, Lucia and Amice. Towards the end
of the thirteenth century, Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells, obtained a
grant of the estate, holding it of the king in capite by the serjeantry of providing
two archers at Montgomery Castle in war time. The value was small. Thence
it came to the Le Strange family, and was held by John le Strange of Knockyn,

SHROPSHIRE 151
when Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, levelled it to the ground in 1282. In 1482
William Lyster was in possession of Rowton, and his family retained it, as in
the seventeenth century we find its owner was Thomas Lyster, an active
Royalist, whose wife, on his being taken prisoner at Shrewsbury, continued
to hold the castle against the Parliamentary general, Mytton, ancl with such
effect as to obtain good terms for its surrender. Sir Thomas, who was
knighted by Charles I., had to pay a heavy composition for its restitution.
It is now the property of Lord Rowton, who as Mr. Montague Corry was
long the private secretary and close friend of Lord Beaconsfield.

SHRAWARDINE (non-existent)
THE name of Shrawardine is derived from the words Shire-reeve-weordine
(the county of the shire reeve, or sheriff) : the locality having been the
residence of Saxon sheriffs before the Conquest and of Norman ones after it.
It occupied a commanding position guarding an important ford over Severn,
E. of Shrewsbury, and on the E. side of the river is the Saxon or Danish
mound, which was left by the Normans who built their castle opposite to it.
Mr. Eyton says the fortress stood upon land of the FitzAlans, but was
probably built by order of King Henry I. It was for about a hundred years
repaired and garrisoned by the Crown, and at least twelve estates were held
in this county and in Stafford by serjeantry, or the service of certain quotas
of castle-guard at Shrawardine, of which records exist as being returned
as early as 1165. At the close of John's reign this castle was razed by the
Welsh, when its ruins were handed by the king to the first FitzAlan, who
rebuilt it about 1240. Its name was commonly "Castle Isabel," perhaps
from the coincidence that one of its possessors, William FitzAlan, married
Isabel de Say ; and his grandson the first John, who rebuilt it, married
Isabel de Albine, a coheiress of the Earl of Arundel, while the wife of his
son John was Isabel de Mortimer, whose .dower house it became. Ceasing
thus to be royal property, the fortress lost the feudal services rendered
there, which were transferred to Montgomery.
On the death of Richard, Earl of Arundel, in 1302, this castle was deemed
of no annual value, but in 1322, when Edward II. commenced the war
against his barons. Earl Edmund joining him (as is shown also at Oswestry),
came to his castle of Shrawardine, and for long held the Welsh Marches.
In 1326, when Queen Isabella and her "gentle" Mortimer appeared in arms
against the king. Earl Edmund was seized by the townsfolk near Shrewsbury,
and being handed over to the queen's party was beheaded at Hereford, when
his lands were seized by Mortimer.
Nothing is recorded after this of Shrawardine until August 1485, when

152 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Henry, Duke of Richmond, on his way from Milford Haven to the field of
Bosworth, came here desiring to pass at Shrewsbury. Leland says the place is
two miles from Montford Bridge, and elsewhere mentions a child of FitzAlan's
"which by the Neclygeance of his Norice, fell, as is sayd, out of his norice's
armes, from the Batlements of the Castle of Shrawardig, and was killed."
Sir Thomas Bromley, afterwards Lord Chancellor, who presided over the
mock trial of Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay, purchased the Shrawar
dine Castle estates in 1583, and his son Sir Henry made the castle his chief
residence. In the time of his grandson Henry Bromley, the fortress was
garrisoned for King Charles under Colonel Sir William Vaughan, who from
his successful sallies and his long resistance in 1644 was called "The Devil
of Shrawardine " ; but the castle was taken by treachery at last, burnt down
and totaUy destroyed by the Parliament forces in 1645, its very stones being
taken away for repairing Shrewsbury. Vaughan's descendant Henry was
created Lord Montfort in 1741, a title which died with his grandson, the third
baron. A story is related that during the investment (which could not have
been very close) Colonel Mytton, the Parliamentary commander, coming on
Sir W. Vaughan and twelve of his officers abroad, out of the castle, made
prisoners of thetn and brought them before the walls, summoning the place,
" which upon capitulation seemed willing to surrender, but Sir William, slipping
in, drew up the bridge and returned a denial," when the other officers were
carried off.
About 1760, after his return from India, Robert, the great Lord Clive —
among his other purchases of land — acquired Shrawardine and Montford
from the second Lord Montfort.

SHREWSBURY (chief)
BOTH Britons and Romans possessed themselves in turn of the vantage
point of land where the river Severn, in its course southward, forms a
large loop of flat ground, about 500 yards across, leaving a narrow neck on
which was a natural eminence commanding the passage of the river between
England and Wales. Here afterwards the Saxons erected a lofty mound,
where now is Laura's Tower, and a line of earthworks, within which, after
the fifth century, grew the town of Shrewsbury.
The Conqueror bestowed nearly the whole of Shropshire on his kinsman
Roger de Montgomery, besides 158 manors in other parts ; and here, as Earl
of Shrewsbury, he installed the caput of his earldom, and about the year 1080
commenced to build a Norman castle, clearing away fifty-one houses of the
town on the northern isthmus to procure a site for it. At first there was pro
bably only a keep with its surrounding wall ; and this his successor, Robert de

SHROPSHIRE 153
Beleme (see Bridgnorth), extended on both sides to the river bank, where
stood the Norman Gerewald's Tower. This (temp. Henry III.) formed
the starting-point of the circuit of the city walls, which were carried thence
on the W., and round the city back to the castle again, including on each side
the approaches to the two bridges over Severn.
The same "Devil of Beleme" fortified this castle against Henry I., at the
beginning of his rebellion (1102), but when his other castle of Bridgnorth
had fallen, and Henry advanced to Shrewsbury, Earl Robert, forsaken by
his friends and seeing no means of resistance, left his castle here, by the
gateway which we still see, and, meeting the king on his road to Shrewsbury,
threw himself at Henry's feet, giving up the keys and suing for mercy. The
cruel and crafty rebel received a safe-conduct to the coast, but all his lands
and honours were taken from him. Afterwards, in 1113, King Henry put an
end to the mischief which Beleme was still working in Normandy, by seizing
him and sending him over to Wareham Castle in Dorset, where he died
in captivity. The castle thenceforth became royal property, and was entrusted to a sewer
or steward, one Richard de Beimels, and next to Pagan Fitz John, and so it
remained for twenty-four years, when Henry gave it to his second wife, who
placed it in the hands of William de FitzAlan, the elder brother of Walter,
Steward of Scotland, and ancestor of the Arundel family. FitzAlan adhered
to the cause of the rightful heir to the crown, the Empress Maud, and
Shrewsbury had to stand a siege in 1138 by King Stephen, who carried the
fortress by assault after four weeks, and ruthlessly hanged the captain, Arnulf
de Hesding, and ninety-three men of his garrison. William FitzAlan fortu
nately escaped. When the young Duke Henry, afterwards Henry 1 1., came
over, he obtained possession of Shrewsbury Castle, and it was once more
attached to the Crown.
During the Barons' War, although this part of the country was greatly dis
turbed, no mention of this castle occurs ; it continued to be held by the sheriffs
of Salop. In 1283 the Parliament which sat at Shrewsbury under Edward I.,
after his final defeat of the Welsh, executed the barbarous sentence for
treason on David, the sovereign of Wales, which was carried out here, with
all its horrors, probably in the castle-yard, under the eye of the king. After
wards the whole assembly adjourned to the castle of Bishop Burnell at Acton
Burnell (q.v), where was held the celebrated parliament in which for the first
time the Commons of England participated.
To Shrewsbury Henry IV. brought his forces on the eve of the battle with
Hotspur, in 1403, arriving there only a few hours before the insurgents, who
also were advancing on this town. By this measure he secured the passage of
the Severn and cut off the assistance which Percy was expecting from Owen
Glendower from Oswestry. The fight, fatal to him, took place on the second day
VOL. n. u

154 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
at the place since called Battlefield, three miles from Shrewsbury, but there was
some skirmishing the day before under the N. walls of the town.
Many succeeding sovereigns came here ; but after the union with Wales the
importance of this fortress, as the door of Wales, passed away, and when Leland
visited it he wrote : " The Castle hath beene a stronge thynge. It is now much
in ruine." In the reign of Elizabeth it was leased to one Richard Onslow, who
conveyed his interest in it to the corporation.
In the Civil War of the seventeenth century the place was garrisoned for the
king, the outer walls being repaired and the gates strengthened. Charles visited
Shrewsbury on several occasions. In February 1645 a Parliamentary force of
1200 men under Colonels Bowyer and Mytton managed to surprise the castle
at night, a bad watch being kept. A party coming round on the E. side
by water obtained possession of the palisading and let in the rest of the force,
which captured the stronghold almost without a blow, losing only two men ;
the place was surrendered the same day, upon which the town also was taken.
Somehow the castle escaped destruction at the hands of the London Com
mittee, and at the Restoration was given back to the municipality, who kept it
in a fortified state till the reign of James 1 1., when the guns and ammunition
were removed, together with the outworks. It is probable that the fine Norman
church of St. Nicholas was removed at that time.
What remained was leased (about 1730) to a Mr. Goswell, who made the
old place into a gloomy habitation, in which state it remained till Sir William
Pulteney improved the appearance of it, as now seen.
The castle, which is built of a reddish coloured stone, still retains a consider
able portion of its old fabric. The keep is a square building with circular
turrets at the angles, and a good deal of the walls of the inner ward remain,
together with the old Norman gateway. Modern constructions have been erected
on the mound.
STOKESAY (minor)
THIS fine structure stands at the foot of the hills at the N. entrance of the
valley of the Onny River, seven miles from Ludlow, and is an almost
unique specimen of a mansion of the thirteenth century, fortified subsequently
to the erection of its domestic portion. Its principal defence consists in a moat,
which points to its being intended rather for use as a family abode than for
military purposes. Stokesay is of peculiar interest to the archaeologist and
historian, since of all early embattled houses in this county it retains most
of its original character.
The De Lacys of Ludlow, who from Domesday till 1241 held this and
other manors directly from the Crown, about the year 11 15 enfeoffed at
Stoke the De Says, whose ancestor, Picot de Sai (a place nine miles to the W.

SHROPSHIRE

-55

of Exmes in Normandy), had followed Duke William, and fought for him
at Senlac. Five generations of De Says dwelt here, and in 1241, when the
last of the De Lacys, their superiors, died, a blind old man, his estates were
divided between his two sons-in-law, Peter of Geneva, married to his daughter
Matilda, and John de Verdun, the husband of the younger, Margaret, by whom
he obtained Stokesay with other manors. He died in 1274, and during the
life of his son this manor was conveyed to Lawrence de Ludlow, who in 1291
(19 Edward I.) obtained a licence to crenellate his house of Stokesay and
strengthen it with a wall of stone and lime. He seems at this time to have
built the great S. tower, the Hall having been previously * built in all probability
by John de Verdun,
who was an active
Royalist during the
Barons' War, and re
sided here as one of
the Lords Marchers.
After this, ten gene
rations of Ludlows
held Stokesay : they
seem to have been
prosperous merchants,
and to have made
their money in trade.
At last, in 1497, the
property fell with
Anne, daughter of
John Ludlow, to
Thomas Vernon, son
of Sir Richard Vernon
of Haddon, and they were living here when Leland visited Stokesay Castle.
Their son held the place and died in 1570, when Stokesay was sold to Sir
George Mainwaring, and after being settled in 1616 on the families of
Baker and Francis, was in 1620 resold to a Shropshire lady, the widow
of the wealthy Sir William Craven, knight. Alderman of London. Her
eldest son, the heir of Stokesay, who is spoken of as one of the most
accomplished and honoured gentlemen in Europe, distinguished himself as
a soldier at the early age of seventeen, in the Low Countries under Henry,
Prince of Orange, and was knighted in 1626, being created Baron Craven
eight days after.
The story of this nobleman's life is romantic and interesting. His admiration
* As the style of this castle is earUer than that of Acton-Burnell, whose licence is dated 1284, it seems
likely that the licence granted to Ludlow was only for an addition to an already existing fortress.

STOKESAY

156

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

of the beautiful but unhappy Elizabeth, daughter of James I., and wife of the
Elector Palatine Frederick, called the Queen of Hearts, led him to adventure
his life in the enterprise for placing the Elector on the throne of Bohemia ;
he was taken prisoner, and was obliged to purchase his liberty with ^^20,000.
Then when Elizabeth's kingdom was gone, and she and her family were
destitute. Craven continued her friend and adviser ; he is said also to have
bought Combe Abbey near Coventry, from the romantic wish to possess the
place where Elizabeth had passed her childhood. In her early days she had

-V>

J5rid^e

STOKESAY

been placed here under the guardianship of Lord Harrington, who was
entrusted with her education, and it was while she was here that the gun
powder plotters formed a plan to surprise Lord Harrington, and seize the
princess, whom they intended to proclaim a Catholic queen. She was removed
then for safety to Coventry. To Craven's munificence it was due that Ehzabeth
in 1661 was enabled to return to her native country ; Combe Abbey was placed
at her disposal, and it was there, 'tis said, that she gave her hand and was
privately married to her devoted friend. Lord Craven (see the Verney Papers,
vol. i.). But she died the next year, leaving him her papers, books, and
pictures, which are stiU in the collection at Combe. Additional interest attaches

SHROPSHIRE

157

to this princess, since she was the mother of Prince Rupert, the gallant general
of the great Civil War, and of his brother Prince Maurice, and was the
grandmother of our first Hanoverian king, George I.
Lord Craven lost ;£5ooo in assisting the Royal Family of England during
the war, and in their exile, ancl was by Charles II. in 1663 created Earl of
Craven. He died in 1697, aged nearly eighty-nine, and was succeeded in his
estates by his cousin, on whom the barony alone descended. During Lord
Craven's absence, Stokesay was let on a very long lease, not many ye'ars
expired, to a family called Baldwyn, and it was surrendered to the Parliament
forces besieging Ludlow, thereby escaping demolition, only the battlements
of the N. tower being re
moved. The old mansion
recently passed into the
hands of the late Mr.
AUcroft, who has pre
served the fabric with
much skill and judgment,
and his son, Mr. H. J.
AUcroft, is the present
owner. The buildings, which
are set in a courtyard
of oblong shape, are
surrounded, close to the
walls, by a moat 22 feet
wide, and now 6 feet
deep, fed from a small
stream flowing into the
river Onny. The present
gatehouse is a fine half-timbered Tudor building, replacing the old drawbridge
house which led into the courtyard, where traces of several buildings may
be seen, in existence at the beginning of the century, including the kitchen
and buttery.
The Hall is, with that of Winchester, the most perfect remaining of the
thirteenth century. It is the main feature of the house, standing opposite the
gateway, and measures 51 feet by 31 feet internally. It has a fine open roof,
and is lighted by four Early English windows on the W. over the moat, and
by three on the E. There is no fireplace, the fire being put into a central
brazier, and the roof is blackened with smoke. At the N. end some steps
lead into what is probably the oldest part of the fabric, a small defensible out
building, the ground floor of which is a cellar with a large chamber upstairs,
and at the end of which is a small tower projected into the moat. At the S.

STOKESAY

158 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
end are the lower apartments, and an external staircase to the solar above, from
whence a covered passage leads into the great tower, which has the appearance
of two octagon turrets joined together. It is in three storeys, with a conical
roof, and is of an imposing appearance, being 66 feet high, with walls 2 yards
thick. Hudson Turner declares Stokesay to be one of the most perfect and
interesting buildings of the thirteenth century which we possess.

T O N G (non-existent)
TONG lies on the E. of the county, near Boscobel. Leland says of it : "There
was an olde Castell of stone cauUid Tunge Castel. It standeth half a myle
from the towne, on a Broke. Sir Henry Vernoun a late daies made the Castel
al of bricke."
Its early history is not known ; that ascribed to it regarding King Vortigern
and Hengist belongs to a castle of the same name in Kent, with which this one
has been confused.
Tong passed through the hands of various families. At one time it was
owned by the Pembrugges, the last of whom. Sir Fulke, dying s.p., his sister
and heir, Benedicta, carried Tong to William Vernon of Haddon ; from
whom it came by an heiress to the Stanleys, and was purchased from them
by a lawyer, Sir Thomas Harris. His daughter marrying William Pierre-
point in 1638, brought the property to the dukes of Kingston. Evelyn,
the last duke, sold Tong in 1764 to George Durant, whose family were
here for a hundred years. The Earl of Bradford purchased Tong from
Captain Durant.
George Durant, having as Paymaster of the Forces acquired a large fortune,
built the present curious house in the place of Sir H. Vernon's. The view
of the old house, as it was in 173 1, is given by Buck.
In Symon's list of Shropshire garrisons in May 1645 it is added : "Tong
Castle, — first the king had it, and then the rebels gott it ; then Prince
Rupert tooke it, and put in a Garrison, who afterwards burnt it, when he
drew them out to the battails of York." ..." A fayre old. Castle neere the
Church called Tong Castle belonging to Pierrepoint this 18 years."
The owner was then William Pierrepoint, second son of the Earl of
Kingston, who was killed in Charles' service ; his son being on the side of
the Parliament.
The castle is partly surrounded by a deep artificial ditch ; the entrance
gateway is curiously carved with a representation of the ancient castle.

SHROPSHIRE 159
WATTLESBOROUGH {minor)
THE castle of this name lies to the W. of Shrewsbury, a little beyond
Rowton Castle, in a district once traversed by a Roman road — a branch
of the Watling Street. The manor was among those held by Roger Fitz Corbet
of Cans, whose Corbet ancestor had received it from the Conqueror, and the
house formed the Border residence of that family. A Richard Corbet is
shown here in 1179 (26 Henry 1 1.), belonging to a branch of the Cans family
and holding under them ; and after four more generations of these Corbets
the lands came to the De la Poles, by the marriage of Elizabeth, only child
of Sir Fulke Corbet, with John de la Pole, Lord of Mawddy, or Moethe,
and other lands, through his mother, the daughter of Llewellyn. She died
in 1403, her son, Fulke de Mawddy, being born 1390, and her grandson.
Sir John de Burgh — the son of her daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Hugh de
Burgh — succeeded.
The family of Leighton then obtained Wattlesborough by the marriage of
Ankaret, a daughter of this last Sir John de Burgh, with John Leighton, whose
family thenceforth made it their principal seat until the year 1711, when
Sir Edward Leighton removed to Loton, about a mile distant. Since that
time Wattlesborough has been used as a farmer's house.
There is not much recorded regarding the place, except that in 1584
the Earl of Essex, Elizabeth's favourite, stayed here with Sir Edward
Leighton for nearly eight weeks, perhaps "with a view of raising forces
for the expedition against Holland" (Canon Blake's paper in ihe Arckceological
Journal, 1868).
The engraving of this building, as it lately was, shows a tolerably perfect
square Norman keep of small size, having double pilasters at the end of
each face, not meeting but with an open arris, as is seen at Helmsley,
Yorks. Some Norman windows remain, but most of them are enlarged
loopholes with square heads, one being of later insertion. The roof is
formed by a four-sided frame and is tiled. The tower now has but three
stages, but by tradition there was formerly a fourth, and also a battle
mented parapet ; while the original roof was flat, and had a look-out turret
above it.
The remains now consist of this tower only, with a small building or wing
on the N. side ; but it is said that there once were four such towers,
the stones of which were used in the construction of the neighbouring
church. Traces of foundations occur in various spots, and there are vestiges
of the moat. Connected with the tower is a large earthwork, 56 yards square,
of possibly prehistoric origin.

i6o CASTLES OF ENGLAND

WHITECHURCH (non-existent)
WHITECHURCH was formerly called Weston, and was situated in the
N.W. corner of the county, near Flint and Cheshire. Some ruins of
the walls of this castle existed as late as 1760, on the Castle HUI on the side
of the mill, but they have now vanished entirely. The manor belonged at the
Conquest to Harold the king, and was given by WUliam I. to his stepson-in-
law William, Earl Warren, afterwards Earl of Surrey. Eyton says that the
Warrens held this place until the death of Bertred in 1281, when Whitechurch
passed to his sister Eleanore, the wife of Robert le Strange. Thenceforth the
history of Whitechurch merges in that of the Barons le Strange of Blackmere

WHITTINGTON (minor)
THE remains of the castle of Whittington stand on low marshy ground near
the railway station. The manor, after the Conquest, was held by a Welsh
owner named Tudor, under Earl Roger de Montgomery ; his younger son
Ranulph, styled "Pefr" (the "Fine," or the "Swell"), married Maud, daughter
of Ingelric, a noble Saxon, once the mistress of the Conqueror, and who had
by him a son called William. She had also by her husband three other sons,
who, being all brought up together, bore the name of Pefr, anglicised into
Peverell. The king's bastard son received grants of land in Notts, North
amptonshire, and Derby, and Maud's other sons also were provided for ; one
of them, on the attainder of Robert de Beleme (see Oswestry), had Whittington,
which afterwards went to his niece Miletta Peverell, who was the wife of Warine,
the son of Fulke Fitz Warine, who thus became possessed of the property.
Henry II. annexed it to the Crown, placing there first Geoffrey de Vere, and
then Roger de Powis, who was Lord of Whittington temp. Richard I. ; but
in the sixth year of King John, Fitz Warine succeeded in recovering his
family property. He was a strenuous supporter of that reckless king, and
was at one time lord of Ludlow. A story is told of his once playing a game
of chess with King John, when the monarch, losing the game, in a rage
broke Fitz Warine's head with the chess-board ; " but Fulke, nothing daunted,
returned the blow, and almost," says an old writer, "demolished the king"
(see Harper's "Marches of Wales," 1894). In 1219 his son, the third Fulke,
paid Henry III. ;£262 and two chargers (destriers), for the possession of this
castle, with licence next year to fortify it. This we can take as the date of
the castle. Fulke was slain at Lewes in 1264, fighting on the king's side, when
Henry was forced by De Montfort, his captor, to grant Whittington to
Llewellyn of Wales.

SHROPSHIRE i6i
The fourth Fulke served with such gallantry in the Welsh camp;iigns under
Edward I. that Whittington was restored to him, and his son, the fifth Fulke,
was summoned to Parliament as a baron, in 1295, till 1314. After him the
descent of the Fitz Warines of Whittington Castle and mancjr continued for
a long period, until by the failure of heirs male the property passed by
Elizabeth, a sister of the tenth Fulke, to her husband, Sir Richard Hankford,
knight. Their daughter and heir, Thomasine, married William Bourchier,
ancestor of the Bourchiers, earls of Bath, whose descendant Earl John
exchanged Whittington with Henry VIIL, and from the Crown it passed to
the FitzAlan family, from whom, in 1570, it was purchased by William Albany,
and the manor has since continued with the descendants of that gentleman.
Mr. Clark shows that this place is the site of a very early fortification, in
which water formed the main defence, the proof of which is in an artificial
mound, 30 feet high, with sides about 150 feet long by 100, that have been
scarped and revetted. A wall surrounded this, defended by five or six circular
towers, of which the two supporting the entrance remain entire, and there is
the base of another. In front of this mound was another large earthen
platform, separated from it by a moat, containing the main entrance and
the outer ward. Westward of these islands are two others, likewise divided
by water, and behind these ranges a sort of semicircular work, with three more
islands forming long ramparts and ditches, protecting the inner fort from the
S.W. to the S.E. A swiftly running stream from the E. supplied water, flooding
the whole intermediate ground between the islands, and rendering them quite
unapproachable. Upon the mound, which must have been formed by Saxon or Danish hands,
was the keep, or an enclosed fort within a strong revetment wall, 30 feet in
height, with a second gatehouse and drawbridge. The outer ward was
approached by a drawbridge and the gatehouse, of which part is still
tolerably perfect ; this enclosure was rectangular, with strong walls flanked
by circular towers at the angles, and having the entrance on its E. side. The
whole of the older part seems of the reign of Henry III., and is, no doubt,
Fitz Warine work, but there is a chamber in the S. wall with a sharp-
pointed window of late Decorated style. No masonry remains on the other
islands {Clark),
In a drawing of this castle dated 1790, five towers are shown in the outer
ward, with a large extent of curtain wall, each tower being battlemented, and
a low-pointed entrance doorway with machicoulis over is given. In that year
the E. tower fell, and the N. one was then undermined for the purpose of
getting stone for road repairs. In 1809 the smaller tower was taken down to
repair the gatehouse, which is now nearly all that remains of the castle of the
Fitz Warines, who were lords here for nine generations. Their shield is still
to be seen on the wall.
VOL. II. X

1m

i

^p^^

^^%^
w^
te^
y-'.^v^fl^
pf. '
P
u^m.M^m:
fe
^il
^^^
-\'C/' ,. - "-
#-v^f
1 ¦'
¦ ' ¦>- . -- . -
': 'Wk
«ji'-^]t« i
P^'m
-..-.¦,_¦¦¦ >.
'¦'-¦^\i*f:J»a-^. ;
^^s^SBBM
^m
^^
.¦;.-' ¦ 1
i
^tt:
"^^^^^
.
BEESTON
Cbesbire
A L D .F O R D (non-existent)
ON the right bank of the river Dee, three miles S. of Chester, and
1 near Pulford, is the village of Aldford, and below it is the ford
' across Dee, from which it derives its title. On an eminence above
are the earthworks of a castle, erected for the defence of this
important point, the ancient junction of the North and South Watling Streets.
The fortification is of singular shape, somewhat resembling a harp in the
outline of its earthworks and ditches, which alone remain. The outer ward
forms a large triangle, whose sides measure respectively 130, 120, and 55 yards
along the enclosing ditch, which is 20 yards wide, where unaltered. The
N.W. angle of this figure is occupied by a large circular mound, 40 yards in
diameter, surrounded by its own moat, 40 yards wide, and intersects the main
ditches before mentioned. Upon this mound of still earlier origin was the
Norman keep of the castle of a family who took their name from the locality,
but the buildings of which have quite disappeared. The country people call
the mound Blobb Hill, and the lower or outer court, the Hall Croft, U being
the site of a mansion buiU by the Arderne family, which, like the castle, has
vanished. It is probable that the structure was built in the reign of Henry 1 1., when the
Aldford family lived here, having succeeded to certain manors of the Bigods.
162
CHESHIRE 163
Richard de Aldford was succeeded in his fee and castle of Aldford, between
10 John and 13 Henry III., by Sir John Arderne, who appears to have been
either his son or his son-in-law, and who was confirmed hei"e by Randle, Earl
of Chester, as his miles (" pro homagio et servitio suo "). This family of Arderne
continued here in a direct line till the reign of Henry IV., when, towards the
end of that time, Matilda de Arderne brought Aldford to her husband,
Thomas Stanley, the third son of Sir John Staidey, of Lathom and Knowsley,
K.G. (see Liverpool), On the attainder and execution of Sir William Stanley,
Aldford feU to the Crown, and temp. Henry VIII. was bought by Sir Wilham
Brereton, who was himself beheaded in 1546, when the property was again
seized by the Crown, and granted by the king to Edward Peckham. It after
wards passed to various persons, among whom was the infamous Lord Mohun,
whose second wife sold Aldford manor to the Grosvenor family, in whom it
is now vested. BEESTON (chief)
BEESTON stands on the summit of a bold hill of new red sandstone, which,
rising out of the flat, plain country, attains an elevation of nearly 400 feet
above it. Towards the S. the hill slopes evenly and swiftly downwards, but
denudation on the N. and E. has left a precipitous cliff, on the brink of
which Randle the Third, surnamed Blundeville or Blondeville, sixth Earl of
Chester, in 1220 built a magnificent castle. There are no records of any earlier
work, but we may well surmise that so commanding a position, overlooking an
immense panorama of country, and so close to the main roads passing through
this district, was occupied by the original possessors of this county long before
Norman days. Little is known of the early history of this fortress. Randle,
the founder, was certainly the greatest of the Norman earls of Chester, and to
his support King John was mainly indebted for his security on the throne ;
while the reign of the young king, Henry IIL, was established by the victory
which Earl Randle gained over the French troops at Lincoln. He raised an
army, and, taking Henry with him, marched to Lincoln, where the Comte de
Perche and the Dauphin lay waiting for him. Walter de Wittlesey, the Peter
borough monk, relates how the two earls met before Lincoln Cathedral, when
De Perche, observing the small stature of Randle, exclaimed, " Have I waited
here all this while for so small a dwarf ! " To which Randle replied, " I vow
to God and Our Lady, whose church this is, that before to-morrow evening I
will seem to thee greater and taller than that steeple."
The following day he gave battle to the French, destroyed them, and
slew the Comte de Perche. Then seizing on Louis the Dauphin in the
cathedral, he made him swear on the relics on the high altar never to claim
the crown of England, and to quit the country with all his followers. This

164 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
being done, he sent for the young king, Henry, a child of ten, who had been
waiting in the cow-house of Bardley Abbey near Lincoln, and placing him on
the altar delivered him seisin of the kingdom by a white wand, and did
homage to him, as did all the nobles present. This Earl Randle died without
issue in 1232, having held his earldom fifty-one years, and his nephew, John
Scott, Earl of Huntingdonshire, succeeded as seventh and last Earl of Chester.
On his death in 1237, Henry seized the castles of Chester and Beeston,
and caused homage to be done to Prince Edward by the Cheshire nobles and
gentry as Earl of Chester.
Later, in 1264, Simon de Montfort after the battle of Lewes took possession
of Beeston Castle, and governed it with his supporters ; but he could not have
held it in force, as the next year the king's men, James de Audley and Urian
St. Pierre, took it on behalf of the king. After this, nothing is recorded about
the place until the last year of Richard 1 1., who, on his way to carry out his fatal
expedition to Ireland, chose Beeston Castle for the repository of his treasure
and jewels, leaving them here to the amount of 200,000 marks (^^i 34,000), in
charge of a garrison of a hundred men. But on the coming of Bolingbroke all
was delivered over to him. The last mention of it as a regular fortress is in
1460, during the Wars of the Roses, when it is recorded among the castles and
manors belonging to the earldom.
In Leland's time it was in ruins, and so continued till the Civil Wars of
the seventeenth century. In 1640 it was taken and held by the Parliamentarians
with a garrison of three hundred, when occurred the only warlike incident
connected with the place of which we have any account. In December of
that year Captain Landford with some Royalist soldiers came here, and,
attended by only eight men, scaled the steep side of the rock and got into
the upper ward, and then, as is believed, by the treachery of Captain Steel, the
Parliamentarian governor, gained possession of the castle. The whole transac
tion seems to have been peaceably arranged, but, when Steel marched out
after giving up the castle and all its contents, his soldiers mutinied against
him, and he was put in prison, and finally shot for his act at Nantwich.
Mention of his death is found in the diary of the siege of Nantwich, in
which an entry for January 1643 records that " Steel, late governor of Beeston
Castle, was shot to death in Tinker's-croft by two soldiers, according to the
judgment against him ... he confessed all his sins, among the rest, that of
uncleanness ; he prayed a great while, and to the judgment of charity died
penitently." By the capture of Beeston Castle ammunition and stores for one and a half
years were secured for the king, and much treasure also was taken, which
the country people had sent in for safe custody. Further vicissitudes were in
store for Beeston Castle, however, for in 1644 the Parliamentarians advanced
from their quarters at Nantwich and besieged it. The Royal garrison, ill

CHESHIRE 165
provided with both fuel and stores, gallantly held out from October till the
middle of the following March, when the princes Rupert and Maurice came in
force and compelled the siege to be raised. It was at this time that Prince Rupert
caused the manor hall to be burnt, in order to avoid its being used by the enemy ;
and it is said that, being at dinner in this building, "he did not communicate
his intentions to the lady of the house until he rose from dinner, when he ex
pressed his regrets at being compelled thus to requite her hospitality " {Ayrton).

¦M^smm-iS^i^i^i.'

BEESTON

The Roundheads returned to the attack again in the next month, ancl
raised a strong mound and other works against the fortress, but the approach
of the king again obliged them to retire. The Royalists continued their gallant
resistance here till 1645, when, after the defeat of Sir Marmaduke Langdale
on Rowton Heath, the king's power in that quarter was destroyed. Then
on November i6th, after a further protracted defence of eighteen weeks, the
garrison of fifty-six men had to surrender the place, marching out with all
the honours of war. It is said there were no provisions found, with the
exception of a turkey-pie, the garrison having been reduced even to eating all

i66 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
the cats in the place. The next year Beeston Castle was dismantled and
left to ruin.
The manor of Beeston remained with the family of the name of Bunbury,
descended from the Bunburys who held it in Henry II.'s time. Sir George
Bunbury had it in 44 Queen Elizabeth, and at length, by the marriage of
the daughter of Sir Hugh to William Whitmore, it went to the latter, but was
soon after transferred by Bridget his heir to Thomas, Viscount Savage of
Rock Savage, whose granddaughter Bridget brought it to Sir Thomas Mostyn,
Bart., from whose heiress. Lady Champneys, Beeston was purchased by the
ToUemache family, and they still own it.
The main fortress stands on the crown of an abrupt precipice, which
renders it inaccessible on three sides, i.e, on the N., W., and S. sides, the
N. and S. faces being connected by an immensely deep ditch at the base
of the walls enclosing the inner ward, which is a rectangular space of an
acre. The entrance to it is by a drawbridge and a gatehouse, having two
semicircular flanking towers, and an Early English pointed archway with
portcullis. This gateway and the castle wall, which descends to the level of
the brook at the foot of the cliff, 90 feet below, are all that remains perfect
in any degree. There are but few vestiges of the rooms in the castle.
From the drawbridge, externally, stretches the outer ward, a large area
of 7 or 8 acres, sufficient to give shelter to flocks and herds, enclosed by
an irregular circular wall, strengthened by eight mural towers, which extends
across the neck of the hill from N. to S. The entrance to this ward was
by a gatehouse similar to that of the inner ward, and it was defended by a
strong square tower. Owing to the repairs and additions of the seventeenth
century all the masonry of the thirteenth has now quite vanished.

BRUNSTATH, or BRIMSTAGE (minor)
ON a bleak tract of moorland lies this original settlement of the Domvilles,
who were probably a younger branch of the barons of Montalt, under
whom they held their lands. The elder line is represented by the Earl of
Shrewsbury, and another branch continued in uninterrupted male descent at
Lymme in this county until the beginning of the last century.
The first Hugh DomviUe appears in the reign of Henry IIL, and his descen
dants continued until the time of Richard 1 1., when an heiress brought the
lands to Sir Hugh de Holes or Hulse, by whose granddaughter they passed
to the Troutbecks in 10 Henry VL, and from them the property came to the
Earl of Shrewsbury, as it is now vested.
At the end of the village is the hall, a building of no great antiquity ; but
attached to it is a lofty and ancient peel tower, the surviving member of the

CHESHIRE 167
former fabric. It is a massive building of four storeys, connected by a newel
staircase, and surmounted with a heavy crenellated parapet and machicoulis.
The lowest stage has a stone ribbed vault, said to ha\e formed the chapel.
Hugh Hulse and his wife Margery had a licence in 1398 to build an
oratory at this place, and the tower is supposed to have been built temp.
Henry V. The period of the castle's demolition is uncertain ; it was habitable
at the end of the sixteenth century, and was then tenanted by John Pool of
Poole, as the superior bailiff of the Talbots.

CHESTER CASTLE (chief)
THE foundation of this castle is ascribed by Ordericus Vitalis to William
the Conqueror three years after the Conc^uest. It was not only the chief
stronghold, but often also the palace of the powerful earls of Chester, and
this dual character it retained until alterations made at the beginning of the
present century utterly destroyed its interesting details ; a Grecian barrack
or court-house was then erected, with a Doric temple by way of entrance.
One portion oiily of the old building remains in the shape of a square tower,
called Caesar's or Julius Agricola's Tower, which was long used as a powder
magazine. This tower dates from a period later than the Conquest, being
Transitional Norman in style, and stands partly on the Roman walls of the
ancient city. Within it is the Chapel of St. Mary, infra castrum, built between
1190 and 1200, measuring 19 feet 4 inches by 16^- feet in area, and 16A feet in
height, the roof being vaulted and groined. In this chapel King James II.
received mass on his visit to Chester.
The castle is situated near the S.W. angle of the city walls, the upper ward
standing on high ground which falls precipitously on the S. and W., and it is
further defended on the N. by an artificial elevation. Pennant describes the
castle of his time (1784) as " composed of two parts, an upper and a lower,
each with a strong gate, defended by a round bastion on either side with a
ditch, and formerly with drawbridges. Within the precincts of the upper
ballium are to be seen some towers of Norman architecture, square, with
square projections at each corner, slightly salient. The handsomest is that
called after Julius Caesar. The arsenal, some batteries, and certain habitable
buUdings occupy the remaining part. On the side of the lower court stands
the noble room called Hugh Lupus' Hall, in which the courts of justice for
the county are held ; Us length is very nearly 99 feet, and the breadth
45 feet ; the height is tremendous, being 50 feet, and the chamber is fitting
for the state apartments of a great baron. Adjoining the end of this great
hall is the Court of Exchequer, or the Chancery of the County Palatine of
Chester. This very building is said to have been the Parliament house of

i68 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
the little kings of the palatinate. It savours of antiquity in architecture, and
within are a number of neatly carved seats enclosed by Gothic arches and
pillars. At the upper end are two chairs of state, one for the earl, the
other for the abbot. The eight others are allotted to his eight barons, and
occupy one side of the room." Ormerod gives the rare plate by Hollar, of
Earl Lupus holding his parliament here. This beautiful Hall was ruthlessly
demolished in 1830 to make room for the Grecian designs of Mr. Thomas
Harrison. The upper ward remained little altered, however, except that the
gatehouse and its towers were removed. Lysons' Magna Britannia gives a
bird's-eye view taken from the Harleian MSS. (2073.) WiUiam I. granted to his
nephew Hugh, surnamed Lupus, son of Richard, Earl of Avranches, the County
Palatine of Chester " to hold by the sword, as he held England by the crown "
(as see under Halton). Hugh divided the county between four barons ; i. his
cousin. Sir Nigel of Halton; 2. Sir Piers Malban of Nantwich; 3. Sir Eustace of
Malpas; 4. Sir Warren Vernon of Shipbrook. Hugh's son Richard was drowned
at Barfleur in the shipwreck which caused the death of Prince William, son of
Henry I., in 1120; and as he left no issue, the earldom of Chester then descended
to his cousin, Ranulph Bohun, as third earl. Ranulph married Maud, daughter
of Aubrey de Vere, Earl of O.xford, and died in 1130, being succeeded by his
son Ranulph, who took the side of the Empress Maud, and was the great warrior
by whom Stephen was defeated (see Lincoln). He married Alice, daughter of
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and died in 1152. His son, Hugh, the fifth earl,
took the part of the sons of Henry II. against their father, whom he fought
in Normandy, but was defeated and made prisoner by the king. Hugh died
in 1 181, and his son Ranulph, surnamed BlondevUle, became sixth Earl of
Chester, being also Earl of Lincoln. This earl was not only a very learned
man, but also a good soldier. He defeated the French army at Lincoln, thus
ending the claim of the Dauphin to the English throne. His first wife was
Constance, widow of Geoffrey, third son of Henry IL, and father of Prince
Arthur, killed by King John at Rouen, and of the hapless Princess Isabel, his
sister. Eari Ranulph died at his castle of Wallingford in 1232, s.p., when his
lands were divided, his nephew John, surnamed " Scot," succeeding as seventh
earl. John married Jane, daughter of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, by whom
he was poisoned (Matthew Paris) in 1237. Dying without issue, his four sisters
becam.e his heirs — i. Margaret, married to the Earl of Galloway ; 2. Isabel,
married to Robert Bruce, and grandmother to King Robert Bruce ; 3. Maud,
died s.p. ; 4. Eva, wife of Henry, lord of Abergavenny, one of the competitors
for the crown of Scotland, temp. Edward I. At Earl John's death Henry III.
annexed Chester and its title to the Crown, and his descendants were earls
until the time of Edward the Black Prince, since when the eldest sons of
all sovereigns of England have from their birth borne the title of Earls of
Chester.

CHESHIRE 169
It was in Chestei Castle, in the year 1477, that Eleanor, Duchess of
Gloucester, was confined. The most memorable event which occurred in its
history was the great siege, begun in 1643, and lasting, on and off, for three
years. The castle itself is not especially mentioned in the accounts of this
siege, but we are told that the city had received a tolerably strong line of
fortifications, and was able to sustain repeated attacks of the enemy — Lord
Byron being in command, with twelve comniissioners. The besieged refused
nine summonses for capitulation from the Parliamentarian general. Sir William
Brereton; but at last, towards the end of January 1645, having consumed all
their horses, dogs, and cats, they made an off'er to treat. Articles of surrender
were drawn up and at length agreed to, and Chester and its castle were on
very honourable terms given up on F^ebruary 3, 1645.
The old walls which surround the city and their towers are still kept in
good order, and afford a pleasant promenade, two miles in length. At their N.W.
angle is the Water Tower, which has been rebuilt on the site of the ancient one
which stood on the N. bank of Dee for five hundred years. It is described by
Fuller in 1662, and in an old record of events at Chester by Hemingway it is
said : " 1322. In this year the new Tower was built at the cost of the city by
John Helpstone, a mason, who conditioned to build the same for the sum of
;^'ioo." It is of circular shape, lo^ yards in diameter and 24 yards in height,
having at convenient distances loopholes for the discharge of missile weapons.
But by the desertion of the old river channel, and the sanding up of the haven,
this ancient tower has been left high and dry ever since the days of Richard II.

DODDINGTON CASTLE {minor)
IN the fourth year of Henry IV.'s reign John de Delves had licence to crenel
late a tower in Doddington Park, about four miles S.E. of Nantwich, where
there is a sumptuous house, built about fifty years since. A short distance N.
of this modern building are the ancient remains of a castle, or fortified mansion,
erected by Sir John Delves in 1364, to which, perhaps, the above mentioned
licence applied. Whether the tower was a detached building or an addi
tion to the castle does not appear.
The Delves family was in Staffordshire in the time of Edward I., and its
members were esquires of the lords Audley. In 38 Edv^-ard III. Sir John Delves
had a licence to fortify Doddington, which he had purchased thirteen years
previou.sly from John de Brescy (25 Edward IIL). It was his grandson who
obtained permission from Henry IV. to build the tower ; his great-grandson. Sir
John Delves, knight, being slain at Tewkesbury. This Sir John's son, also called
John, was beheaded after that battle. In 1621 Sir Thomas Delves of Doddington
was made a baronet, and his great-grandson, also Sir Thomas, left an only daughter
VOL. II. Y

lyo CASTLES OF ENGLAND
and heiress, Elizabeth, who brought Doddington to her husband. Sir Brian
Broughton — whence the family of Delves-Broughton, the present owners.
The drawing in Ormerod shows a square tower of two storeys, of four
teenth-century style, with a later outer stair of approach, having a battlemented
turret capping each angle. "A mansion of middle date, built in the reign of
Elizabeth near this castellet, and which was thrice occupied by the Parlia
mentary troops during the Civil Wars, has been wholly taken down ; but five
statues of Lord Audley and his esquires, which decorated the portico, and
some other ornamental stone-work of the mansion, are preserved in the outer
staircase attached to the remains of the castellet."
In January 1643 the Royalists besieged Doddington Hall, when held by
Captain Harwar and 160 men, and took it, but it was retaken in February by
the Parliament, who planted " great ordnance " against it.

DODLESTONE {non- existent)
ON the S.W. of Chester, opposUe to Eaton, is the site of a castle, once
the seat of a family named Boydel, descendants of Osbern Fitz Tezzon
or Taisson, who held Dodlestone at the Domesday Survey. This Tezzon
family was an illustrious one in Normandy, and once held in fee a fifth
part of that province, being seigneurs of Cinqueleiz. Raval Taisson fought
at Hastings, and seems to have been the first of this English branch (Ormerod).
Osbern's son was Hugh, and his grandson, Helto, who assumed the name
of De Boydel. He had two brothers, Alan and William, who both succeeded
during the reign of King John, and were known as benefactors to the Church.
The son of the latter brother. Sir William de Boydel, knight, made grants
also in 1245 to the abbey of Dieulacres.
Here the Boydels continued for many generations, maintaining themselves
"with a degree of consequence little inferior to that of the barons of the
earldom." A partition of the estate took place temp. Edward IIL, when
Dodlestone fell to Howel ap Owain Vaughan, whose son and heir, William,
assumed the name of Boydel, and his descendants continued here tiU 3
Henry VI., when the castle and lands were brought in marriage by a daughter
to Hugh de Radyche or Redishe. This family remained long in possession,
until an heiress, Maud, in the eleventh year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, married
William Merbury, when a part of the property was sold to the Grosvenors.
They conveyed it afterwards to Thomas Egerton, the Lord Chancellor, who
made his residence at Dodlestone HaU. The residue of the estate was sold
in 1627 by Thomas Merbury to several holders, from whom it came to the
Grosvenor family, its present owners.
The site of the old home of the Boydels can stiU be traced on the W. of

CHESHIRE 171
the church, where is a rectangular enclosure, about a Cheshire acre in extent,
formed by the moat, having in its N.E. corner a circular mound, the site of
the ancient keep, surrounded by its own moat, which is connected with the
principal ditch, outside of which again are the remains of a circular earthwork.
The Mauleys of Laclie erected within this enclosure a house which formed the
headquarters of Sir William Brereton during the siege of Chester, but it has now
vanished.
DUNHAM-MASSY (non-existent)
THE castle of Dunham-Massy was formerly the seat of the ancient Barons
Massy, and was situated near Altrincham. The first baron, Hamon Massy,
held his lands under Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, temp. William the Conqueror.
Sir Hamon, the sixth ancl last baron, left four daughters, the eldest of whom.
Cicely, married John Fitton of BoUin, temp. Edward II. On the death of Sir
Hamon, who had sold Dunham to Oliver de Ingham, a judge of Chester, a law
suit subvened, after the settlement of which Ingham held Dunham till his death,
when the Fittons entered into possession. Thereafter Henry, Duke of Lancaster,
bought the manor and gave it to Roger le Strange, lord of Knocking, whose wife
was heir to Ingham. Dunham seems, however, to have reverted to the Fittons,
and from them to have come, through the Venables of Kinderton, to Sir Robert
Booth of Barton, Lancaster, descending from the Fittons by an arrangement
dated 11 Henry VI. In the first year of Richard III.'s reign George Bothe,
armiger, son of William Bothe, miles, was seised of the moiety of Dunham-
Massy among others. His descendant. Sir George Booth, having represented
the county in the Long Parliament, and having been actively engaged in the
service of the Commonwealth, "conceived a subsequent disgust" for that
cause, and became a prime mover in the Restoration. For this tardy piece
of loyalty, and for his losses, he subsequently received ^10,000, and was
created Baron Delamere of Dunham-Massy. His son Henry, who strongly
espoused the cause of the Prince of Orange, was raised in 1690 to the earldom
of Warrington, and his granddaughter and sole heiress married in 1736 Harry,
4th Earl of Stamford, whence came the union of these titles.
The Norman barons constituted Dunham the chief seat of their barony,
and built a castle at this place, of which, however, nothing whatever remains.
Nor, indeed, are there any local traditions of it having existed, although there
' are charters which mention both the castle and the dependent fort of UUers-
ford. A drawing exists of the mansion of Dunham as it appeared 200 years ago,
standing within a garden surrounded by a moat, and having in one angle of
the grounds a high circular mound, simUar to all such round mounds, on
which sometimes were built the Norman shell or hollow keeps. Doubtless
this drawing represents the last relic of the fortress of Hamon de Masci.

172 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

FRODSHAM (non-existent)
THE town of this name lies at the foot of the lofty and precipitous Overton
Hill, on the S. side of the Weaver River near its confluence with the Mersey
estuary. The lands here were among the possessions of the Norman earls
palatine of Chester, and there exists a charter to the burgesses of Frodsham,
dated in the early part of the twelfth century, from Randle Blundeville, Earl of
Chester, who appears to have lived in Frodsham Castle, built perhaps by his
ancestors. The position of this castle was important, commanding as it did a narrow
pass on the road to Chester from Lancashire, between some marshes and the
steep sides of Overton Hill ; in ancient times it was protected by the waters of
the Mersey, and in front by marshes. There are no longer any remains of the
fortress, the site of which was at the W. end of the town, but in the collections
of the Bucks is a drawing of it as it appeared in 1727, when a good deal
of the Norman fabric still existed. Ormerod says that the building was of
stone with semicircular arches of early Norman work, and walls of enormous
thickness. From the reign of Edward III. to that of Elizabeth the castle seems
to have been used as a manor gaol, and the office of Constable to it was
hereditary. After its acquisition by the Savages of Rock Savage (a place
on the opposite side of the stream), that family resided there till 1654,
when the castle was consumed by fire, on the day of the death in it of
John, Earl Rivers.
The ruins were taken down to make room for the erection of the house
called Castle Park, the residence of Mr. D. Ashley, who bought the site, under
an Act of Parliament, from the Daniels of Daresbury. They had acquired
it in 1721 by purchase from the trustees of Lord Barrymore. Then from
Mr. Ashley the property came for a time to descendants of his, called Wright.
Portions of the foundation walls of the old castle form the cellars of the
modern house.
The manor is said to have been granted by the Earls of Chester at an early
period to a family who assumed the name of Frodsham, the first of the name
whom we meet with being Hugh de Frodsham (temp. Henry 1 1.), but there is
no proof that they possessed a castle for a long period after this. In John's
reign they farmed the lands here, and there is a pedigree of their family up
to 1396. In 1279 Edward I. granted the place and lands to David, brother of
Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, with whom he had been at variance, in order
to give him an interest outside his own country ; but David, being afterwards
reconciled to his brother, broke his treaty with Edward I., and having surprised

CHESHIRE 173
and captured the castle of Hawarden in Flint, put its garrison to the sword.
For this, after Llewellyn's death, and the subjugation of Wales, David, though
a sovereign prince, was seized by Edward and tried for high treason at Shrews
bury in 1283, and w,is put to death there with every circumstance of horrible
cruelty borne in the sentence, which was now for the first time passed and
practised, the savage king looking on while his royal victim was partially
hanged, but cut down ali\e and disembowelled, his members being then
severed and distributed through the kingdom (see Shmvsbnry).
In 1357 Thomas de Frodesham performed important services for Edward III.
and the Black Prince in Gascony ancl at Poictiers, for which he obtained
rewards. Henry VI. in his thirty-second year granted Frodsham and its appurtenances
to Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, the father of Henry VIL, though the
lordship was still attached to the royal earldom of Chester.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century the property was bestowed on
the Savages of Clifton, whose representative, the Earl of Rivers, enjoyed it till
deprived of it by litigation (temp. George I.). At a later date it passed to
Lady Penelope Barry, the wife of Lord Barrymore, and daughter and heir
of Earl Rivers. She afterwards brought the estate in marriage to the Earl
of Cholmondeley, whose descendants still own the lands.

HALTON (chief)
AT the head of the Mersey estuary, to the N.E. of Chester, on the brow
^ of a lofty hill, was built this fortress shortly after the Conquest. When
William I. had concluded the pacification of the kingdom in 1070, he ap
pointed all this part of the country to one of his Norman earls, Hugh Lupus,
" to hold from him by the sword as he himself held the realm of England by
the crown." Hugh at once divided his great palatinate between his eight
followers, who were constituted barons, on condition of supporting him, in
some manner, by the sword. One of these was Nigel, a Norman warrior, who
became the first baron of Halton, and made it the head of his barony, it being
his chief fortress. Nothing, however, remains now of the Norman castle, which
in its general plan, before its dismantling, resembled Beeston.
Nigel's son and grandson succeeded, and at the death of the latter in
Normandy temp. Stephen, s,p,, his sister's husband, Eustace FitzRoger,
acquired the lands and castle as fourth Baron of Halton. This man had
already inherited Knaresborough (Yorks) from his uncle, Serlo de Burgh, and
had also obtained the valuable baronies of Halton and Alnwick through his
first wife, the daughter and heiress of Ivo de Vescy, and to him Earl Randle
Gernons gave the hereditary Constableship of Cheshire. He fell in the Welsh

174 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
campaign of 1157, and was succeeded by his son Richard, whose son John
after his mother's accession to the vast estates of Robert de Lacy, her half-
brother, assumed the great name of Lacy. He died in the Crusade before
Tyre in 1190.
His son Roger followed as seventh Baron of Halton (see Clitheroe, Lanca
shire), and was known as a valiant soldier who fought together with Cceur de
Lion at Acre in 1191. He it was who defended the Chateau GaUlard so long
against the French king, and was taken prisoner when, vanquished by famine,
he and his men were trying to cut their way through the French host.
Roger Lacy married Maud de Clare, and dying in 12 11, was succeeded by
his son John, who was one of the Magna Charta barons appointed to see that
the faithless king executed the requirements laid upon him. In 12 18, after
serving in the Crusade at Damietta, he obtained from Henry III. the earldom
of Lincoln. This elevation of the Lacys, however, brought ruin to Halton,
since, no longer needing that castle for their constant abode, it was deserted
and neglected by them.
John de Lacy died in 1240, and his son Edmund dying before his mother,
never became Earl of Lincoln, but lived as Baron of Halton only. He died
in 1258, being followed by his son Henry, tenth baron, whose name is historic.
After receiving knighthood from Henry IIL, in the fifty-seventh year of that
king's reign, he became a companion-in-arms, |and likewise a trusty councillor,
of Edward I., whom in energy of character and in bravery he resembled. In
1272 he assisted Edmund, the king's brother, in the siege of Chartley Castle,
which had been seized by Robert, Earl Ferrers. In 1290 Edward appointed
him Chief Commissioner for reforming law abuses. In 1296 he commanded
the English forces in the south of France, when he expelled the French from
Toulouse. We next find Baron Henry in 1299 leading the van ^t the battle
of Falkirk, where 40,000 Scots are said to have been slain.
At the Parliament of Carlisle of 1307 our Baron of Halton was placed above
all peers except the king's son ; and such was his high standing in the country,
that when Edward II. advanced into Scotland, Henry de Lacy was appointed
Protector of the Realm during the king's absence. He died in his great
mansion of Lincoln's Inn in 1310, when, leaving no son, his honours fell to his
young daughter Alice, who, as a child of nine, was married to Thomas, Earl
of Lancaster, whose rebellion in 1321, and retreat from Tutbury, with the loss
of his treasure-chest, are mentioned in the account of Tutbury (Stafford).
Taken prisoner at Boroughbridge and then beheaded at Pontefract, his posses
sions were seized by the Crown, and we hear no more of his poor child-wife.
Although probably a weak man, he was idolised by the monks, who, after
their own fashion, canonised him after his death. Edward II. came soon
after this to inspect Halton Castle, and stayed there several days.
When the lands were restored, it was Henry of Lincoln, surnamed

CHESHIRE 175
Grismond, who obtained them as twelfth Baron of Halton, and was succeeded
at Halton in 1345 by his son Henry, Earl, and afterwards Duke, of Lancaster.
He claimed the right to have his castle of Halton crenellated and embattled,
together with a castle ward and a prison. Duke Henry's daughter Blanche
brought Halton to John of Gaunt, as fourteenth baron, and he seems to have
built here as he did in so many other places, so that his name still lingers in
the neighbourhood. At the death of "time-honoured Lancaster," Halton
fell to his son Bolingbroke as the fifteenth and last baron, and on his death
passed to the Crown.
In 10 Henry VI. Sir John Savage was made Constable of Halton Castle,
and mustered the Cheshire men under its walls. Afterwards, little is heard
of the fortress during the Wars of the Roses, and in 1579, after a century of
neglect, this proud castle, so long the head of a great barony, was turned
into a prison.
James I. came here in August 1617 to hunt, and killed a buck in the park.
The importance of Halton was recognised at the opening of the Civil War,
when a garrison was placed there for the king by Earl Rivers in June 1643,
but a year after the post was reduced and taken possession of for the
Parliament by the force under Sir William Brereton. Shortly afterwards the
castle was dismantled and turned into a ruin.
An ancient print reproduced by the Historic Society of Cheshire {Journal,
vol. ii.) shows the old fortress standing on a cliff' over the river, with the town
below it ; the enclosure of high embattled walls is of circular form, holding
nine large square mural towers, at intervals, the lower gatehouse being flanked
by two of them. On the opposite side of the enceinte is shown a similar
gateway, leading probably to an inner ward not seen. Ormefod too gives a
sketch of the ruins as they may have been at the beginning of the present
century. This view shows half-octagonal flanking towers to the entrance
gateway, with the lofty Edwardian windows of John of Gaunt's period.

KINDERTON CASTLE (non-existent)
SITUATED on the river Dane at Middlewich, this place belonged at the
Domesday Survey to Gilbert de Venables, a Norman from the town of
Venables, between Rouen and Paris, and near to Vernon. This Gilbert is
supposed to have been a younger brother of Stephen, Earl of Blois, and his
descendants continued here as Barons of Kinderton for many generations.
Sir Richard de Venables was beheaded after the battle of Shrewsbury, in which
he took part against Henry IV. Sir Hugh served on the side of Lancaster
under Lord Audley, and was slain at Bloreheath. Peter, the Baron of Kinderton,
died in 1679, and his sister's daughter, Anne, the sole heiress, having married

176 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Henry Vernon of Sudbury, county Derby, her son George Venables Vernon
was in 1762 created Baron Vernon of Kinderton.
The ancient haU of Kinderton stood near the banks of the Dane, two fields
distant from the supposed Roman work of Condate. A part only of the moat
remains, but formerly it enclosed a parallelogram of several acres, in the S.W.
angle of which is still left a large circular mound. All remains of the ancient
castle and of the later hall which succeeded it have been removed, and a brick
mansion called Kinderton Lodge was erected by Lord Norreys in another part
of the manor ; this also has in its turn vanished. It was a large quadrangular
fabric of timber and plaster, decorated on the exterior of the upper storey with
imaginary portraits of the Barons of Kinderton.

MACCLESFIELD (non-existent)
MACCLESFIELD was a castle which belonged in demesne to the Earls of
Chester, and seems to have been fortified at the Domesday period by a
haia or palisade. At the extinction of the local earldom, the manor passed
to the Crown, where it is still vested.
On the S. of the church, and in a steep and narrow pathway leading
from the town to the river, called the Black Wall Gate, is a lofty stone wall,
behind which were once the remains of a castellated palace built by Humphrey,
Duke of Lancaster. In the lower part of the wall is a small doorway under
a pointed arch of considerable antiquity.
Ormerod also says that near the Congleton road is a place called Castle
Field, which is probably the site of the local palace of the Earls of Chester.
In this a circular mound, or tumulus, is still remaining.

MALPAS (non-existent)
THIS position was chosen by the first Earl of Chester as the site of one of
his many Border castles, and was given by him to one of the eight barons
of his court, Robert FitzHugh, who was said to be his bastard son. He
obtained the forfeited estates of the dispossessed Earl Edwin, and of other
Saxon owners, and at his death s.p. male, his two daughters divided his lands
between them. One of them, Letitia, was the wife of Richard Patrie, whose
heiress (temp. Henry II.) carried the Malpas manor, with others, to the family
of De Sutton of Shropshire ; the other, Mabel, married to William Belward,
became the ancestress of the elder line of Egerton, afterwards represented by
the Breretons.
The FitzHugh estates, thus divided, were reunited in the reigns of
Henry VIII. and Elizabeth by purchases carried out by the Egertons ; and in

CHESHIRE 177
the eleventh year of Charies I. Sir Richard Egerton of Shotlack (q.v) and his
brothers parted with the property, which was afterwards conveyed to Robert,
Viscount Cholmondeley, ancestor of the present marquess, whose sec(.)nd tide
is Baron Malpas, and in whose family the Malpas estates remain.
The Castle of Malpas, the original head of the barony, has long been
destroyed. The only remains are those of the circular mound, measuring
40 yards in diameter, the relic of a still earlier fortress, on which it is likely
that the new Norman lord erected his tower or keep, soon after the Conquest,
to strengthen the earldom against the Welsh. The castle ditch has been traced
out for a long distance.
Like most fortresses in Cheshire upon the Welsh marches, this castle was
situated immediately adjacent to the church, which most probably was compre
hended within the works.
The intricate pedigrees of the various families connected with the succession
to these lands, are given at length by Ormerod.

NORTHWICH {non-existent)
THE site of the ancient fortress lies on the road to Chester from North-
wich. After passing the bridge the road ascends a very steep hill, on
the right of which are the remains of this stronghold, in a small field
bounded on one side by a brook. It commanded the junction of the Dane
with the Weaver at a point where the latter stream was crossed by the Watling
Street. However important this point may have been in Roman or Saxon times,
it is doubtful whether any stone fortress was ever placed here, since no
mention is made of any military service connected with the castle, nor was
it ever in the hands of any but obscure families.
The remains consist of two high mounds of unequal height ; the higher
is nearly circular, and about 30 yards in diameter, while the lower one
measures only 17 yards across. There are no remains of walls or of
other earthworks ; but for all that, a formidable stronghold may have been
formed here in Saxon times in timber with palisades.

OLDCASTLE (non-existent)
OLDCASTLE was situated S.E. of Malpas, directly on the Welsh frontier,
from which a little brook divides it. The surface of the land here
rises in a number of smaU hiUs and inequalities, and on the summit of
one of them are indications of the works of this ancient fortress, which was
perhaps one of a line of forts erected along the Border after the Norman
VOL. II. '^

178 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Conquest, or may be of still earlier derivation, — as might be inferred from
the name.
On the subdivision of the Malpas estates, Oldcastle passed to the St. Pierre
family, and from them to the Cokesays ; thence U went to the Dudleys, and
in the reign of Henry VIII. to Sir Rowland HiU.
In 1644 Oldcastle Heath was the scene of a bloody encounter between
2500 Royalist cavalry, who had been driven out of Lancashire, and 900
Parliamentary troops from Nantwich, when the king's troopers were routed,
leaving Colonel Vane and Colonel Conyers dead on the field, with sixty
of their men.
PULFORD (non-existent)
THIS fortress stood on the road from Chester to Wrexham, in a flat country,
on the bank of a small brook dividing Cheshire from Denbighshire.- All
that remains is a strong semicircular earthwork facing the N.E., containing
within it a round mound, the rear of the work being protected by the brook.
The whole encloses about an acre, and in front stands a church, the prede
cessor of which was there in the time of the Confessor.
Hugh Fitz Osborn ejected the Saxon owner of the place, and was succeeded
in it by his son. Subsequently it was divided between the Ormesbies and the
Pulfords, the latter family being the supposed descendants of the Norman
grantee; but their estates were united again (28 Henry III.) by Ralph de
Ormesbie, who gave his moiety to Robert de Pulford, with the castle of
Pulford. The father of Robert had granted some of his lands to the neigh
bouring Cistercian abbey of Pulton, which no longer is visible.
The Pulfords were a numerous and strong family, and retained the property
till the reign of Richard II. , when Joan, the sister and heiress of the last Pulford
owner, married, first, Thomas de Belgrave (s.p.), and second. Sir Robert le
Grosvenor of Holme, becoming the ancestress of the Grosvenor family, to
whom these lands descended. In the time of Edward IV. they passed by
an heiress to the Winningtons, who held them under Henry VII. as Earl of
Chester ; and thence they came by marriage, at the end of Henry VIII.'s reign,
to the Warburtons. In this family the estate descended regularly until early in
the present century, when it was bought by the Earl of Grosvenor, to whose
domain of Eaton it is contiguous.
There is little recorded about the castle ; the last occasion on which its
defences were in requisition, was during the rebellion of Owen Glendower
(4 Henry IV.), when Sir Thomas de Grosvenor received a mandate to hasten
to his castle of Pulford for the defence of the marches of Wales.

CHESHIRE

SHIPBROOK (non-e.yislcnl)

179

e

SHIPBROOK is situated on the S. of Northwich, on the right bank of th
Weavei-, and opposite to the town of Davenham. The position, being a
strong one on high ground, was chosen by the Norman lords of Shipbrook for
their residence, and the site of their castle is still indicated by the name of
Castle Hill attached to an elevation between Shipbrook Bridge and Shipbrook
Farm. The remains existed till the middle of the last century, when they are
said to have been cleared away by one Tomkinson, a tenant.
Richard de Vernon, deriving from Vernon in Normandy, was grantee of the
lands at the Domesday Survey, and his descendants continued here till the reign
of Henry VI., — one of them, called " Sir Ralphe the Okie," living as is alleged to
the age of 150 years, and dying during the reign of Edward II.

SHOTLACK (non-e.xistent)
SHOTLACK was a Welsh frontier fortress on the banks of the Dee. The
manor was held at Domesday by Robert FitzHugh of Malpas, who had
dispossessed Dot the Saxon proprietor, and at his death it passed to the Suttons
and the St. Pierres. John de Sutton held it 17 Edward IIL, and at the end
of the reign of Henry VIL, it had come from that family to Lord Dudley, the
judge; and, again (temp. Henry VIIL), from Dudley by the familyof Hill to
Sir Richard Corbett of Stoke, who sold it in the fourteenth year of Elizabeth
to Sir Randolph Brereton, knight, from whom it went by marriage to the
Egertons. At the wreck of the Egerton property, in the reign of Charles I.,
it passed by purchase to the Pulestons of Emral. The Breretons were high
in the favour of Henry VIIL, Sir William being Groom of the Chamber to
that king, but he was one of the unfortunates whose head Henry brought
to the block at the time of the trial of Queen Anne Boleyn (1536).
Shotlack formed an important link in the chain of Cheshire castles
between Aldford and Malpas, the Chester road passing through the fortress.
Lord Dudley claimed the right, in 15 Henry VIL, to maintain this castle
fortified, ditched, and crenellated ; and as he does not mention the castle of
Malpas, it is possible that that castle was not in such good repair as Shotlack.
The earthworks of the place were very strong, occupying an important pass,
near the church, where the present road to Chester crosses a deep ravine,
watered by a small brook. On the W. side of the road is a lofty circular mound
or burh, 20 feet high, of very early derivation, on the top of which the
Normans placed their keep ; it is half encircled by a deep ditch, close to the
road, and on the left or W. side, where must have existed the castle buildings.

i»o

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

the ground falls r.ipidly towards the ravine. On the E. side of the road is
another raised platform, shaped like a kite, also of ancient formation, which
seems to have protected the communications between the Watling Street on
the N. and that on the S., commanding as it did the road passing through.
The area of the castle occupied about an acre, and its situation, protected as
it must have been by marshes and forests, would be impregnable.
There are now no vestiges of the masonry of this castle, and " the fair and
goodly seat " of Sir Richard Egerton, called Shotlack Hall, is also completely
destroyed.

S H O T W I C K (non-e.xisient)
THIS was one of the Norman forts erected by the Earls of Chester to
protect their frontier from the Welsh, Shotwick being intended to guard
the shallow channel of Dee in the Wirral Hundred. In later times, when the
river at Chester shrunk back, the embarkation of soldiers for Ireland became
difficult there, and the Cheshire
archers and other troops were then
collected on the shores of Wirral
and embarked frc^m this point.
.  — I i-j ^ M The cast'.r was m.ore than once
I B honoured by the rresence of the
- — I ^  ' \l^ ;;vere:;:: 'srzez r:.irt:r.g on these
expeiitirz^. Lelind speaks of it
.iS r::;f-^r.; 12 z_- day. "A myle
—  " '.."Trer 1^ 5~;rr'v-i Coitle, on the
verv ^j:;rr. feir^'irsr tD the king,
Ji^ P-, .. ¦ and :r.r.rr" -- 1 carke. '
Ir. :br HirleiLUi 5ifS. '20731 is
.1 dr,ivrlr_ :i -if -_^ku: of :his fortress
bv Kr:-.ilc H'.v::;e. is it appeared
the;-.. :;- a — v.-j;OlS condition. Its
SH0T\N\CI<. tr-icc: ¦.v^^^ .: r^a-^:^ :-:r---thened
C*f5(.i»c bv six :," - s. eae of which, ac-
co-.\v>.-.c to C.i:v,.-;;n. vr.is five storeys
high. The wash of the tides, and the cultivation of the ..irJ.s. have not
quhe obhterated these remains, those seen at pre>en; cor.S-s:.-,:^ merely of a
large mound, supported bv a huge earthwork of crescin: torni. and two deep
entrenchments on the land side.
In 1256 Fulco de Orreby, Justiciaiy of Cheshire, received charge of
Shotewyke Castle as one of the chief strongholds of the p.datinate. Various
persons are spoken of as being wardens of it, or of the roy.d park, during

CHESHIRE

i«i

successive reigns, but after a time the castle is no longer mentioned, and in
17 Charles II. this and other manors were sold to Thoni.is Wilbraham.
In 1734 the property was bequeathed to the Brereton family, and afterwards
passed from them to the Trelawneys of Shotwick Park at the beginning of the
present century.

S T O C K P O R T {non-r.viskn/)
THE family of De Stockport, or Stokeport, derived the manors at this locality
from Waltheof, in the reign of Richard I., and, intermingled in blood with
another fainily named De Eton, were here at the end of the reign of Edward III.
Stockport is finely situated on the Mersey, and appears to have been a place of
importance from the time of the Romans to that of William I., although it is not
noticed in the Domesday Survey.
On the N. of the church is the site of the ancient castle, and of some Roman
works which originally held the position and guarded the fords and passes to
Chester. The castle, which may have been founded by the Earls of Chester,
was in 1173 held against Henry II. by Geoffry de Cotentin, a Norman sup
porter of Henry's son whose title is obscure. Afterwards the place became the
property of the Despencers, and was held under them by the Stockports.
Subsequently, after the forfeiture of Hugh Despencer, Earl of Winchelsea, for
the part he took with Simon de Montfort, the headship reverted to the Earls of
Chester. From the Stockports the property descended to the family of Warren
of Poynton, and through them to the Lords Vernon.

ULLERSFORD CASTLE (non-e.xistent)
ON a neighbouring part of the property of Hamon de Masci was a place
called the Ullerswode, to the N. of Bollin, also called in one deed Ulres-
ford, whence came the name given to another fortress held by the same Baron
Hamon, together with his baronial castle of Dunham, against Henry II. About
one mile W. of this point and at the back of Bollin is Castle Mill, where there
are vestiges of earthworks, being the site of UUersford Castle, which was
perhaps an outwork of Dunham Castle.

HOGHTON TOWER

Xancasbire

BURY (non-existent)
IN 1865 some labourers, while constructing a sewer in a piece of waste
ground called Castle Croft, came upon the foundations of the ancient
castle of Bury. Further examination showed the walls, 6 feet thick,
of an entire parallelogram measuring 82 feet by 63 ; and more extended
investigation opened up the outer walls, which proved to form a figure 120 feet
by 113, in the centre of which stood the inner enclosure, or bailey, built with
very thin walls. It was evident that a mound had also existed, on which this
inner court abutted. There was little to show the date of the building, but
some pieces of carved stone which lay about were of the Decorated period.
Aiken's map shows that the castle of Bury was protected on the N. and W. by
a steep bank, below which ran the Irwell. The name and the mound both point
to a Saxon settlement and stronghold at this spot, probably of the usual type.
The earliest known reference to the place occurs temp. Henry II., when
Robert de Lacy made a grant of lands here ; and the name of Adam de Bury
is entered in 12 Henry III., in the Lansdowne MSS.
The chief part of the lands was afterwards held by PUkington of
Pilkington and Bury, which family came under forfeiture at the termination

LANCASHIRE

183

of the Wars of the Roses, and Henry VII. conferred the estate on his
supporter. Lord Stanley, afterwards first Earl of Derby of the present family,
with whose heirs it continues. Leland speaks of the ruins of a caslle here,
and there remained some portions above-ground at the end of the last
centurv.

C L I T H E ROE (minoi)
THIS name may come from Cled-dwr (Brit., "The rock by the water "). The
castle stands on the summit of a bare isolated limestone hill, or rock, that
rises boldly in the valley of the Ribble which flows at some distance below.
Camden says that Roger de Poictou at the time of the Domesday Survey
owned all the land
between the Ribble
and the Mersey ; he
was the son of Roger
de Montgomeri, who
commanded the centre \
division of the Nor
man host at Senlac,
and upon whom the
Conqueror conferred
the two earldoms of
Shrewsbury and Arun
del. Roger de Poictou
obtained the lordship
and honour (or seig
niory) of Lancaster,
but taking part with
the cause of the Em
press Maud, his pro
perty was confiscated
by Stephen. Whitaker (History
of Whalley) says "there
can be little doubt that
Roger of Poictou was
the real founder of the castle of Clitheroe," though Gregson believes it to have
been built by Robert De Lacy (temp. Henry 1 1.). It was certainly one of the
residences of the De Lacy family in Norman times, the other being at Ponte
fract. Alice, daughter of Henry, Earl of Lincoln, the last of the De Lacys,
in 1310 brought the honour of Clitheroe by marriage to Thomas Plantagenet,

CLITHEROE

i84 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Earl of Lancaster, the son of Edmund Crouchback, fourth son of Henry III.
by Blanche, Queen-Dowager of Navarre. He being beheaded 15 Edward II.
(1322), Clitheroe was forfeited and became Crown property, being absorbed
into the Duchy of Lancaster, where it remained until Charles II. gave it to
General Monk, from whom it passed to the Duke of Buccleuch.
The cap of the rock on which this castle is built is not sufficiently large
to admit of a very spacious structure, and nothing more appears to have
been intended by the founder than to provide a temporary residence when
called to this part of his domains. The castle was slighted by order of
Parliament after the Civil War, and therefore little now remains of it ; but,
from a drawing made just before its destruction, it appears that there was a
fine entrance gate-tower of circular form, on the site of the present gates,
having a semicircular Norman archway, and a lofty embattled wall running
round the brink of the hill, turning first on the back of the present steward's
house, and secondly behind the present courthouse, towards the keep. It
is recorded that coeval with the foundation of the castle, and forming part
of it, was the chapel of St. Michael de Castro, erected and endowed by the
founder, but within the whole baUey there is no appearance of this chapel,
nor of any other building except the keep, which is of the usual Norman
form, square, with flat square towers at each of the four corners, or rather
turrets, one of which has a spiral staircase. This keep is well built and
is of small dimensions, and though much undermined, stands as firm as the
rock upon which it was erected. The other remains consist of portions of
the castle wall, several feet in height, and of great thickness.

DALTON (minoi-)
THIS castle is near Ulverston, in the Furness district. What is called the
Castle of Dalton stands in the town of that name, formerly the capital
of Furness, and occupies the site of a castellum of Agricola, of the fosse of
which there are yet traces to be seen in an advantageous position commanding
the valley below (Gregson). All that remains is a plain oblong structure of
two storeys, the upper part of which is of the Decorated period, perhaps temp.
Edward III. The Abbot of Furness held his secular court here, and for
many years the chief chamber has been used as a gaol for debtors. In
Baines' " History of Lancashire,'' we are told that the frequent irruptions of
the Scots, and the exposed sUuation of the northern parts of Lancashire to
their inroads, during the reigns of the early Edwards, rendered frontier for
tresses necessary for the protection of the inhabitants, and the tower of
Dalton, which is supposed to have been erected by the monks of Furness, as
well as the peel of Fouldry, contributed to their security. In the district of

LANCASHIRE 185
Furness a number of beacons were erected, and wlien the hills of Langdale
and Coniston were illuminated with these ominous presages, the more opulent
inhabitants flocked to their castles, and removed their effects out of the reach
of their unwelcome visitors, to await more tranquil times.
For some time before the Dissolution this castle had been falling to ruin,
and in 1544 a commission ordered its repair with stone, lead, and timber from
the dismantled abbey of Furness ; after which it " was used for a pryson and
common gaole for the whole lordship and domynyon of Furness in the
liberties of the same." Later on, the courts of the Duke of Buccleuch, lord of
the liberties and manors of Furness, were convenable here, and in 1850 the
old tower was put into a thorough state of repair. It is now also used as the
armoury of the Rifle X'olunteers.

FARLETON (non-e.xistent)
AT this place, about a mile S. from Hornby, on low ground near the banks
, of the Lune, is the site of a castle which in the fifteenth century belonged
to a younger branch of the Harrington family. How the lords of Hornby
became possessed of it cannot now be ascertained, but in a survey of that
honour in 1581, the park and casde of Farieton are enumerated. Even at
that time it was probably much dilapidated.
Adam de Mont Begon gave to Geoffrey de Valons, to be held by knights'
service, certain lands in Farieton and Cancefield, which in an inquisition of
12 Edward II. are described as the manor of Farieton, being then in the hands
of the lady of the castle and honour of Hornby, Margaret, widow of Geoffrey
Nevile (see Hornby). As it was then a dependence of Hornby, it followed the
fortunes of that estate, and in the reign of Edward III. a younger branch of
the Harringtons of Aldingham was seated here, and Sir Williain Harrington,
who feU at Agincourt, became lord of the property wth Hornby.
There was formerly a park with the castle, but two and a half centuries
ago the castle had gone into ruin, and the park has quite disappeared.
There are still some vestiges of the castle.

FOULDRY (minor)
THE strong castle called the Piel (or peel) of Fouldry stands on a small
flat island of nineteen acres extent on the N. shore of Morecambe Bay,
just where the coast-line turns towards the open sea, a fordable narrow
channel separating the island from the shore. It is thought that the Danes had
a fortification here of earlier date, but this stronghold was built originally in
the reign of Stephen for the protection of the excellent harbour, as well as
VOL. II. 2 A

i86 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
against Border inroads. It was rebuilt in the fourteenth century as an outpost,
and in all probability greatly strengthened by the Abbot of Furness and his
monks, who were alarmed by the terrible invasion of Scots which followed their
victory of Bannockburn in 1322. Here, in 1487 (temp. Henry VIL), a landing
took place of the Earl of Lincoln and Lord Lovel, with 2000 German soldiers,
in support of Lambert Simnel, who was joined by Sir Thomas Broughton at
this place, in their attempt to dethrone the king, — an attempt which ended
in the battle of Stoke. In the Survey of Elizabeth's reign the fortress is called
"ane old decayed CasteU."
The castle is an early instance of a concentric fortress — a keep or central
tower surrounded by an inner girdle of fortified wall, and, beyond that, an
outer wall of curtains and bastions, each wall being protected by a wide ditch.
Buck gives a view of the work as it was in 1727, from which we see that a
considerable change has taken place. There is no trace of the outer entrance,
and the N.E. tower has lost its sea front and its wooden floors on both
storeys, most of the outer towers being of similar construction. Adjoining
this tower was the chapel, which was small, measuring 34 feet by 15 feet.
There are steps up to the ramparts which communicated with each of the
towers, and the wall, including battlements, was 8 feet thick ; part of it has
vanished, but most of the towers remain. Across this outer ward is the moat
defending the inner wall, through which the entrance lies on the W. side, where
is the barbican with drawbridge and portcullis groove ; and the other towers
with the curtains remain. The entrance to the central tower or keep is on the
N. side, through a projected approach guarded by a portcullis at either end,
and partly vaulted. The main staircase is here, and there is another on the
S. side. The keep was a square of about 60 feet inside, but its E. face has
gone. It has two lofty storeys, and its corners were supported by grand and
bold buttresses, the total height being 45 feet, with two centre and four corner
turrets of fine construction. The roof and floors were of wood ; the pointed
windows had mullions and quatrefoils.
Before the days of artillery the castle must have been impregnable. It is
constructed of excellent concrete formed of the shingle of the beach, but the
whole has been much injured by the action of the sea. The port of Fouldry
is very large and commodious, and a battle-ship of the first class could float
safely in it at low water. Some fifty years ago there were dredged up at
Walney Island, off the coast at this spot, some specimens of early English
guns, the origin of which has been referred to the time of Richard IL, when
John Bolton, Abbot of Furness, made an attempt to demolish the peel of
Fouldry, rather than be at the cost of keeping it up against the enemies of the
country, i.e. the Scots. This was a difficult measure for a churchman to adopt,
when so little could be known about the power of artillery, and so little
strength was in either guns or powder ; the pickaxe would have been more

LANCASHIRE 187
certain. The guns in those days were only rough tubes of either brass or
sheet-iron, welded at the overlap on a mandrel, and having iron hoops shrunk
or driven on them ( Wylie),
At the Restoration this castle and its manors were given to the Duke of
Albemarle by Charles IL, and through him came to the Dukes of Buccleuch.
The whole edifice was repaired, and some restorations made, by the late duke.

GLEASTON (minor)
THIS castle Ues at the foot of a hiU in Dalton in Furness, two miles E. of
Furness Abbey, and is pleasantly situated on a trout stream flowing
through the fertile valley.
The castle is a quadrangular figure whose N. end is larger than that on the S.,
and consists of four corner towers connected by curtain walls, which enclose
a ward about 265 feet in length, and measuring 170 feet at the N., and 120 feet
at the S. end. The walls are three yards in thickness, and the towers were of
great strength and lofty, but the masonry is bad, and the lime mortar used for
the hearting earthy and poor, so that a great part has crumbled away into
mere mounds.
The keep was at the N.W. corner, at the highest point of the ground, and
was exterior to the enceinte. Two fragments of it remain, from 30 to 40 feet
high, showing that it consisted of two floors and a dungeon or cellar. Close to
it is a postern in the W. wall. In the centre of the wall was a semicircular
bastion, which has fallen. At the end of this curtain is the S.W. tower, which
is square and has a basement without lights, with three floors over, the whole
being 43 feet high, with a newel stair leading to the battlements and several
garderobes. At a distance of 120 feet from this, and connected by a straight
curtain, stands the S.E. tower, of larger size than the last, having two floors
only ; there is a newel staircase, and the upper room led on to the allure. The
greater part of the N.E. tower and the whole of the N. curtain have perished.
Buck gives a drawing showing the ruin to have been in much the same
condition in 1727 as we see it now. It is difficult to say where the principal
entrance was situated, and there is no ditch.
The lands at the Conquest were possessed by one Ernulph, who gave way
to a Fleming named Michael, and his domain was formed into a manor called
Muchland, after him (Michael being corrupted into the old Northern word
mickle, or much). After three or four generations of Flemings, the manor
passed (about 1270) by an heiress to a family named Cancefield, from whom it
went with an heiress in 1293 to Robert de Harrington, whose family remained
here till 1457, when the property was again transferred by an heiress to Lord
BonviUe of Shaton. He took the name of Lord Harrington, and his grand-

i88 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
daughter brought it in marriage to Thomas Grey, created Duke of Suffolk, the
father of Lady Jane Grey. In 1554, after Wyatt's rebellion, he with his two
brothers, his daughter — the nine-days' queen — and her husband. Lord Guildford
Dudley, were beheaded, when his estates, including Gleaston, were forfeited to
the Crown, being afterwards bestowed separately on various people, first to the
queens of Charles I. and 1 1., and afterwards to the Duke of Montague on lease.
At a point on the coast i^ miles S.E. of this castle is the ancient mound,
called Aldingham Moat HiU, where no doubt Ernulph and the Flemings had
their " burh " and wooden fort, before the building of Gleaston. The writer
of a paper in the Transactions of the Cumberland Antiquarian Society (H. S.
Cowper, F.S.A.) is of opinion that this castle is the work of the owners, Cance-
fields or Harringtons, late in the thirteenth century, or temp. Edward I. In 1340
John de Harrington had leave to enclose a part. The dwellings and domestic
buildings were probably built of wood or wattle against the inside of the
curtain wall.
GREENHALGH (minor)
THIS is about a mile N.E. of Garstang, and is called by Gough "a pretty
castle of the Lord of Derby ; only one tower remains near the town ; " this
tower is now in a very shattered state. There appear to have been seven or
eight towers of great height and strength. Greenhalgh Castle was erected by
Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby, under a licence dated at Lancaster, August 2,
5 Henry VII. (1490), "to build and crenellate and embattle," also to make
there a park, with free warren and chase. He built the castle for his pro
tection, being under apprehension of danger from certain of the nobility of this
county who had been outlawed, and whose estates, having been confiscated by
Henry, had been conferred upon him ; several hostile attempts had already been
made against him. " The Wyr, a little river coming from Wierdale, runs with
a swift stream by Greenhaugh Castle" {Camden). The plan of the work was a
rectangle, approaching a square, with a tower at each corner standing diagonally
to each adjoining wall. Between the walls the distance was only 14 yards on
one side and 16 yards on the other, and the whole was surrounded by a circular
moat. The masonry of what is left is extremely plain and unfeatured.
The castle was garrisoned for the king in 1643 by James, Earl of Derby,
and it was besieged unsuccessfully in 1644. Rushworth, in his " Historical
Collection," says: "There remained, in 1645, of garrisons belonging to the
king unreduced, Lathom House and Green Castle in Lancashire, besieged
by the Lancashire forces." On the death of the governor, however, Green
halgh surrendered, and was dismantled and destroyed in 1649 or 1650. In
1772 Pennant speaks of the single tower as "the poor remains of Greenhaugh
Castle." A few years since Lord Derby sold the castle to Lord Kenlis.

LANCASHIRE 189

HOGHTON TOWER (sometimes spelt Houghton) (chief)
IN the valley of the Ribble, five and a half miles to the W.S.W. of Black
burn, is a lofty ridge of rock on the summit of which stands the old
mansion of the Hoghton family, between the two streams of the Derwent
and the Orr. It is an eminently fine situation for a stronghold ; on the
E. the clifl' is steep and very rugged, ancl the hill slopes gently to the N.
and W. It is the only specimen in this neighbourhood of a true baronial
residence, and is well worthy of comparison even with Haddon Hall, for
its extent is such that from a distance Hoghton appears almost like a fortified
town. The family of De Hoghton held property here in the time of Henry 1 1.,
but their first residence was built down at the foot of the hill, by the riverside.
The existing castle was built by Thomas Hoghton in 1565, after the most
approved rules then observed in domestic architecture, with an upper and
a lower court, divided by a very strong tower or gatehouse, which in the
Civil War appears to have been used for storing powder, and was accidentally
blown up, together with the adjacent buildings, when Captain Starkey and
200 men were killed. The stables and offices of the farm constitute the
lower court, in exact conformity with Andrew Borde's directions for the con
struction of great houses (1542).
For ages the castle was a dilapidated ruin, and Britton wrote in 1818 :
" Within a few years the roof of the gallery and some of its walls have fallen
prostrate, though some parts of this ancient and extensive building are
inhabited by a few families of the lower class. The building is falling fast
to decay, and presents a view at once picturesque, grand, melancholy, and
venerable." It is satisfactory to find that the old fabric has since then been
put into partial repair.
Sir Richard Hoghton obtained permission to enclose a park, and the
place was once surrounded with a large park full of fine timber, though
too closely planted, which has now mostly disappeared. In those days it
was well stocked with game of all sorts ; there were wild cattle of the white
Roman breed, red deer, and wild boars, ancl we possess an account (given
by Whitaker) in the Journal of Nicholas Assheton, of a sporting entertain
ment offered here to King James I. in 1617. He came from Preston, on
one of his royal progresses, on August 15, with a great train of courtiers and
servants, and half Lancashire came to assist at the sports, and to pay respects
to their sovereign, — Sir Richard Hoghton, the proprietor, meeting the king
at the foot of the hill with a large company of the chief country gentry.
James remained at the Tower until August 18, and was amused each day
with sports of various kinds, feasts, dancing, masques, and stag hunts. The

I90 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
diary contains the following entries, which give us some insight into court
life 300 years ago : —
" Soe away to Houghton : there a speche made. Hunted and killed a
stagg. Wee attended at the Lord's table [that means as gentlemen waiters].
August 16. — The king hunting, — a great companie : Killed afore dinner a brace
of staggs. Verie hot : we went in to dinner. About 4 o'clock the king went
down to the Allome [alum] mines, and was there an hower and viewd them
precisely, and then went and shot at a stagg and missed. The king shot again
and brake the thigh bone. A dogge long in coming, and my Lord Compton
shott again and killed him. Late in to supper. August 17 (Sunday). — We
served the Lords with briskett, wyne, and jellie. The Bishopp of Chester
preached before the king. To dinner. About 4 o'clock there was a rush-
bearing and pipering afore them, afore the king in the Middle Court :
then to supper. Then about 10 or 11 o'clock a maske of noblemen, knights,
and gentlemen, and courtiers afore the king [see Cattermole's painting of
this], in the middle roOm in the garden. Some speeches : of the rest,
dancing the Huckler, Tom Bedlo ["Tom of Bedlam," an interlude], and
the Cowp Justice of Peace. August 18. — The king went away about 12 to
Lathom. Ther was a man almost slayne with fighting. Wee back with
Sir Richard ; as merrie as Robin Hood and all his feUowes." It was during
one of these banquets at Hoghton that King James is said to have knighted
the loin of beef, and ordered it ever after to be called Sir Loin, although,
according to some, the joint was already called sur-loin, and his Majesty only
made a pun.
The main building, which is entered from the quadrangle by a circular flight
of steps, contains some fine rooms, including the King's Room, where James I.
was lodged at his visit above described.

HORNBY (minor)
TURNER has placed this castle and the surpassingly beautiful scenery of
the Lune valley among his grand delineations of English hill and dale.
On a tongue of land between the rivers Lune and Wenning, about a mile
distant from their confluence, the Romans selected the site of a post for
guarding the fords here, and some remains of their buildings, coins, and
perhaps of a villa, have been found. The termination by would lead to the
inference that a Dane named Home had his dwelling here (there is a town in
Denmark called Hornby), and not far off are the earthworks of a grand Saxon
fortress, of elliptical trace, covering 2 acres 9 perches, and proving the position
to have been one of importance.
The Norman builder chose for the site of his castle an abrupt cone-shaped

^>:

^

'^

LANCASHIRE 191
rock, at the base of which flows the Wenning River, but the date of this
construction is not known. Alric, a Saxon, is mentioned as living here at
the Conquest, and his grandson .Adam Fitz-Swain left two daughters, one of
whom, Maud, married a Norman named Adam de Montbegon. In the fifth
year of Stephen we find Roger de Montbegon here, and again in 1225 the
castle is given into the custody of William, Earl Warren ; but only temporarily,
for three years later (13 Henry III.), the king granted the manor, castle, and
honour of Hornby to his great minister and justiciar Hubert de Burgh and
his wife Margaret ; and after the death of Hubert in 1242, his widow. Countess
of Kent, continued in possession during her lifetime.
On her death in 1259 claimants deriving from the Montbegons appeared
in the family of Longuevillers, who succeeded in recovering the property,
which passed with an heiress Margaret, daughter of Sir John Longuevillers,
in marriage to Geoffrey Nevile, who obtained from Edward I. a grant of
free-warren here and a market.
This Geoffrey died in 1285, and his widow held Hornby until 1318, when
it went to her grandson John Nevile, and at his death to his cousin Sir Robert
Nevile, who dying in 1413, left the estates to his daughter Margaret, the wife of
Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter. This nobleman left .Hornby to two cousins
of the Neviles, John Langton and Sir William Harrington, between whom the
property was partitioned, Hornby Castle falling to Harrington, who was killed
at Agincourt. After him, his son Sir Thomas and his grandson Sir John both
fell at the battle of Wakefield, fighting on the over-matched Yorkist side. The
great rampart and ditch forming a boundary between Hornby and the forest of
Bowland are called the Harrington Dyke.
Sir Thomas left a son James, and Sir John two daughters, Anne and
Elizabeth, who were harshly treated and imprisoned by their uncle James.
He took possession of Hornby, and ruled there until Lord Stanley obtained
from Edward IV. the custody of the castle, and a deed of wardship over the
sisters and heiresses, together with the attainder of James Harrington ; then
Lord Stanley married Anne, the elder girl, to his own son Edward Stanley,
and Elizabeth to his nephew, John Stanley of Melling. Edward Stanley and
his wife took up their abode in the castle in 1485, and, on Anne's death
(4 Henry VIL), Stanley obtained a right to one moiety of the estates. At
the death of John and Elizabeth Stanley, he obtained from his father, now
Earl of Derby, a re-lease of the entire property in his own favour, and
he is said to have even caused the death of his cousin John, a son left
by the attainted James Harrington, by means of poison administered by
a servant. Murderer and perjurer as Sir Edward Stanley is said, on no certain founda
tion, to have been, he must have been a stout soldier. At Bosworth he
commanded a wing of his father's troops, and at Flodden field, in 1513, where

192 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
he led the third line or rear of the English forces, under the Earl of Surrey,
he stopped and routed, with the archers of Lancashire and Cheshire, the fierce
attack of the Highlanders under Lennox and Argyll, and, later in the day, by
a flank movement over the hill, brought his men upon the rear of the Scottish
troops that were fighting round their king, completing their overthrow. For
these services. Sir Edward was created Lord Monteagle by the king at Eltham.
He died in 1524, and sometime before had, by way of strengthening the credit
side of his account, begun to buUd the chapel of St. Margaret near the castle,
whereon is still read the inscription :
(B »)tanlej): 91^ile0: aDnsi: Sl^onteffle me fien fee*.
The octagonal tower and chancel were finished soon after his death, but the
nave was completed by the parish in an inferior manner. It has all, however,
been restored recently in excellent taste.
On the S. side of the tower Sir Edward's shield of arms, surrounded by
the motto of the Garter, is still perfect. His will is dated in April 1523, and
in it he gives explicit directions for his burial, and temporary interment in
the priory ground pending the completion of the " new Chancell to be made
at his cost and charges and with all convenient haste at the East ende of the
Chapell of Saint Margaret at Horneby." Whitaker gives an engraving of the
old chapel with its Stanley additions. During the ownership of Mr. Marsden
the old nave was totally destroyed, the pillars and arches removed, and the
walls taken down and reconstructed ; and thus this poor edifice stood until
Colonel Forster and his brothers restored the church and rebuilt the nave
in admirable manner. The work of Sir E. Stanley remains in excellent
preservation. Of his son Thomas, the second lord, there was a tradition, long preserved
in the country, that it was his hand which gave the final coup de grace to
King James at Flodden ; he died 1564, and his son William held Hornby
until his death in 1581. This third lord left a daughter Elizabeth, married
to Edward Parker, Lord Morley, whose son William became fourth Lord
Morley and Monteagle ; he was one of the commissioners who sat at the
trial, ending in the judicial murder, of Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringay,
but he was an enthusiast for the Catholic cause, and in 1601 was sent to the
Tower, and heavily fined for participation in the rebellion of Essex. On the
accession of James, Monteagle modified his ways, and was in full favour at
court. He it was who on October 26, 1605, while at supper in his house at
Ho.xton, received the letter, now preserved in the Record Office, warning him
of the "terrible blow " intended for those who would come to the meeting of
Parliament on November 5th. Monteagle at once took the letter to Whitehall,
whereupon the arrest of Guy P'awkes and the other conspirators followed, and

LANCASHIRE 193
he was rewarded with a grant of ^200 a year in land, ;md a further annual
pension of ^^"500. The letter was written by Francis Tresham, the brother
of Lady Monteagle. In 1617, King James stayed with Lord Monteagle at
Hornby Castle for the night of August nth.
This lord was succeeded in 1622 by his son Henry, who as a Catholic
suffered severely under the Penal Acts, his castle being searched for arms
in 1625, when all that were found, with the armour, were confiscated.
During the Civil War, Hornby received a royal garrison, and repulsed a
strong assault made on it in May 1643 by three companies of foot under
Colonel Ralph Assheton. Having, however, acquired the knowledge that the
east window of the hall was a vulnerable point, the Roundheads renewed
the attack on the gates, while a second party provided with ladders assailed
the back of the castle. After a stout resistance of two hours the defenders,
taken in rear, were driven back and the fortress was captured. Its demolition
was at once decreed by Parliament, but could only have been carried out
partially, since at the time of the second siege of Thurland Castle the
Parliamentary forces made it their headquarters.
Lord Morley and Monteagle was deprived of his estates after the war,
and died in 1655, and his son, though he recovered the castle, was reduced
to part with it and its lands in 1663 to Robert, 2nd Earl of Cardigan, whose
successor George, the third earl, sold Hornby in 1713 for ;£i4,5oo to Colonel
Francis Charteris. This disreputable man, who had been turned out of
Marlborough's army in the Low Countries, amassed a fortune by gambling and
cheating at cards, and lived at the castle, which he altered and disfigured. His
only daughter married the fourth Earl of Wemyss, and their son Earl Francis
sold the property in 1789 to John Marsden of Wennington Hall. Mr. Marsden
died in 1826, and his will, devising Hornby, was contested by his cousin
Admiral Tatham, whereon ensued the memorable lawsuit of Tatham v. Wright,
commenced in 1830, in which the ablest judges and barristers of the day
were concerned, and which was only ended in 1838, when the family of
Lister-Marsden were ejected finally by Admiral Tatham, who then entered
into possession. He died seventeen months after, and was succeeded by a
relative, Mr. Pudsey Dawson. His nephew sold the estates and castle to
Mr. John Foster of Queensbury, Yorks, whose grandson. Colonel W. H.
Foster, M.P., is the present owner.
Nothing now remains of the original castle of the Montbegons, but the
foundations of two round towers and of the ancient keep, 36 feet across,
were laid bare during various rebuildings : these were perhaps early Nevile
work. The oldest existing portion is the great tower erected by the first
Lord Monteagle, which bears his crest of an eagle's claw. In front of
this tower was a large quadrangle, while an outer or lower court extended
to the town. All this was perhaps destroyed after the CivU War. A new
VOL. II. 2 B

194 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
front seems to have been built by the Charteris family, as shown by Buck's
drawing, with its octagonal eagle tower buUt by Lord Wemyss in 1743.
Lord Elcho slept at Hornby during his march south in 1745 with the
Pretender's army, and when Lord Wemyss returned here a year or two
later, he was so ill received that he left Hornby in disgust, and allowed the
castle to go to ruin. Later restorations and additions to the fabric by
Pudsey Dawson and the Foster family " have built up a castle which adorns a
landscape scarcely rivalled for beauty in the length and breadth of England."

LANCASTER (chief)
WHERE this castle stands, on a hill above the river Lune, or Loyne, was
the Roman camp and settlement of Longovicum, and Stukeley declares
that portions of Roman walls might be seen there in 1721 ; traces certainly of
the Roman fosse are still to be found on the N. side of the Castle Hill. Then
followed a Saxon wooden fort or blockhouse, which gave way to Norman
erections at the hands of Roger de Poictou, to whom the Conqueror gifted
398 English manors, including the honour and nearly the whole county of
Lancashire, and who built the Lungess Tower in 1094. He was the younger
son of Roger de Montgomery, who also came over with Duke William, and both
father and son seem to have deserved well at the Conqueror's hands by their
services at Senlac. Roger de Poictou fell on evil days in the time of Stephen,
who deprived him of his lands, and conferred them on his own son William.
John kept court here in 1206, receiving within the walls an embassy from
France, perhaps in the tower which had been erected about that time by his
friend and supporter Hubert de Burgh. Later in the thirteenth century, Henry
III. bestowed all the lands that had been held by Simon de Montfort, Earl
Ferrers, and John of Monmouth, on his second son Edmund Crouchback,
with the title of Earl of Lancaster ; these lands, being inherited temp.
Edward III. by his descendant Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, were brought
in marriage by her to Edward's fourth son, John of Gaunt, who was then
created Duke of Lancaster, and who fixed his residence at this castle and
made several noble additions to the fabric. To him succeeded his son
Henry of Bolingbroke in the title of Lancaster, which dignity, on his
accession in 1399, was absorbed in the Crown. As Henry IV. he held his
court for some time here (cir. 1409), and in one of the smaUer rooms
of the gate-tower received the King of Scotland, and also the French
ambassadors. During the Civil Wars of the seventeenth century Lancaster Castle was
besieged and taken more than once, and the remains of earthworks and batteries
raised for breaching the walls may still be traced on the S.W. side. In 1745

LANCASTER CASTLE

or j^etnot^CoL .

LANCASHIRE 195
Prince Charles Edward entered Lancaster on his march to Derby, passing
there again on his retreat. This was not the first Scottish invasion which
Lancaster had seen, since the Scots under Bruce, in their Southern foray
after the English defeat at Bannockburn, laid waste the town and inflicted
much injury upon the
castle. The great feature
of the building is the
superb gatehouse, 66
feet high, erected by
John of Gaunt, partly
with Norman materials.
It has two fine octa
gonal flanking towers,
a four-centred arch to
the gateway and port
cullis, a fine machicou
lis carrying an allure,
or rampart terrace, and
a battlement (Parker),
The oldest portion is
the massive keep
of Roger de Poictou,
80 feet square, with
walls 10 feet thick ;
this too was much
altered by John of
Gaunt, but the original
Norman windows are
intact. The upper
portion was rebuilt,
temp. Elizabeth, though
the S.W. turret is still
popularly known as
John of Gaunt's Chair.
There is a chapel in , , .^ ^
lhe basement, and the dungeons are placed i„ two floors ''''- '>>« J™""*
le,el (Grin^,ls Lancasl.ire). There are now lour grand .o«e,. n al th ane, „.
dungL .owe, on the S. side -^c-.^ -„ ;- ^ -^^ -'^'r ^
been demolished m 1812. The =" "« "=^ "efficiently ,„„der„,sed appearance
^L't^irririrrdV^ons „eisar, tor the adaptation

I,.'\NCASTER

196 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
of the castle to its present purposes of county buildings, courts, and jail. Here
too are held the assizes of the county of Lancashire.
Hadrian's Tower was cased over, at the time when the new buildings were
formed, and made into a muniment store for the county records.

LATHOM HOUSE (non-existent)
LATHOM is a township, three miles N.E. of Ormskirk, where was the ancient
f baronial residence of the Lathams of Lathom, a family who had held these
estates from Saxon times, and whose heiress brought them in marriage to Sir
John Stanley in the reign of Edward III. (see Liverpool Tower), The estates
continued in the Derby family for 300 years, and at the death of the ninth earl
they were sold to the Bootle Wilbrahams, ancestors of Lord Skelmersdale, who
was created Earl of Lathom in 1880, and whose seat the existing structure is.
The old house was a noble and strong fortress, and from its siege in the
seventeenth century has a memory of unfading historic interest, second to
few in the country. Of this structure nothing whatever remains, and as the
fine mansion built in its place in 1724 has nothing in common with it, it
will be well to record here what was the nature of the old place, called Lathom
House, and also, briefly, the outlines of the siege which it stood so gallantly
in 1643, under the command of an heroic woman, against very superior forces.
The house stood on a low site, on soft and boggy earth, and was surrounded
by a high stone wall, 2 yards thick, furnished with a very fine gatehouse
defended by two flanking towers, and having no less than nine strong towers
in the length of the wall, on each of which were mounted six guns. Outside
the wall was a moat, 8 yards wide and 2 yards deep, encircling the whole,
and between the moat and the wall was a strong row of stout palisades. The
mansion, in the centre, which is described in Bishop Ratter's MS. as being
large enough to receive three kings and their trains, had in its midst a high
and strong buUding called the Eagle Tower. On all sides the house was
screened by high rising ground which effectually covered the place, so that an
enemy could not open batteries for direct fire upon the walls ; and thus we
find the garrison annoyed by the fire of "grenades," or shells — that is, by vertical
fire, from which they suffered latterly.
At the time of the outbreak of civil war in England, James, 7th Earl of
Derby, the owner of Lathom, had been sent, as Lord of the Isle of Man, to
preserve the peace in that island among the Manx population, who being
disaffected, were also expecting there an invasion of a Scottish force; thus
he was long detained there, and during his absence his Countess Charlotte,
nh De la TremouiUe, a worthy descendant of the renowned Count William
of Nassau, was in charge of Lathom House and her husband's property in

LANCASHIRE 197
the district. This was the state of affairs when, in May 1643, the Parliamentary
general at the nearest station sent her a summons to yield up Lathom House.
Her answer was a refusal : that she had been entrusted with the place, and
that without contrary orders from the earl she would hold and defend it to the
last extremity ; and drawing all her garrison within the walls and closing the
gates, she endured something like a state of siege there tiU February 1644.
At this time Sir Thomas Fairfax sent her a fresh summons, and repeated it
several times, offering the countess leave to transport her arms and goods,
and liberty for all to move where they pleased, on yielding up the house ;
but she returned a final reply, that not a man should depart from her house
— that she would keep it, whilst God enabled her, against all the king's
enemies, and that she would await her lord's pleasure. Her garrison con
sisted of eleven officers and three hundred men. Little went on during the
first few days, while the besiegers were drawing their lines and raising
batteries against the place ; but on March 12th a notable sally was made by
a party of horse, who killed thirty of the enemy and took several prisoners.
Then batteries were advanced, but the guns could make no impression on
the big walls ; while it does not appear that the " grenades," when they
managed to throw them into the enceinte, did much harm, though they were
an object of dread to the plucky garrison, including the countess and her
children and chaplain (see "Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson"). Thus the
siege lingered on, the forces of the Parliament being variously put at from
1000 to 2000 men, until on May 29th Prince Rupert came to the relief of
the sore-tried and gallant defenders, when their enemy raised the siege and
decamped. Of the garrison only six men had been lost.
In July the siege was renewed by General Egerton, with a force of 4000 men ;
but just at that moment occurred the battle of Marston Moor, which cleared
the North of the friends of Lathom, and gave Rupert other work to look after
than its relief. The place also was badly provided with munitions of war,
and necessaries and food for the garrison. The king therefore advised that
both parties should treat, and commissioners were being named, when, through
the treachery of an Irish soldier connected with Lathom House, this compromise
was defeated and the defenders were led to surrender to the Pariiamentary forces
on the 2nd of December. It was one of the last places that held out for Charles.
Then the order came for its demolition, which was carried out effectively, the
materials being sold, and part given away to any who chose to help themselves.
At the Restoration, Lathom returned into the possession of the Earl of
Derby, but as the house was almost destroyed, the family residence was now
fixed at Knowsley. The ninth earl, intending to rebuild it, erected a sumptuous
and grand front, part of the S. front of the present house, but did not live
to complete his design, the execution of which should have devolved upon
his eldest daughter Henrietta, the wife first of the Earl of Anglesey, and secondly

198 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
of Lord Ashburnham. She, however, sold the place to Henry Furnese, from
whom it was purchased in 1724 by Sir Thomas Bootle, Chancellor to Frederick,
Prince of Wales, whose niece and heiress married Richard Wilbraham of Rode
Hall, Cheshire ; the estate thus came to Lord Skelmersdale, the eldest son of
that marriage, and is now possessed by the same family. To finish the personal
history : the brave countess joined her husband in the Isle of Man, but she had
to send her children to England, under a safe-conduct from Fairfax, in spite of
which they were made prisoners by order of the Parliament.
In 1651 the Earl of Derby joined Charles IL, and after the defeat of Wor
cester surrendered as prisoner of war, and was beheaded by the Parliamentary
generals on October 15th, in his own town of Bolton-le-Moors, upon a scaffold
made of timbers taken from Lathom House. His heroic countess, betrayed
into her enemies' hands, remained a prisoner till the Restoration, and died at
Knowsley in 1663. " Of Lathom-house by line came out,
'Whose blood will never turn their back."
— Ballad of Flodden Field,
It is believed that no drawings or plans are in existence to show what
Lathom House was, or the nature of its fortifications ; and we have therefore
to content ourselves with the little that is known of this famous place, as
repeated by Whitaker (" Richmondshire," vol. ii. p. 254).
"The whole must have been surrounded by a deep fosse, immediately
within which, and beyond the drawbridge, would appear a strong gateway,
more lofty and of larger dimensions than the other towers. The curtain walls
ranging off to right and left from the great gateway would have eight angles,
in each of which was placed a flanking tower. Within this outer enclosure
would be another fosse, with its drawbridge, and an inner gateway opposite to
the former ; but the eight towers of the second enclosure, instead of flanking
a curtain wall like the former, must have been attached to the walls and angles
of the body of the house, and from the time at which they were erected, may
have been either square or octagonal. One of these was unquestionably the
Eagle Tower, known from the account of the great siege to have contained
70 yards of flooring, in which were probably the principal apartments."

LIVERPOOL (non-existent)
ACCORDING to Camden, Roger of Poictou, lord of the honour of
Lancaster, who at the time of the Domesday Survey owned all the lands
between the Mersey and the Ribble, built the castle of Liverpool on the
south side of the town in 1076, and bestowed the custody of it on the noble

LANCASHIRE 199
family of Molyneu.x, whose seat was at Sefton, their descendants being the
Earls of Sefton, who were constables of this castle.
The keep of Liverpool Castle was a square building, heavily battlemented,
having four circular flanking towers at the angles, with an enclosed area of
50 square acres. It was surrounded by a deep moat 30 yards broad, with a
drawbridge and a fosse partly cut out of the live rock; there was also an
entrance gatehouse,— the strongest part of the fortress,— and other buildings
were enclosed. The whole structure had been pulled down before 1663, and
since then, the church of St. George has been built on the site of it. Eariy
in the fifteenth century Sir Richard Molyneux was hereditary Constable of
this, the king's castle, while Sir John Stanley lived in his own tower,
higher up the river ; between these two there were constant fighting and
disturbances, highly prejudicial to the town and its prosperity.

LIVERPOOL TOWER (non-e.xistent)
THERE was also a strongly fortified tower at the bottom of Water Street,
called the Tower of Liverpool, the origin of which is quite forgotten.
Sir John Stanley, a young knight, attended a tournament in London in the
reign of Edward IIL, and being conspicuous by his courage and his good
looks thereat, did gain the aff'ections of the beautiful daughter of Sir Thomas
Latham of Lathom, Isabella, whom her father unwillingly gave to this knight
in marriage ; being the heiress of Lathom, she brought that estate, and also
this tower by the river, to the Stanleys. Sir John Stanley obtained a licence
in 1405 to fortify his house, and he built or enlarged this tower in 1406,
after which, through the reign of Henry VI. , it served as an occasional residence
for the Stanley family, lords of Man, and was their town abode. It was a
square embattled building with corner towers, forming three sides of a
quadrangle, and commanded both the town and the Mersey, where lay the
ships of the Stanleys, in which they sailed to their new kingdom of the
Isle of Man. In the lapse of time the destinies of the old tower changed,
and it became an assembly-room, and latterly a prison. It was razed to
the ground in 1820, and the site of it is now covered by Tower Buildings.
The area it occupied was 3700 square yards.
Tower (non-existent)
AT one time there was, commanding the Pool on the west side of
Liverpool, a fortahce buiU by King John, who was windbound here
when on an expedition to Ireland, and conceived the necessity of the fortress.
This has of course vanished.

200 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

MANCHESTER (non-existent)
CAMDEN says : " Two flyte shottes without the town beneth on the same
side of Irwell yet may be seen the dikes and foundations of old Man
Castel yn a ground now enclosed : the stones of the ruins of this castel were
translated towards making of bridges for the town."

PENWORTHAM (non-existent)
THE Castle HUI of Penwortham is on the N.E. spur of the heights
below Preston ; in front of it is a level area, and on the S. it is
divided by a deep gully from the site of the church. In early times the
river Ribble, when the channel of that stream was larger than it now is,
washed two sides of the conical rocky cliff whereon the castle stood,
and on the W. a sunk lane ran below it. Thus the position was an
extremely strong one, and had been selected in very early times for a
stronghold, since, in 1856, some excavations made in the hill exposed the
remains of prehistoric wooden dwellings of probably British origin, and a
Saxon kitchen-midden ; a prick-spur and some ironwork of refined make
were also found.
The Conqueror bestowed Penwortham manor on Roger de Busli, and
his son, Warin de Busli, or Bussel, succeeded him, and ranks as the first
baron of Penwortham ; he it probably was — if not Roger de Poictou — who
reared a fortalice at this spot. The property remained with his family until
the time of John, who succeeded in wresting the estate from Hugh, the
fourth baron, and then sold it to Roger de Lacy for 310 marks of silver.
Next it is recorded that Ranulph, Earl of Chester, held his courts at Pen
wortham Castle, and after the Earls of Chester and Lincoln, the barony
passed by marriage to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and became merged in
that duchy.
The castle has totally disappeared, owing perhaps to the great land-
ships which have taken place on the river banks, and no signs of a
ditch or of the waUs are to be seen ; but the memory of the place is
retained, as usually is the case, in the name of Castle HiU. It is believed
to have been a strong square Norman keep, surrounded by a rampart and
ditch.

Lancashire: 201

RADCLIFFE TOWNER (minor)
A BLUFF, or cliff of red stone immediately opposite and overhanging the
river Irwell at this point, seems to have been the origin of the name of
one of the noblest, most ancient, and most honourable families in this kingdom.
Sir Bernard Burke, no mean authority, declares that the house of Radcliffe has
produced fourteen earls, one viscount, five barons, seven knights of the Garter,
several bannerets and knights of the Bath, together with many privy coun
cillors, warriors, and shitesmen. It is stated in Murray's guide-book that
Edward the Confessor bestowed Radcliffe on Roger de Poictou ; but there was
an Edward Radeclive here at the time of the Domesday Survey, therefore Roger
cannot have held it long, and the manor appears to have fallen to the Crown
and so remained till the reign of Stephen, when it was given to Ranulph de
Gernons, Earl of Chester. It is in the time of Henry II. that we first hear of
a De Radeclive, and the pedigree of that family shows that in 6 Richard I. there
was a William de Radeclive of Radcliffe Tower, Sheriff" of Lancaster ; and these
lords bear this name down to the sixteenth century. In the time of Henry IV.,
James Radclyffe had a licence to enclose his manor of Radcliffe, and to crenel
late and embattle his house and walls. One of the family. Sir John Radclyffe,
was a great commander of the armies of Henry V., his father being Sir Richard
Radclyffe, Seneschal of the Royal Forests; his grandson Sir John married the
heiress of Walter, Lord Fitzwalter, and succeeded to that title, and it was he
who, riding without his helmet, was killed at the skirmish at Ferrybridge, the
night before the bloody battle of Towton. One of the Sir John Radclift'es
lost five sons in difi'erent battles in the years 1598-99, and his daughter, who
was maid of honour to Queen Ehzabeth, died of grief for the loss of her
brothers. The grandson of the Lord Fitzwalter slain as above, named Robert, Lord
Fitzwalter, succeeded in 1518 to Radcliffe Tower, and was created Earl of
Sussex in 1529. Edward Radcliffe, the sixth and last Earl of Sussex, died
without issue in 1641, aged eighty-seven.
What was called Radcliffe Tower was enlarged into a manor-house of the
first rank. It has been a quadrangular structure, but two sides only remain. In
1801 it contained a noble old hall, 42 feet in length, with a splendid ancient
roof of oak, and oaken windows and doors, and other fittings in good order ;
but now, alas, all this has disappeared, and the fine old mansion, a mixture
of stone and timber, has been all but destroyed. In decay it shows traces
of strong masonry, but the lower storey alone is now remaining ; the old hall
and the adjoining tower having been taken down of late to make room for a
row of modern cottages.
To this ancient building and to the family that owned it are attached the
VOL. n. 2 c

202 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
ballad and tradition given in Dr. Percy's " Reliques " under the name of " The
Lady Isabella's Tragedy ; or. The Stepmother's Cruelty," which are sometimes
given under the title of " Fair Ellen of Radclyffe." The story is that of the
sacrifice and murder of a young and beautiful heiress by her stepmother, the
Lady of Radclyffe, who causes the cook to kill the fair Isabella, "the white
doe," and serve her up for the repast of her father. This Thyestian story is
related in this wise : — "Fair Isabella vvas she called,
A creature fair was she ;
She was her father's only joye.
As you shall after see.
Therefore her cruel step-mother
Did envy her so much,
That daye by daye she sought her life,
Her malice it was such."
So the dame " bargains with the master-cook to take her life awaye," and
then sends the fair Isabella to him with this message : —
" And bid him dress to dinner straight
That fair and milk-white doe.
That in the park doth shine so bright,
There's none so fair to showe."
But when she gives the cook the message he says, " Thou art the doe that I must
dress," ancl prepares accordingly. " O then cried out the scullion boye.
As loud as loud might bee,
' O save her life, good master-cook.
And make your pyes of mee ! ' "
However, the tragedy is accomplished, and the pye is made ; and when the
lord of the tower comes home from the chase, and is set down to dinner
with the pye before him, he calls for his daughter deare, and says he will
neither eat nor drink, until he did her see.
" O then outspake the scullion boye,
"With a loud voice so hye,
' If now you will your daughter see.
My lord, cut up that pye.

LANCASHIRE 203
' \\'liercin her flesh is minced small,
And parched with the fire,
All caused by her step-raoth(;r,
Who did her death desire.'

Then all in black this lord did mourne,
And for his daughter's sake,
He judged her cruel step-mother
To be burnt at a stake.
Likewise he judged the master-cook
In boiling lead to stand.
And made the simple scullion boye
The heir of all his land."

THURLAND (mino,)
THE castle stands on slightly elevated ground in the Vale of Lune, about
twelve miles from the county town, near the high-road, but shrouded by
trees. It is one of the few old moated mansions in Lancashire. In very early
times a fortress was placed at this point to assist in repressing the border
forays, which perhaps served as an abode to the Tunstalls who owned
the lands.
There appear to have been lords of Tunstall in the county of Lan
caster since the time of William the Conquerer, as Topsi, the then lord,
gave one messuage and one toft in Bolton (le Sands) to the Abbot of
Rivaulx ; and they are frequently mentioned in Henry I. and following
reigns. Sir Thomas Tunstall is spoken of by Camden as an eques aiiratus
living here under Edward III., Richard 11., and Henry IV. and V., serving
with the last king in his French wars, and being present at Agincourt. In
1402 (4 Henry IV.) this knight obtained a licence "kernellare manerium
suum de Thorslond," and also to enclose the manor. This date, therefore,
may be taken for the foundation of the existing castle. The grandson of
this man. Sir Richard Tunstall, was a man of high renown during the Wars
of the Roses, and a staunch Lancastrian, holding Harlech for Henry VI.
longer than any place in England ; still in spite of this he was highly
esteemed by the Yorkist kings, and Richard III. employed him and made
him a Knight of the Garter. He died in 1492. His nephew was the great
Bishop Tunstall of Durham, the friend of Erasmus, Sir Thomas i\Iore, and
other great men little liked by Henry VIIL, who placed him in confinement
in Lambeth Palace, where he died in 1550, aged eighty-five. Sir Richard's
son, Bryan Tunstall, must have been a warrior of note, having confided to

204 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
him, with Sir Edward Howard, the command of the English right wing at
Flodden.
The poet of this terrible fight makes a most important character of this
"stainless Knight of Flodden," and in the ballad many stanzas are devoted to
him, descriptive of his valour and of his slaying.
" And never a nobleman of fame.
But Bryan Tunstal bold, alas 1
"Whose corpse home to his burial came.
With worship great, as worthy was."
— (See also "Marmion.")
There is no record of Bryan Tunstall having been knighted, and he is
described elsewhere in the ballad as "that bold Esquire." Neither is there
any authority for believing that his body was brought home. He is not
buried in Tunstall Church. His son Sir Marmaduke succeeded him at Thur
land, and his descendant of the third generation, Francis Thurland, owing to
the encumbered condition of the estate, exchanged the manor of Tunstall,
Thurland Castle, &c., for the raanor of Hutton Longvillers.
Thurland Castle has changed hands several times. The Tunstalls were,
with the exception of a period between 1466 and 1474, the owners until 1598.
Sir Richard Tunstall, the son of Francis, having been attainted, forfeited his
estates; but these, including the castle, were restored to him in 1474. In 1598
the castle and manor were sold to John Girlington, the head of a wealthy
Catholic family, whose grandson, Sir John Girlington, fought and died for
Charles I. In 1643 this Sir John garrisoned his house, and sustained a short
siege in it by Colonel Assheton, but had to yield. It is said that a large
quantity of money and plate, together with a number of disaffected ladies
and gentlemen of the county who had shut themselves up in the castle, fell
into the enemy's hands.
A month later, however, we find Sir John holding the castle against a
fresh enemy. Colonel Rigby : he sustained a seven weeks' siege and again
had to yield possession. The castle was then dismantled, and it remained in
ruins tUl 1663. Sir John is said to have been killed in a fight at Melton
Mowbray, and his family sank into poverty. In 1698 Thurland was sold to
John Borrett of Shoreham, Kent, from whom it passed to his daughter, whose
husband, Evelyn, sold it in 1771 to one Welch, of Leek, from whom it
was purchased by MUes North, of Kirkby Lonsdale, in 1781. It was sold by
North's grand-nephew in 1885 to the present owner. Colonel Edward B. Lees.
The castle was rebuilt early in the present century from the designs of
Wyatt, and little remains of the original massive pile. A small stone vaulted
building with one narrow window, called by Whitaker the gatehouse, is all

LANCASHIRE 205
that is left of a large block of buildings that extended alcjiig the western side
of the court, removed, together with a fine gateway which spanned the
approach near the gatehouse, some seventy or eighty years ago.
The castle stands on a giavel mound about 40 feet high, and is surrounded
by a moat, 30 feet wide and (> feet deep. It is a L-shaped building, the walls
in the old part being from 6 to 14 feet thick. During recent alterations, several
portions of human skeletons have been discovered.

TURTON TOWER (minor)
FOUR miles N.E. from Bolton, is one of the oldest halls in England,
and as it is said to have been built originally in the time of Henry IL,
it follows that in those times it must have been a defensible work, although,
rebuilt as it was, it can scarcely be called a castle now, being chiefly an
Elizabethan house, with a sejuare stone tower, battlemented. It was sur
rounded by a moat, of which there are still some traces, and is a picturesque,
irregular old pile, partly of stone and partly half-timbered, or " black-and-
white," the latter portion being gabled, with each of the four storeys pro
jecting. The walls of the tower, which is three storeys high, are 5 feet in
thickness. The manor of Turton in the reign of John was held by Roger Fitz Robert
(De Holland) ; afterwards it belonged to the good Duke of Lancaster, from
whom it passed into the hands of an ancient and famous family called
Orrell, whose seat it was from 1408 to 1628, when they became impoverished
and sold Turton to the philanthropist Humphrey Chetham for ;^'40oo. He
resided here, and dying in 1653 the place next went to the Blauds by a
Chetham heiress, from whom it came by a similar way to the Greenes,
and from them by marriage to the father of Sir Henry Bartle Frere, and
thence by purchase to Mr. J. Kay, with whose faniily Turton remains. It
was almost entirely rebuilt in 1596 by William Orrell, who carefully retained
the old timber and plaster construction and the ancient square tower. Mr.
Kay m 1835 restored and renewed the fabric in the state in which we
now see it.
The chief curiosity here is a number of subterranean passages. One is
entered at the foot of the staircase and leads towards the neighbouring
village of Chapelton — originally, it is said, to Bolton ; and there are others.
In the breakfast-room is a secret niche behind the panelling, where, it is
said, a concealed spy overheard the orders of Cromwell when he rested
here on his way to meet the Royalist forces after he had gained the victory
at Dunbar. He ordered an attack on Wigan that somewhat failed, owing,
as said, to the plan being divulged. Near the dining-room, off the passage

2o6 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
to the billiard-room, is a priest's hole, giving access to the battlements, and
another has been found lately. A steep circular stair leads to the cellars, and
beyond, to a circular chamber supposed to be a dungeon, with loop-holed
walls. The old house was well filled with curious oak furniture, which has
of late years been in great measure sold and dispersed.

WRAYSHOLME (minor)
THIS tower is on the way to Gleaston, a little S. of the village of AUithwaite.
All that remains of the place is a massive tower. There is a tradition
that the last of the English wolves was killed near this building (Grindon),
which is an ancient peel, erected on the marches, and once belonged to the
Harrington family.

JIIDDLEHAM

l^orhsbire

BARDEN TOWER {minor)

IN the neighbourhood of Bolton Priory, where the Strid comes down
from the high moors, in the old forest of the Cliffords, is this ancient
building. Originally one of the six lodges with which the Barden forest
was provided, it was chosen for a retreat by Henry Clifford, the
Shepherd lord of Skipton, whose story is noticed under Skipton. It is probable
that during his twenty-four years of exile from society, he came frequently into
this district and got to love the place, so that when the accession of Henry VII.
enabled him to return to his property, he rebuilt this house, to form for himself
a quiet home for study and retirement. And here he generally dwelt, resorting
to the company of the monks of Bolton for assistance in his favourite studies
of astrology and alchemy. After his death the tower was neglected, and so
in the time of Countess Anne had become ruinous, and was repaired and rebuilt
by her in 1659. Whitaker saw it entire, he says, in 1774, but it is once more
a ruin. It is a large square building^ and has a chapel attached. The walls
are strong, but it does not seem more capable of defence than an ordinary
peel tower would be.

2o8 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

BEDALE (non-existent)
THERE was a castle here belonging to Sir Brian FitzAlan, the viceroy
of Edward I. for Scotland, whose tomb, together with that of his wife,
is in the church of Bedale. He was a very distinguished baron in the reigns
both of Henry III. and of his son (see Richmond, Yorks), This was his
residence, and was probably built by him ; it was placed in a position, without
any natural advantage, a little to the S.W. of the church, and its foundations
have been traced to a considerable distance, extending from the gardens of
the house of the owner of the site into a field N.W. of the church ; no vestiges,
however, remain above-ground.

BOLTON (chief)
THIS grand and grim old castle of the Scropes, which they built in the
days of Richard 1 1., and inhabited with baronial splendour till nearly the
epoch of the Long Parliament, stands on the edge of high, bleak, and barren
moors, on the N. side of Wensleydale, in the N. Riding, three mUes from
Wensley, and four miles from Middleham Castle, across the river Ure, on the
opposite side of the valley. Above, at the back of the castle, the ground
rises to Stainton Moor, from whence it falls again into the valley of the Swale.
Dreary and desolate as was its situation, the wealthy Scropes continued to use
it as their home while their race lasted, and much additional interest attaches
to the grey ruin in the castle which was one of the prisons of Mary Queen of
Scots. The Scrope family seem originally to have been of plebeian origin,
perhaps deriving from Normandy, and Dugdale traces them back to one
Robert le Scrope, who in 13 Henry III. obtained a footing in Yorkshire.
The elevation of the family was effected by the two able sons of Sir
William le Scrope (temp. Edward I.), Bailiff of Richmond, who both rose to
be Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and each of whom purchased lands in
this county and elsewhere. The elder brother. Sir Henry le Scrope, died in
1336, and was followed by his son Richard, who served in the wars of
Edward IIL, and was twice Chancellor ; he inherited vast property from his
father in Herts, Middlesex, Yorkshire, and other places, and was the founder of
Bolton Castle. Leland {Itin,, vol. viii. f. 53) says: "Richard, Lord Scrope,
was Chancelor of England in Richard the 2 Dayes. This Richard made out
of the Grownd the Castle of Bolton of 4 greate stronge Towres and of good
lodgings. It was a making xviii yeres, and the Chargys of the Buyldinge
came by yere [annually] to 1000 marks. ... It was finished or King Richard
the 2 dyed. . . . Most parte of the Tymber that was occupied in buylding of

<zoH
o

YORKSHIRE 209
this Castell was fett out of the Forest of Engleby in Cumberland, and Richard
Lord Scrope for conveyance of it, had layde by the way dyvers drawghts of
oxen to carry it from place to place till it came to BoUon."
This first lord of Bolton was actively employed in the French wars of
Edward I., and in the forty-fifth year of that monarch's reign was made
Treasurer of the Exchequer; in 2 Richard 11. he became Chancellor of
England and Keeper of the Great Seal. He died in 1403, leaving three sons —
William, created Earl of Wilts, who was beheaded at Bristol in the revolution
of 1399 for fidelity to King Richard ; Roger, who became second lord of
Bolton, and died six months after his father ; and Stephen, who was Deputy-
Lieutenant of Ireland. The brother of Sir Henry the Chief Justice was Sir
Geoffry Scrope, who also rose to be Chief Justice, temp. Richard II. Henry was
also a brave soldier, and was knighted for his prowess at a royal tournament.
He purchased Upsall and Clifton on the river Ure, a short distance to the
S.E. of Masham, and his son Henry became first lord of Masham. Henry was
a very warlike personage, and of great repute, who served actively in all the
foreign and other wars of Edward III. (see Wylie, ii. 197), and his third son
Richard, born 1346, was the pugnacious Archbishop of York, who, opposing
the distasteful rule of Henry IV., was ruthlessly beheaded by him. This
Archbishop Scrope had been one of Henry's strongest supporters at his
outset, and had himself obtained from King Richard in the Tower his renuncia
tion of the throne ; he had read it to the Parliament at Westminster, and
had assisted in placing the crown on Henry's head. Soon after, with the
Percys, he became hostile to the king, and being taken in arms at the insurrec
tion of 1405, was brought from Pontefract to his palace at Bishopthorpe. The
Chief Justice Gascoigne refused to pass sentence on a prelate of his rank ; he
was, however, condemned by a mock tribunal at Henry's bidding, and executed
at once in the fields near York. His tomb is in that Minster. The eighth Lord
Scrope of Bolton was a stout Yorkist during the Wars of the Roses ; and
Henry, the ninth lord, is celebrated in the Ballad of Flodden Field as bringing
thither all the men of that country-side with him to join the English host, and
marshalling them below this castle.
When Queen Mary of Scotland sought an asylum in England, after the
fatal battle of Langside, in May 1568, she was brought to Carlisle, being there
attended by Henry, loth Lord Scrope, as Warden of the Marches, and was
by him, in compliance with orders from London, conducted to his 'castle of
Bolton, where his wife, sister to the Duke of Norfolk, was detailed to wait
on her. But when Mary realised the intentions of the English to make a
prisoner of her, she warned her captors that they would have a difficult task,
and so, for fear of her escaping, the queen's windows at Bolton were grated
with iron, her male servants were sent out of the castle at sunset, and when
she walked or rode out she was attended by a hundred men of the Berwick
VOL. II. 2 D

210 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
guard. She came to Bolton in July 1568 and remained until January 26,
1568-9, when, after the discovery that Lady Scrope had acted as a means
of communication between the queen and the Duke of Norfolk, she was
removed to Tutbury in Staffordshire and placed under the care of that dour
and grim pair, the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife. An episode in Mary's
life at Bolton is given in Froude's History (vol. ix.), affording an interesting
view of life in that fortress. Many plots were formed to effect the queen's
escape during her detention here, but they all miscarried, including the one
of local tradition, which tells how, having passed through one of the windows
in the S.W. tower close to which her apartments are said to have been
located, she had managed to escape as far as the " Queen's Gap " on Leybourne
Shaw, when she was overtaken and brought back. Her signature, " Marie R.,"
long remained scratched on a window-pane of her room, but this being
removed for better preservation to Bolton Hall, it was accidentally broken ;
the fragments, however, are preserved. The Queen's Room has one window
looking into the court, and another over the country to the W. In 1645,
after the reduction of Tickhill, Knaresborough, Scarborough, and other York
shire castles, Bolton, which was held by a garrison for the king under
Colonel Scrope and Colonel Henry Chaytor of Croft, was seriously attacked
by a strong Parliamentary force, and after a lengthened resistance, in which
the garrison were reduced to the eating of their horses, was surrendered, and its
defenders were removed to Pontefract.
The structure consists of a huge square central block, having a quadrangular
courtyard in its midst, round which the apartments stand, and at each of the
angles were the great strong towers of Leland, one of which has disappeared,
for the N.E. tower, having been injured by artillery fire in the siege, fell to
the ground suddenly in 1649 ; the rest of the walls are nearly perfect. The
great hall is on the N. side, and there is on the S. front also a banqueting-hall,
with the kitchens and offices. The only entrance is at the E. end through a
well-protected gateway, and each of the small doors into the buildings from
the court is said to have had a portcullis — the fire from which would have
rendered this courtyard untenable by an enemy. There is no ditch, nor are
there any outworks to the castle, which is gaunt and devoid of ornament, while
the rooms are smaU, and many of them dark and sombre. The chapel is
outside the walls. The ground rooms were vaulted, and the upper floors were
of timber, and the roofs nearly flat. The garderobes are placed in a turret in
the centre of the S. front, and have passages leading to them in the walls.
Bolton is altogether the most perfect house of its period remaining in
England {Parker),

YORKSHIRE 211
BOWES (minor)
ORIGINALLY written Boghes, near Barnard Castle, on the crest of the hill
S. of the town, this castle was erected by the Earls of Richraond at the
site of the Roman station of Lavatr;e, the stones of which furnished a vast and
ready quarry for the building of the castle and the church. The fortress was
intended as a defence on that side against the incursions of the Scots, ancl they
placed at this spot a large Norman rectangular tower, with the usual pilasters in
the centre of the faces and double at the angles, with walls 4 yards in thickness.
It is called Bowes Castle, but, as is observed by Mr. Clark, a keep or tower like
this is only a part of a castle proper, " a single structure being usually termed
a tower or peel." It is evident that no other buildings ever existed here. It
stands near the high road, which replaces the Roman road from Greta Bridge
by Brough, Appleby, and Brougham, and is actually within the carap of the
Roman station. Roman remains have been discovered round it.
Little is known as to the history of this tower, which was always held by
the Earls of Richmond, who had highway rights, and set up a gallows. King
John was here in 1206, and again in 1212. What part of the country did that
restless and active monarch not visit ? Boghes or Bowes is mentioned in
many grants, in conjunction with Richmond, from Henry III. to Henry VI.
The tower is very late Norman, built probably in the twelfth century. It is
82 feet long by 60 feet, and about 50 feet high, and contained a basement and
two upper storeys. It is built in the usual way, with broad double pilasters at
the angles, ancl a single one in the centre of each face ; the top storey is ruined,
and there are no reraains of battlements. One angle on the S.E. held the
staircase, which probably terminated in a turret. Two cross walls divided the
basement into three chambers, whose roofs were vaulted, and one of these
cross walls, rising, divided the first floor into a large hall and a solar ; the
entrance was on this floor, on the E. side, 10 feet above the ground, under a
round arch, and defended only by a door. Several small apartments and a
garderobe were contrived in the thickness of the walls, lighted by loops, and
three windows lighted the large rooms. The floor above was timber. A mill
on the river Greta ground the corn for the garrison.

CASTLETON (non-existent)
ON the N. face of Cleveland, near the station of Danby, on the railway from
Whitby to Stockton, is a village of this name, which has a mound called
Castle Hill, and probably represents one of the earliest holdings of the Bruces
in England. After the Conquest Robert de Brus was granted the raanor of
Danby (q.v) at this place, which he must have fortified. The presence of a

212 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
mound refers almost invariably to a settlement of Anglo-Saxons or Danes, and
we have the Danish narae Danby to prove the residence of some settler of
the latter nation. And we can still see the trace of the early fortress — the
usual mound surrounded by a ditch formed by the deblai, and protected
by a close double palisading, somewhat like that of a New Zealand Prah.
This fortified point must have been adopted, as in other places, by the
incoming Norman, who strengthened it with further defences, and perhaps
with stonework, and whose representatives continued in it until the building
of a fit and proper castle at Danby (q.v).

CAWOOD PALACE (minor)
ORIGINALLY, it is said. King Athelstan had a stronghold here, which
was held by the archbishops as a palace long before the Conquest,
probably by royal grant. In the reign of Richard IL, his faithful friend
Archbishop Nevill used this house in preference to his other palaces in the
county, Bishopthorpe, Sherburn, Ripon, and Otley ; but at the deposition of
that prince he had to flee the country, dying in extreme poverty at Louvain.
The palace was fortified and made into a castle temp. Henry IV., and
was added to and strengthened by Archbishop Bowett, temp. Henry VI. , and
by his successor Archbishop and Chancellor John Kempe, who added the great
gatehouse which is still remaining. He was translated to Canterbury, and died
in 1415. The chief interest of the place is its association with Wolsey, at his fall.
In 1529, when his relations with the king were broken off, Wolsey came to
Cawood to brood over his disgrace, and passed the autumn at this palace.
Then the Earl of Northumberland was sent hither to arrest him, and on
November 6th he was removed by the earl, through Pontefract and Doncaster,
to Sheffield Castle, where he was received by the Earl of Shrewsbury, and was
treated with every raark of respect. Wolsey remained here for sixteen days,
and U appears that the profound melancholy in which he was plunged resulted
in a mortal attack of dysentery. Ill as he was, however, he was urged on, by
orders from London, where he was to take his trial for high treason, and came
the first night to Hardwick Hall (Shrewsbury's house also), and the next to Not
tingham, and thence to Newark. On arriving at Leicester Abbey next day he
was unable to proceed, and there on the 28th he died, in his fifty-ninth year.
In 1642 Cawood received a garrison for King Charles, which did good service
the next July in attacking the retreating forces of Sir Thomas Fairfax while
crossing the ferry at Selby after the repulse at Adderton Moor. But in 1644
the castle was surrendered to Sir John Meldrum, the Parliamentary chief,
and two years after was dismantled and made untenable.

YORKSHIRE 213
The principal building remaining is Kempe's Gatehouse, a large and lofty
structure with buttresses at the angles, and between them are the broad entrance,
under a low-pointed archway, --through which the dejected cardinal must have
ridden on his mule, — and a narrow one for foot-passers. On a broad panel
running across are displayed eleven shields of arms, not decipherable. In
the chamber above is still held the court of the manor, and above this there
is another storey ; both rooms have pointed lights. There is also a chapel of
brick, now used as a barn, on the right of the tower, while a modern farm
house is joined on the left.
Cawood stands in a flat country by the river Ouse, about five miles
frora Selby.

CLIFTON-UPON-URE (non-existent)
THIS ancient stronghold of the Scropes stands four railes to the N. of
Masham, and its possession generally followed that of Upsall {q.v).
There are but scanty vestiges of it remaining ; some tottering piles of masonry
with small-pointed windows, standing on the banks of the Ure, are all.
Leland says that Clifton was only a tower or castlet, and Camden speaks of
it as in ruins, "formerly the seat of the Lords Scrope of Masham," part of it
being then inhabited by a farmer. And it is evident that, being so small,
the abode of the Scropes must have generally been at Upsall and not here.
In White's "Gazetteer of Yorkshire" we are told that the manor of Clifton
passed (like Upsall) from the lords Scrope to Sir Ralph Fitz Randolph, and
afterwards to the Wyvills, the Daltons, and the Prestons, a member of which
last family sold Clifton to John Hutton in 1735.
From its nearness to Masham, Clifton seems to have stood in the place of a
manor-house to that town.

CONINGSBOROUGH (dnef)
THE town of this name is on the banks of the Don, five miles from
Doncaster, and was a place of importance in earliest times. The manor
was in Earl Godwin's faraily, and belonged at the Conquest to King Harold.
At Domesday it was held by William de Warenne, the first Earl of Surrey,
who was son-in-law to King Williara, and one of the most important of his
Norman followers. He seems to have lived much here when in England,
and would no doubt strengthen and fortify the old dwelling of his Saxon
predecessors, until the time arrived for the building of a strong fortress.
This place, which became the caput of his Yorkshire estates, was to Earl
Warenne the sarae as Lewes was to his great possessions in Sussex, and he

214

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

cemented the connection between the two districts by giving the church of
Coningsborough to Lewes Priory.
His son William, 2nd Earl of Surrey, was a supporter at first of Robert,
Duke of Normandy, but made his peace later with Henry I., and retained and

CONINGSBOROUGH

transmitted the estates and honours of his earldom, which were enjoyed by his
son, who left but one daughter, Isabel de Warenne, who in 1163 married as her
second husband Hameline Plantagenet, the brother of Henry II. He became,
jure uxoris. Earl Warenne, being an active soldier, and serving with Richard
Coeur de Lion ; their son William succeeded in 1201 as fifth Earl of Surrey,
and was one of the great barons concerned in Magna Charta. His son and
heir John was the fierce and blunt soldier who defied the " Quo Warranto "

YORKSHIRE

215

edict of Edward I.; he was summoned to Parli.iment as Eari of Surrey and
Sussex. His grandson, the last earl, John, died in 1347, his will being dated at
Conesburgh Castle, when his title of Surrey, in default of legitimate heirs, went
to Hugh, Earl of Arundel, his sister's son. This estate was left, by royal
permission, to his natural
sons. In I Edward III.
homage had been done
for this castle by Thomas,
Earl of Lancaster, but
soon after John, Earl
Warenne, held it for his
lifetime, and after his death
it fell to the Crown, when
King Edward granted
Coningsborough to Ed
mund of Langley, his fifth
son, who died 1402, when
it went to his son Edward,
Duke of York, who was
stifled in his armour at
Agincourt, 1415. He was
succeeded by his brother
Richard, called of Conis-
burgh. Earl of Cambridge
(beheaded 1415), whose
son and successor was
Richard, Duke of York,
the father of Edward IV.
and Richard III. His
second wife and widow,
Maud Clifford, had this
castle in dower, and died
there in 1446, when Con
ingsborough again be
came Crown property, and
appears thenceforth to have been neglected. Edward IV., its owner, was king,
and did not want the castle, and his brother Richard of Glo'ster had Middleham
and Barnard. Constables were appointed and stewards, &c., of " the lordships
of Conysborowe" from time to time, and at last James II. bestowed the place
on Carey, Earl of Dover ; it in later times becarae Conyers' property.
Coningsborough is best known in its connection with " Ivanhoe," where the
Wizard of the North has described its position thus: "There are few more

THE KEEP

2i6 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
beautiful or striking scenes in England, than is presented by the vicinity of
this ancient Saxon fortress. The soft and gentle river Don sweeps through an
amphitheatre in which cultivation is richly blended wUh woodland, and on a
mount ascending from the river, well defended by walls and ditches, rises this
ancient edifice, which, as its Saxon narae implies, was, previous to the Con
quest, a royal residence of the Kings of England." The natural mound of
gravel and rock, steep on all sides, rises 175 feet above the river, its summit
having been levelled into a platform measuring | oi an acre, 60 feet below
which the scarped sides end in an immense ditch. On the W. side is the
village, between which and the hill is the outer ward of the castle, from
whence a path rises to the entrance between lofty parallel walls. There is
no gatehouse into the inner ward, and none perhaps ever existed, though the
entrance may have been well protected in the passage through the dwellings,
which were buUt against the curtain wall ; right and left extended a range
of these containing the hall, kitchen, and offices, and probably a chapel. The
wall of this ward follows the edge of the platform, and is from 20 to 35 feet
high, but the allures and battlements have disappeared. On the S. and E.
sides some flanking defence was obtained by five half-round turrets, and other
towers may have stood where the wall is broken.
But the chief object and glory of this castle is the Keep standing at the
N.E. corner, on the line of the curtain which a.buts on it, and without any
special ditch of its own. It is a huge cylindrical building, almost solid below,
being 60 feet in diameter, and even now 90 feet in height ; its base is broadly
splayed, and the sides are supported by six huge buttresses, each of which pro
jects 9 feet, and is also splayed outwards for 20 feet above the foundations. The
masonry is magnificent. Entrance is had by an outer staircase to the level of
the first floor, through a flat-headed doorway which had no protection. There
are four stages, the uppermost being in the roof, which was conical, and all the
apartments are circular. The roorii on the first stage is 22 feet in diameter and
had no light or air except from the doorway ; it was doubtless a store. A small
mural stair with a loop conducts to the next, or state floor, 25 feet in diameter,
lighted by a square-headed window, in two lights. Opposite is a huge fireplace,
and near the entrance is a wall passage conducting to a garderobe furnished
with a loophole. On the opposite side is the opening of the staircase which leads
to the third stage, or oratory floor, 27 feet in diameter, containing a window
and other arrangements as the floor below, both of these rooms having had
timber floors. The remarkable feature is the small oratory, contrived within the
S.E. buttress, the roof being groined and vaulted, and ornamented with Norman
mouldings. The piscina is there, but the altar is gone ; it had a vestry and three
lights. Another wall staircase leads to the uppermost stage, the opening being
on the allure behind the parapet. Above this parapet the buttresses rise in
turrets, three of them containing a half-round cavity, one forming an oven.

YORKSHIRE

217

and two being cisterns ; the third was a dove-cote, in all probability. Below
the first floor is a large domed cellar, and in the centre of it is the well opening.
The thickness of the wall at the ground level is 5 yards between the buttresses.
The curtain wall and buildings attached are the work of an early Norman
owner, perhaps of W^illiam, the third and last original Earl Warenne, while the

CONINGSBOROUGH

keep is certainly fifty years later, and may be the building of Hameline
Plantagenet, who held the place from 1163 to 1201. The keep of Orford,
Suffolk, somewhat resembles this one (Clark),

COTHERSTONE (non-existent)
THIS was another manor of the Fitzhughs, in which they occasionally
resided from very early times. The date of the castle is uncertain, but in
a charter given between the years 1182 and 1201 mention is made of the Porta
de Cutherston, then the residence of the lord. The tradition runs that it was
burnt and destroyed in one of the Scottish raids, the plunderers having been
irritated at some expressions used by the lady of the castle. But the marauding

VOL. II

2 E

2i8 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
hordes who came for booty would not want a reason for their acts. At all
events, fragments of charred wood have been dug up on the site. Cotherstone
stands in a highly picturesque position near the confluence of the Balder Beck
with the Tees, on an eminence between the streams, but only some fragments of
the tower survive. In the chapel garth have been dug up some stones of pointed
windows, and an ancient font, proving that a domestic chapel must have existed.
The Fitzhughs, deriving from one Boden, lord of Ravenswath before the
Conquest, continued in Richmondshire until the fourth year of Henry VIIL,
when their ancient line ended in George, lord of Ravenswath, who died s,p.
One of them, Henry Fitz Henry, was summoned to Parliament as a baron in
15 Edward II. ; his grandson adopted the name of Fitzhugh, and this man's
son attended Henry V. in France. They are described as a noble and chivalrous
race (see Kirkby Ravenswath, Yorks).

COTTINGHAM, or BAYNARDS CASTLE (non-existent)
ABOUT three mUes from Beverley stood this old twelfth-century fortress
^ of the Stutevilles and Wakes. Leland says : " Entering into the South
part of the great Uplandish Town of Cotingham, I saw wher Stutevilles Castelle,
dobill dikid and motid, stoode, of the which nothing now remaynith."
Robert de Stuteville was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 21 Henry IL, and is said
to have built the castle. His descendant William, who was here in John's
reign, quarrelled with the churchmen at York, and was excommunicated by
the archbishop ; and the king, with a fellow-feeling, paid him a visit to inquire
into the matter, which ended in a victory for the layman, and permission
granted to fortify his house. William's great-granddaughter Joan brought
the manor and castle of Cottingham to her husband, of the De Wake family,
ancl her son Baldwin de Wake inherited these, with many other lands.
In 1319 Thomas de Wake obtained a charter of confirmation, ancl a further
licence to convert his manor-house into a castle of defence, under the name
of Baynard's Castle, with authority to keep it armed and garrisoned, which
patent was renewed by Edward III. on his accession.
The vast property of the Wakes then came to royal hands, by the marriage of
Edmond of Woodstock, youngest son of Edward I., to Margaret, the sister of
Thomas de Wake ; she bore him a daughter, Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, who
had asher first husband the warrior Thomas, Earl of HoUand, and after his early
death held the raanor of Cottingham and its dependencies ; afterwards, becoming
the wife of the Black Prince, she was the mother of King Richard II.
Nothing is known as to the description of the buildings which composed
this castle. It was burnt to the ground in the reign of Henry VIIL, and
was never rebuilt. There is a story given by Allen, but scarcely worthy

o

YORKSHIRE 219
of belief, that the Lord Wake during that period himself caused his house
to be destroyed by fire, to prevent the coming thither of the king, whose power
and fascinations he dreaded on behalf of his beautiful wife.
The last Wake dying s.p., the manor was divided into three parts, in favour
f his three daughters, who were married respectively to the Duke of Richmond,
the Earl of Westmorland, and Lord Pt)wis, and the names of these nobles
are still attached to the properties.
The area covered by the castle was about two acres, but nothing now
remains to mark its site except the traces of the outer and inner moats and
some banks. CRAYKE (minor)
THREE miles frora Easingwold, on the summit of a hill, stand the remains
of this old castle of the Bishops of Durham, the lands of it having been
made Church property as far back as A.D. 685. There was an early castle
here, built by one of the bishops in Norraan days, but the existing later
structures were added by Bishop Nevill (1438-1457).
Leland described the castle thus : " There remaineth at this tyme smaul
shew of any Castel that hath beene there. There is a Haul, with other offices,
and a great stable voltid with stone, of a meatly auncyent building. The great
squar towre, that is thereby, as in the toppe of the hille, and supplement of
loggings, is very fair, and was erected wholly by Nevill, bishop of Duresme." And
there is a survey extant, made a hundred years after Bishop Nevill, in Elizabeth's
time, from which it appears that the bishop only added to an earlier castle. It
appears that the base of the " New Tower " belongs to a work built between 1280
and 1320, and that at the beginning of the fifteenth century the Great Chamber,
i.e. the present castle, was built, after which the New Tower, containing a hall
and solar, was erected on the N.E. Then were appended by Bishop Nevill the
kitchen and larder to the Great Chamber. The parlour of the tower has a
garderobe attached, with a sunk pond below for drainage. There are some traces
of the gatehouse near the present entrance to the grounds, but the barn and the
chapel have disappeared, together with the surrounding wall. The whole stood
once in a large and well-wooded park, which was provided with a sunk fence
called a saltery (saltatoriuni), or trap for deer, which leaping into, they could
not leave again (Canon Raine in Architectural Societies' Report, 1869).
The committee that sat in London on the castles, doomed this one to
destruction, and it was accordingly slighted, and remained in this ruined state
until restored by Mr. Waite, who made the place into a modern residence.
As we see it, it is a square building of Tudor style, four storeys in height,
with a battlemented jjarapet, from which a lovely view of the Vale of
Mowbray is obtained, and away to the hills of Craven and Westmorland.

220 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

DANBY (minor)
AT Danby and in the neighbouring ancient fortress of Castleton, the
/\ Norman follower of Duke William, Robert de Brus, obtained his first
shelter in this part of Cleveland. He held ninety-three manors in all in
Yorkshire, and dying cir. 1094, was followed by his direct descendants, lords
of Skelton, who continued here till 55 Henry III., when, by the marriage of
Lucia de Brus, a coheiress, Danby went to Marmaduke Thweng. There had
been a break, however, and a difficulty with the Crown, for Adam de Brus
took part with King Stephen, and when Henry II. ascended the throne, it
was natural that he should, in his raid against the Stephanie strongholds,
remember his grudge against De Brus. Accordingly, he seized Danby Castle
— which proves that some edifice existed here at that time — and it was not
recovered until 2 John, when Peter de Brus had to yield lands and a large
sura of money to the king for its restoration.
From the Thwengs the manor and lordship passed, temp. Edward I., with
Lucia, heiress of Robert de Thweng, to the powerful Latimers, and from them
through their heiress Elizabeth, cir. 1374, to the Nevills of Raby (q.v). John Nevill,
4th Lord Latimer (temp. Elizabeth), left four daughters, the youngest of whora,
Elizabeth, brought Danby in marriage to Sir John Danvers, whose grandson. Sir
Henry, sold the property to five freeholders ; ancl from them, in 1656, Danby
was acquired by John Dawney, an ancestor of the present owner. Lord Downe.
The castle is a picturesque ruin, commanding from its elevated site, about two
miles from Castleton, a very fine prospect over the Esk valley. The present build
ing is not earlier than the reign of Edward 1., and was probably built by William
Latimer on acquiring the manor from the Thwengs (Ora). The Latimer arms,
with those of Bruce and Thweng, appear on the walls, as if anterior to the
Nevill raarriage. The buildings covered a space about 120 feet square, with a
court in the centre, and corner turrets projecting diagonally at each exterior
angle, which latter seem to have been additions. A farm-house occupies part of
the later buildings. The kitchens, a room in the W. tower, and other parts are
tolerably perfect, and the S. wall exhibits the magnificence of the ancient fabric.
A tradition exists that the bridge near the castle was built by three sisters, that
is, by Lucy, Margaret, and Catherine de Thweng, daughters of Marmaduke de
Thweng. And it is asserted that a Queen of England once lived here, — a tradi
tion which refers to Queen Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIIL, and
daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal Castle (q.v). She married John Nevill,
3rd Lord Latimer, as her second husband, and subsequently the king, and imme
diately after his death — as her fourth husband — Admiral Seymour, the luckless
brother of the Protector Somerset. They were both beheaded (see Sudeley,
Gloucestershire). As Lady Latimer she must have resided at Danby.

YORKSHIRE 221

GIL LING {minor)
THIS castle of the P\airfa\es is near Byland Abbey, .ind the n;une must
not be confounded with the pari.sh in Richmondshire, the patrimony of
Earl Edwin. It stands on an eminence on the W. side of the village of that
name, and was originally a fee of the Mowbray family, lords of Thirsk and the
\'ale of Mowbray.
One of the most notable warriors who came over to the Conejuest of
England was Roger de Mowbray (spelt variously), whose name is in the roll
of Battle Abbey, and his son Robert succeeded to the large tract of eountry
with which his father had been endowed by William I. He took part with
Duke Robert against the Red King, with whom he was afterwards reconciled,
and was by him created Earl of Northumberland. He did good service
in 1093 in repelling the invasion of Malcolm, King of Scotland, but soon after
he again broke into rebellion. Rufus came against him at Baraburgh {q.v),
and in the end Mowbray was captured, and died a prisoner at Windsor
after thirty years of confinement. All the Mowbray estates were confiscated,
and were held by the Crown until granted by Henry I. to Nigel de Albini,
brother to the Earl of Arundel, who assumed the name of Mowbray. His son
Roger succeeded him, and was one of the leaders at the Battle of the Standard
(1138). Besides Gilling, he owned in Yorkshire the castles of Thirsk, Slingsby,
and Kirkby Malzeard, and he it was who founded the abbey at Byland, whither
he retired to die in peace at the close of his long and troublous life (see
Bamburgli). This great house of Mowbray, and their successors, are intimately woven
into the history of the country, but there is little regarding them connected
with Gilling Castle, which in after-times became the property and the seat
of the Etton family.
In the seventh year of Henry VII. Thomas Fairfax of Walton married the
heiress, Elizabeth Etton, and Gilling has been in the possession of his descen
dants or representatives ever since, though on some occasions it has passed by
marriage. Francis Cholmeley received it through his wife, Harriet Fairfax,
and the present owner is Mr. Hugh C. Fairfax-Cholmeley.
The keep is a square one of Edwardian architecture, built temp. Edward 1 1.,
and the basement of the eastern portion contains rauch Decorated work.
The buildings on the other side are of Tudor date, the roomys being
ornamented with fine sixteenth-century carvings and painted glass. The
castle is well situated and surrounded by timber, and the views eastward
are very fine.

222 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

GUISBOROUGH (non-existent)
GUISBOROUGH Priory, in Cleveland, where was buried Robert Bruce,
who contested the crown of Scotland with Baliol, was built in 1120, and
it is likely that a castle of some sort existed here even earlier than this date.
The manor was among the many given to Robert le Brus by the Conqueror,
and here, as at Castleton (q.v), was an ancient stronghold, probably a British
earthwork, but no appearance of masonry remains.
It stood in a field near the lane leading from Church Street to Redcar,
called War's Field, and can still be traced by the moat in this and in the adjoin
ing field, having well elevated ridges and uneven surfaces, the whole occupying
several acres of ground (Ord).
HAREWOOD (minor)
CAMDEN, who passed here about the year 1582, says: "Afterwards the
river [Wharfe] runs between the banks of limestone, by Harewood, where
I saw a handsome and well-fortified castle, which has often changed its lords
by the vicissitudes of time. It formerly belonged to the Curceys ; but came
by their heiress, Alice, to Warin Fitz-Gerald, who married her ; whose daughter
and coheiress, Margery, was given in raarriage, with the fine estate belonging
to her, to Baldwin Rivers, Earl of Devon, who died before his father ; after
wards to Falcasius de Brent, by favour of King John, for his good services in
pillaging. But upon the death of Isabella de Rivers, Countess of Devon, s.p.,
this castle fell to Robert de Lisle, son of Warin, as kinsman and coheir. Lastly,
by the family of Aldburgh, it came to Rithers."
The original ancient date of the castle is shown in the drawing given by
King in ArchcBologia, where two windows of late Norman type appear — now
not in existence ; but the present remains belong to a much later date. The
castle is supposed to have been built in the reign of Edward I. or Edward II.,
and to have been finished temp. Edward III. Over the entrance are the arms
of Sir William cle Aldburgh, who married Elizabeth, only daughter of Robert,
Lord de Lisle, about 1327, and obtained this castle with her; he repaired and
added to it, and made it his chief residence. He was called (Harleian MSS.
vol. l.xxxv. f. 5) " the messenger of Edward Baliol, King of Scotland," a post
of high rank ; and the Baliol arms appear with his above the doorway. After
Baliol's deposition he lived at Wheatley, near Doncaster, where Sir WiUiara
was his close and faithful attendant. Sir Williara died without male issue,
leaving two daughters who divided his estates : Elizabeth, married to Sir Richard
Redmayne or Redraan, and Sybil, the wife of Sir William Ryther of Ryther
Castle, Yorks. But the two families continued to live together, alternately, at

YORKSHIRE 223
Harewood, where the last inhabitant was James Ryther, an esquire of Queen
Elizabeth, and his only son Robert, who left Harewood in 1620. The castle
was dismantled during the Civil Wars, and w.is thus purchased in 1657 by
Sir John Cutler, a London merchant, cruelly and unfairly satirised by Pope.
In 1582 the manor had come into the possession of Thoraas Wentworth,
married to Margaret, the heiress of Sir William Gascoigne, who inherited the
Redmayne moiety, and had bought the Ryther half. The grandson of this
Thomas Wentworth was the unfortunate Lord Stratford, whose son siibse-
L^uently recovered the confiscated estates, but was forced to sell them, when
the manor was bought by Cutler.
The castle is in the forra of a rectangular parallelogram, with two lofty
towers at the S.E. and N.E. angles, four storeys in height ; there were also
towers on the N. and S. sides. The main entrance is on the N., and was
defended by a portcullis. The great hall is 55 feet long by 29 feet, and in it
are still the stone seats used at times of courts ; at one end is a curious arched
recess in the wall which appears to have covered a buffet or sideboard. The
portcullis room over the entrance communicates by stairs with the hall, ancl
with the rooms over it, and the chapel, wherein are many shields bearing the
arms of the dift'erent allied families. A dungeon exists under the entrance
tower, and beneath the hall is a cellar or store. Access to all parts of the
castle was gained by mural passages.
Sir Williara Aldburgh obtained in 40 Edward III. (1367) a license to
crenellate his mansum manerii, and the building seems to have been embattled
throughout. Harewood Church contains the tombs of many of the above-named persons,
including that of the celebrated Chief Justice, Sir Williara Gascoigne, who was
born, lived, and died almost beneath the shadow of these walls, and whose
daughter was the wife of Sir Richard Redman, before mentioned. Shakespeare
in the play of Henry /T., part ii., makes the young king, Henry V., to reappoint
Gascoigne as Chief Justice in return for his committal, but this does not appear
to have been done.
HARLSEY (non-existent)
THIS castle was in the neighbourhood of Sigston or Beresend Castle, and was
held by the family of Strangewaies, who twice intermarried with the Pygot
family, the owners of the Sigston and Winton estates. It was probably a build
ing of similar form and date to the latter stronghold. Some portions still remain
incorporated with the farm buildings belonging to a modern farm-house.
Leland mentions the place as "where Strangwaise the Judge builded a
pretty Castle." His faraily had succeeded that of Hotham, who long held
possession of Harlsey (see Sigston, Yorks).

224

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

HELMSLEY, near Rievaulx Abbey (chief)
THE lordship of Helmsley was granted by the Conqueror to the Earl of
Moreton, but passed, temp. Henry I., to Walter d'Espec, or Spec, the great
leader at the Battle of the Standard. He, losing his only son in 1122, devised
Helmsley to his youngest sister Adelina, wife of Peter de Ros or Roos, after
whom it went to her son
Robert, called " Fursan,"
who was one of the
twenty-five barons chosen
to carry out the pro
visions of Magna Charta.
He built here a castle
about 1200, called "Castle
Fursan," of which we see
some remains in the lower
part of the keep with its
circular - headed aper
tures. He married Isabel,
daughter of William the
Lion, King of Scotland,
and at her death joined
the Templars, — his effigy
being still at the Temple
Church, London. Robert
de Ros died seised of the
manor and castle, 13 Ed
ward I., and left them to
his son and heir, William,
who for eminent services
perforraed temp. Edward
II. received from King
Edward III. a tower in
London to hold as an
appurtenant to Helmsley.
In 1339 this king, appre
hending an invasion by
the Scots, placed this William de Ros in command of the northern district,
acting from his castle of Helmsley. He died in 1343, and his descendants
continued to possess the property, till it was temporarily confiscated by
Edward IV. It was afterwards restored to Edmund, the last De Ros, whose

HELMST.EY

YORKSHIRE 225
sisters became his heirs, and one of them, Eleanor, marrying Sir Robert
Manners of Etall, Northumberland, brought him Helmsley, and also PjElvoir
{q.v), which had previously been brought into the De Ros family by marriage.
One of this family was created Earl of Rutland by Henry VIII. in 1525, and
the sixth earl of this name, temp. James I., had an only daughter, Catherine,
married to George \'illiers, ist Duke of Buckingham, who was stabbed by
Felton, and thus Helmsley became a part of his large possessions. In
the Civil War, in 1644, the castle was granted by the Parliaraent to Sir
Thomas Fairfax, the general, but being held for the king by Colonel Jordan
Crossland, an able and determined cavalier, it was besieged after Marston
Moor, by Fairfax himself, who was shot in the shoulder by a musket-ball
during the siege ; he was removed to York in a dangerous condition,
and it was feared that the wound would prove fatal. The castle being
forced to surrender was dismantled by order of the House, and partly
blown up.
The trustees of the last duke, who recovered Helmsley at the Restoration,
sold the property in 1695 ^° Sir Charles Duncombe, a Secretary to the
Treasury, for ^^95,000, when
" Helmsley, once proud Buckingham's delight.
Slid to a scrivener, and a City knight.''
He left it to a nephew, one Thomas Brown, who took the name of Dun
combe, and in 1718 built the house and formed the place called Duncombe
Park, at the gates of which the castle stands. His great-grandson was made
Lord Faversham in 1826.
The ruins, standing on a gentle eminence on the W. of the town, with the
keep rising above the grove of trees which surrounds it, form a picturesque
object. The whole is encircled by a double moat — the outer one — wide and
deep, filled from the river Rye, and at the distance of 27 feet is the inner moat,
50 feet wide, and 20 feet deep ; the extent of the area contained is about
10 acres.
The main entrance is on the S., through a square tower with a portcullis,
embattled and machicolated above, and strengthened by two circular flank
ing towers. There is a gateway into the river court or bailey, of which not
much remains ; the portcullis groove of it can be seen. The great keep
occupies the N.E. corner of the inner bailey, its E. side being quite de
stroyed, the fragments of it lying in the moat ; injured as it is, the structure
rises to a height of nearly 100 feet above the dungeons below it. The lower
part dates from the reign of John, and the turrets and battlements were
added in the reign of Edward II. The fine barbican between the moats
and the gatehouse was perhaps of the time of John. The outer walls of the
VOL. II. 2 F

226

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

enceinte on the E. and N. sides have been destroyed, and the moat filled
up. There was an entrance to the castle also on the N. side, and part of
a bridge across the moat remains. On the W., against the moat, is the later
mansion, added in Elizabeth's reign, with square-headed, heavy mullioned
windows, this range being in good preservation, with many windows still

V c^\\\Wllllllinii|illlllllllllliiiMiiiiinl/lllllliiu»,||,|///i,,,
a\\wI//%. %^yyy/f0'"''"'mil''''''''''<m0^^^^^^^^

#

'A^

--:. .  ...i.ii)iiiilnitll[linH(i...r ¦'A

^'k' k S'-S(m= S>  ^^Sa— '1^^= ^ = %
^ h % ^>iiiiiil/lllii..';""%,
= =\'.T/i^7i^rg^r.r^<f^ = !< 1 3%
^.-/Tutliii^ ^//////)/)|)/|l"'niiili)iillnUVvS^ ^g ""> Ik
'%///!# '"''/^^ykhuni^^^^^^^^^^^ A%x  llllllliiNiiimiilillllPlUllHlllllllllwv^J

j}ttch-

Mlllllit  illllllHlx

IIII"""  M
llllllll  Iljlll"""'
.^^^
tfectiGnJ .
^^^^^^^^
HELMSLEY
glazed, and a part remaining roofed. A large upper room, indeed, is still used
for the rent audit of Lord Faversham ; and here doubtless the last duke
carried on his gay life. Beneath the high building, in the corner, is a sub
terranean passage said to extend to the neighbouring abbey, for not far off,
in the sweet valley of the Rye, is old Walter d'Espec's own abbey of Rievaulx,
certainly one of the most beautiful monastic ruins in the country.
YORKSHIRE 227

HORNBY (chief)
THIS stately structure, like Belvoir, has little to show of antiquity in its
walls, though replacing or overlaying a more ancient abode, as it is
thought to do, of the St. Quintins, and having been built by the first Lord
Conyers early in the sixteenth century. All the knowledge we have of its
origin is from the Itinerary of Leland, who says that the Conyers rose to
importance through the patronage of Richard, Lord Scrope of Bolton, temp.
Richard II. "Richard, Lord Scrope that buildid Bolton Castle boute the
heire generall of St. Quintine, that was owner of Hornby Castle in Richemount-
shire. This Richard was content that one Coniers, a servant [vassal] of his,
should have the preferment of this warde, and so he had Hornby Castle.
Gul. Coniers, the first lord of that name, grandfather to hira that is now (1540),
dyd great coste on Horneby Castle. It was before but a meane thing."
Perhaps a border tower only.
John Conyers was a Chief Justice, and married Margaret, daughter and heir
to Anthony St. Quintin. Their son Christopher is described as of Hornby,
and his son, again, Sir John Conyers " of Hornby Castle," was grandfather to
William, first Lord Conyers, the holder of the existing castle. His family ended
in his grandson's children, the two sons dying s,p,, and the property going to
the eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married to Thomas Darcy (died 1605), whose
grandson, Conyers Darcy, was sumraoned to Parliament in 1661 as Baron
D'Arcy and Conyers, and was in 1689 created Earl of Holderness.
The fourth earl left an only daughter to inherit his lands, Amelia Darcy,
and she, by her marriage in 1773 with Francis Osborne, afterwards fifth duke
of Leeds, brought Hornby to that faraily, whose residence it is.
The castle, which is not very extensive, is built in the form of a quadrangle,
and has been modernised to accord with the requirements of the day. One
ivy-clad tower remains, to which is attached the name of St. Quintin, in memory
of the early possessors.

HULL (non-existent)
IN 1541 King Henry VIIL, accompanied by his queen, Katherine Howard,
made a progress to the North, and came to Kingston-upon-HuU. He
surveyed the town with a view to its security, and ordered that a castle and
two blockhouses should be erected, with other fortifications for the defence
of the town. The works were carried out at a cost of ;^23,755, which was
found by the king. Hollar's plan of Hull shows a strong fortification on the
left bank of the river Hull, extending from the North Bridge over that river

228 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
to its mouth in the Humber. This fort consisted of two strong circular block
houses, one beside the bridge, and another at the junction of the two rivers, the
centre of the line being occupied by a larger fortress, called the castle, a rec
tangular structure with semicircular bastions ; these three works are connected
by a strong curtain wall about three-quarters of a mile in length. A citadel
was erected here in the reign of Charles II. The blockhouses were of brick.
In the commencement of the Parliamentary War, King Charles attempted
to make himself master of the important position of Hull, but the gates of
the town were closed against him by the governor, Sir John Hotham, and
a more serious atterapt in the same year (1643) made by a strong force under
the Marquess of Newcastle, failed after a six weeks' siege, — the new governor,
Fairfax, placing the country all round under water by means of the sluices.
We know not what part in the warfare was taken by Henry VIII.'s forts.

K I L T O N (minor)
LIES near the coast, on the way from Whitby to Saltburn. Here are the
J reraains of an immensely strong fortress, built in Norman times, on the
summit of a bold promontory, 300 feet long and 60 feet wide, with precipitous
sides, and ending in a narrow ridge on the W. side, which was defended
by strong walls stUl standing : an ancient road led up to this point. The
outer earthworks have vanished, with the barbican and other defences, but
the position of the gatehouse and main entrance can be traced, with its
protecting ditches, one of which measures 26 feet across. Ord laments the
destruction which has been perraitted, the raasonry having been used as a
quarry for the neighbourhood. Still the buildings can be made out, — the
hall with its two huge fireplaces, and the great tower on the E., which con
stitute the most interesting part of the ruins. The castle was semicircular
in plan, of Early English style, built perhaps at the end of the twelfth
century ; there are good loops and two lancet windows in it.
KiUon Manor, like Danby, came to the Thwengs by Lucia, the daughter
of Peter de Brus, lord of Skelton, and her granddaughter, also Lucia, being
a coheire,ss, brought KiUon to her husband. Sir Robert Lumley, temp.
Edward III. With this famUy it remained tiU 29 Henry VIIL, when George
Luraley, the owner, was tried for his share in the insurrection called the
"Pilgrimage of Grace," and was beheaded; then Kilton Castle passed by
attainder to the Crown.
Afterwards the place became the property of a family called TuUie, and
from thera came to the Rev. Dr. Waugh, Chancellor of Cariisle, whose
daughters sold it to Mr. John Wharton, the predecessor of the present
proprietor. There are some remains of the old manor-house.

YORKSHIRE 229

KIRKBYMALZEARD (uon-cxistaU)
THIS stronghold of the Percy fainily was situated a few miles to the E. of
Ripon, upon an eminence commanding an extensive range of country to
the N.E. and E., in the district once called Mashamshire. It was one of the
many belonging to Roger de Mowbray (see Thirsk and Gilling), a great warrior
wdio fought at the Battle of the Standard (1138), and who, on his return from
the Crusade in 1173, took part with Prince Henry against his father; but after
losing his castle of Epworth in the Isle of Axeholme (Lincoln), and being taken
prisoner by Geoffrey, the Bishop Elect of Lincoln, a natural son of the king,
he was made to surrender his castles of Malzeard and Thirsk to Henry II., who
at once caused them to be demolished. The work was oval in shape, covering
about half an acre. Not a stone, however, remains above ground to show what
this building was, but much carved stone of Norman workmanship has been dug
up on its site. It was probably within sight and signal of Thirsk Castle, and
its traces are still apparent in the huge earthworks seen at the E. of the church
yard. The foundations- can be traced of the hall, kitchen, and chapel, and some
other buildings in the inner bailey. The position was a strong one sloping in
front to the Kesbeck stream, and with a pool on the north side.

KIRKBY-RAVENSWATH (minor)
ABOUT five miles N.W. from Richmond, was the seat of the historic family
of Fitzhugh. At the time of the Domesday Survey, Bodin, the progenitor
of that line, obtained the manor here, and as the high ground was already
occupied by the church, either he or his successor was forced to make their
dwelling and fortress in the swampy ground below. Leland says (cir. 1538) :
" Ravenswarthe Castel, in a mares [marish] grownde, and a parke on a litle
hangginge grownde by it. . . . Lord Parr is owner thereof. The castle, except
ing 2 or 3 square towers, and a faire stable ,with a conduct [conduit] cumming
to the haull-side, hath nothing memorable."
And Camden, sixty years later, wrote : " Ravensworth Castle rears its head
with a large extent of ruinous walls, which had barons of its own, named Fitz
Hugh, of old Sa.xon descent, . . . and famous to the time of Henry VIL, for their
great estates acquired by marriage wUh the heiresses of the illustrious families
of- Furneaux and Marmion, which at the last came by females to the Fienes,
Lords Dacre of the ^outh, and to the Parrs." The FUzhughs were a notable
family, many of them- being renowned in the history of the country, and some
being crusaders. They were usually buried at Jervaux Abbey, where, among
others, is the tomb of Henry, Lord Fitzhugh, who attended Henry V. at Agin-

230 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
court with 66 men-at-arms and 209 archers ; he fought also in the Holy Land,
and died at Ravensworth.
The remains of this castle, which, like Richmond, covers a much larger
space of ground than any other in this part of the country, consisted of three
quadrangles formed by the buildings around them, and of eight chief towers,
all of them square ; but their remains are so broken up and so little distinguished
architecturally, that it is impossible to determine their antiquity, though there
are certain Norman forms ( Whitaker), The S. front seems to have been semi
circular. The whole area is covered with hillocks and low banks indicating
the remains of masonry. In a turret, near the middle and between two of the
courts, is the following inscription in the black-letter of Henry VIII.'s time : —
{The x^\ . iiui3 . t't'c . lit'a . fonsf , ^ on'ffo . alplia . ^ oo .
Labaruin.) Christus dominus Jesus via fons et origo alpha et omega.
This seems to be the work of some disciple of the Reformation, and surrounds
a small oratory of the castle. Ravenswath was transferred, at the death of Lord
Fitzhugh (10 Henry VIIL), to the Parrs, one of whom, being a Protestant, may
have caused the inscription to be set up.
KNARESBOROUGH (minor)
IN the beautiful valley of the Nidd, where a lofty cliff projects into the stream;
on the summit of this, some 250 feet above the river, was built this old
fortress. Knaresburg was in Saxon times the head of an extensive lordship,
including the large tract of the forest of the same name, and was royal
property. William I. granted the lands to one of his followers, Serlo de Burg,
who probably began the buildings which his grandson Eustace Fitz John,
a Justiciary in the North with Walter Lespec of " the Standard," completed.
Eustace was the lord of Alnwick Castle also by his marriage with Beatrice de
Vescy, and their eldest son took his mother's name and continued at Alnwick.
His other son Richard married Albreda de Lacy, heiress of Pontefract Castle
and honour, to which her son John succeeded in 1193, together with
Knaresborough, and then took his mother's name of De Lacy, for hitherto the
family seem to have had no name. Eustace Fitzjohn built Alnwick Castle,
and added to Knaresborough, dying in 1157, when the Crown granted it to
various castellans.
One of the first of these was Hugh de Morville, one of the murderers of
Thomas a Becket in 11 70, and one of the memories of this castle is that it
afforded a refuge to the four assassins during a whole year. The Estotevilles
or Stutevilles were governors there, and temp. King John it was held by Brian
de Lisle, who added the ditch and some buildings to the castle. Henry III.

iiK"i:."^i'atS'.'^?

H

O
oOcaW

YORKSHIRE

231

granted Knaresborough to Hubert de Burgh, and afterwards conferred the
manor and honour on his brother Richard, King of the Romans, who founded
a priory on the river bank below the castle. Edward II. g-ave the place to
Piers Gaveston, and in 1371 Edward III. granted all to his son John of
Gaunt, since when it has ever remained in the Duchy of Lancaster. They
shut up the captive King Richard II. here before taking him to Pontefract,
and frora this the keep has ever since been called the King's Tower.
The area enclosed,
which was oval in shape,
is 2i acres ; the lines of
the external walls being
discernible, with six cir
cular mural towers. Be
sides the gorge of the
Nidd there are two ravines
which protected the castle
on other sides, wh Ue there
is a broad ditch on the
land front. The outer
wall was 7 to 8 feet thick,
and from 30 to 40 feet
high, but it has been quite
destroyed and removed,
except close to the keep ;
it edges the cliff and the
ravines and ditch, outside
which latter is the town,
built under the castle's
shelter, the entrance gate
way being in front of
the town between two
flanking mural towers ;
the arch of the gateway is gone, but the portcullis and gate grooves re
main, and the place of the drawbridge over the ditch. A cross wall divided
the area into an E. and a W. or inner ward, the keep being placed on the line
of this wall, whereby it was made to form the passage, or gatehouse in fact,
from one ward to the other, and was provided with drawbridges.
There are considerable remains of the keep, which must have been of grand
design and finish ; it was rectangular, 64 feet long by 52 feet broad, but the N.
angle is lost. The W. angle has a turret, some 60 feet above the court. The
S.W. front, looking into the inner court, is the most perfect ; it consists of a
large apartment on the first floor with Decorated windows and a fireplace ;

KNARESBOROUGH

232 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
below in the basement is a large kitchen having a beautifully vaulted roof,
and supported by two pillars, with three or four other rooms, underneath
being a small dungeon with a staircase. On the first floor are two fine pointed
doorways, one with a portcullis groove, and with arrangements in the masonry
for raising and lowering a bridge which gave access from the roadway on
arches in the outer court, a part of which roadway remains. There is nothing
left of the upper room in the keep, which had a wooden floor. The ornaments
and details are late Decorated of Edward II. (Clark).
We owe the destruction of this fine castle and its beautiful details chiefly
to the fire of Parliamentary guns in the Civil War, at which time, in i6zj4, it
was. besieged for about a month by Colonel Lilburn, who was sent, after the
easy capture of Tickhill, to demand the surrender of Knaresborough, then
held for the king by the townsmen, who determined to hold out, relying
on a promise of assistance from the North. Unprepared for such resistance,
Lilburn sent to York for two guns with which he battered the walls from
Gallow Hill, but to little effect, until he was traitorously informed of a weak
point in the defences, and opened fire upon this from a new battery near Brig-
gate, then a garden. The garrison, who were meanwhile reduced to a state
of famine, maintained an heroic defence, and made serious sallies on the
besiegers' lines, but a breach being effected and the storming imminent, they
offered a parley, and surrendered on honourable terms. In the castle were
found four pieces of fine ordnance, a large store of arms and powder, and
silver plate and valuables worth ^^1500, with other booty. In 1648, the castle
was dismantled and made into the ruin we see.

LECONFIELD (non-existent)
AN old castle of the Percys, 2I- miles N. from Beverley. Leland wrote :
" Lekingfeld is a large House & stondith withyn a greate mote yn
one very spatius Courte. 3 partes of the House, saving the meane gate that
is made of Brike, is al of tymbre. The 4 Parte is made of Stone & sum
Brike" The lands were given to the De Brus family, and in the reign of King
John Henry Percy married Isabel de Brus, and received from her brother
Peter de Brus certain lands in Leconfield, on the curious tenure that every
Christmas day he should call upon the lady of Skelton Castle (q,v), and should
lead her to mass. In 1308 Henry Percy obtained a licence to creneUate and
fortify his house of Leconfield, and his successor Henry, 2nd Earl of
Northumberland, made this castle his chief residence, sorae of his children
being born in it.
After Towton Field the manor was granted to George, Duke of Clarence,
but in 1469 the Northumberland estates were restored to the new earl, who

YORKSHIRE 233
lived here till he was slain by the mob at Cockledge. The fifth earl, Henry
Algernon, lived in great state here and at Wressel, as is shown by the regula
tions for his household, drawn up in 1512 ; and in 1541 he entertained at this
castle and at Wressel King Henry VIIL, when on his northern journey, but
was himself absent.
After the attainder of the Percys, John Dudley, the new Duke of Northum
berland, obtained Leconfield and its castle, but when Queen Mary deprived
him of his head (1553), the place was restored to Thomas Percy, seventh earl.
But further affliction befell the Percys. The ninth earl was fined ^^30,000 by
the Star Chamber, and was imprisoned during fifteen years for neglecting to
administer the oath of supremacy to a Percy relative, who had been concerned
in the Gunpowder Plot. This fine so greatly impoverished him that he could
no longer find money to keep up his castles, and so they fell to decay. The
site of Leconfield is a little S.W. of the village, and it must have been a very
large and strong place ; the moat spoken of by Leland is about half a mile in
circumference, enclosing nearly 4 acres. In 1574 it was reported that the decay
of this castle was much more serious than that of Wressel ; that new roofs were
required and new timbers ; that the surveyors " cannot speke of the particular
harmes of the said howse, the waste is so universal." And in all probability it
never was repaired, but was afterwards demolished, and the materials used
for the mending of Wressel ; a return of these is extant, showing what wood,
glass, and carved or painted work was thus removed in the reign of Jaraes I.
This seems an authentic instance of the causes which have effected the dis
appearance of so many of our mediceval fortresses.

LEEDS (non-existent)
IT seems likely that the castle of Leeds was built shortly after the accession of
William I., by one of the Paganel family, who were feudatories of the great
Anglo-Norman house of De Lacy of Pontefract (Wardell). The site of it is
the ground now surrounded by the streets called Millhill, Bishopsgate, and the
W. part of Boar Lane. It is said to have been besieged and taken by Stephen
on his march into Scotland in 1139, and the only other historical interest
attached to it is that it was the scene of the imprisonment of King Richard II.
after his deposition. Hardyng's Chronicle says : —
" The King then sent Kyng Richard to Ledis,
There to be kepte surely ;
Fro thens after to Pykeryng went he nedes.
And to Knauesburgh after led was he.
But to Pountfrete last where he did die."
VOL. II. 2 G

234 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
After this the castle is not noticed, nor is anything known of its destruction ;
nothing whatever remains of it. There was an outpost work on the N. belong
ing to it, a tower near Lydgate, the foundation stones of which were chanced
on many years ago, deep in the ground.

MALTON (non-e.xistent)
THE lordship of Malton was given by the Conqueror to one Gilbert
Tyson, who left it with other lands to his son William, whose daughter
possessed it at her death. Her son Eustace Fitzjohn held the lordship
and castle of Malton temp. Henry I., with whom he was in great favour,
and who gave him the towns of Malton, and of Alnwick in Northuraberland.
He took the side of the Empress Maud, and opposed Stephen to the length
of giving over Alnwick and Malton Castle to David, King of Scotland, who,
occupying the latter, did much injury to the neighbourhood, till Thurstan,
Archbishop of York, defeated and drove out the Scottish garrison. Then
Eustace shelved his patriotism so far as to fight in the ranks of the Scots
army at the Battle of the Standard ; but making peace afterwards with
Stephen, he rebuilt the burnt town of Malton, which was thereafter called
"New Malton," and died fighting in Wales for Henry II. in 1156. His
son William assumed the name of Vescy, and in the family under that
name Malton continued till temp. Edward 1 1., when, the owner being
killed at Bannockburn without heirs, the estates fell to the Crown. The
manor remained in the possessioii of a faraily who took the name of
Vescy until the reign of Henry VIIL, when it was broken up by mar
riages among the families of Clifford, Conyers, and Eure, which last obtained
Old Malton. Ralph, Lord Eure, temp. James I., built a fine mansion on
the site of the Norman castle ; but in 1674 his two granddaughters, being
heiresses of the estate, quarrelled over its division, and the whole edifice,
with the exception of the lodge, was pulled down to satisfy their claims.
Then this lodge and the manor were acquired by Sir Thomas Wentworth,
who in 1728 was made Lord Malton, and afterwards Marquis of Rock
ingham, and his son's nephew. Earl Fitzwilliam, succeeded in 1782 to the
manor of Malton.
In Leland's Itinerary, he says : " The Castel of Malton hath been larg,
as it apperith from the ruine. There is at this time no habitation in it, but
a mene house for a farmer." Of course nothing now exists.

YORKSHIRE 235

MARKENFIELD {minor)
A GRAND castellated ancl moated house of defence, situated three miles
S.W. from Ripon. It was the home of a faniily of that name of long
standing in the county and of importance, one of whom, John de Merkyngfeld,
in the reign of Edward II., obtained a licence to crenellate his house in 1311,
and erected this castle. One of the family, Sir Thonias, wUh his wife Dionisia,
is buried in a fine tomb in Ripon Minster. They died at the end of the
fifteenth century.
In 1513, among the gentry who went with Lords Lumley and Latimer and
Conyers to Flodden Field, with their tenants and servants, rode
" Sir Ninian Markenville
In armour coat of cunning work,"
having succeeded his father Sir Thomas (as above) in his honours and estates.
He died 20 Henry VIIL, and was followed by his son Sir Thomas, knight, who
died 1550, and was succeeded by his son Thomas, aged seventeen, who had
livery of his father's inheritance in the second of Elizabeth. But he had little
good from it, for in 1569 he took an active part in the insurrection called "The
Rising of the North," being prompted thereto by his uncle, Richard Norton,
who was one of the more prominent leaders, and who was the bearer of the
famous banner : " The Norton's ancyent had the crosse,
And the five wounds our Lord did beare."
This rebellion is written of in the accounts of the castles of Barnard and Brance
peth, Durham, and was of terrible consequences to those who took part in it.
Young Markenfield, after being hidden, like the Earl of Westmorland, in Scotland
by Lord Hume, escaped to the Low Countries, and like the earl also dragged out
a weary existence in exile, a pensioner on the pittances doled out by the King
of Spain. His estates were forfeited to the Crown, and Markenfield became
the property of the Egertons, Earls of Bridgwater, and was so held until its
purchase by Sir Fletcher Norton, the first Lord Grantley, and Baron Marken
field — being now held by his descendants. The house is still inhabited, being
buUt on the plan of a large courtyard made up of the main building, which
is in the form of the letter L, in the N.E. angle, and the stables and out
buildings, surrounded by a wide moat. The hall occupies the whole N. side —
a noble building, about 40 feet long, lighted by four Decorated pointed
windows, two on either side — with its wooden screens and minstrels' gallery.
At the S.E. is the chapel, whicii is reached also by a doorway from the dais
of the hall. At the E. end of the hall is the solar, with a large garderobe

236 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
attached to it. The rest of the house is Perpendicular, of the fifteenth century.
The kitchen and cellars, &c., are in the vaulted basement. Access to the upper
rooms is given by a newel stair enclosed in a turret, which leads to the battle
ments, and is capped with its original pointed roof. Nine shields of arms
ornament the courtyard, bearing the coats of the various families related.
J. H. Parker observes that this manor-house bears a greater resemblance to
Southern than to Northern buildings, since the use of large Decorated windows,
facing the moat, is not characteristic of a house built for defence.

MIDDLEHAM (chief)
THIS famous stronghold of the Nevills, the most important after Raby of
the many they possessed, and the favourite home of the great Earl of
Warwick, the King-maker, stands on high ground over the river Ure at the
entrance of Wensleydale in the moor country of the North Riding, N.W. of
Ripon. The lands of Middleham were part of the territory granted to Alan,
son of Eudo of Brittany, by the Conqueror. This Alan founded Richmond
Castle, which is not far off, and he gave the manor of Middleham to his brother
Ribald, whose grandson Robert Fitz Ralph was the builder of the keep of this
castle in 1191. He married Helewise, daughter and heir of Ralph de Glanville
of Coverdale, where that lady founded the abbey of that name. His grandson
Ralph Fitz Ranulph left three daughters only, the eldest of whom, Mary, married
Robert, eldest son of Robert de Nevill, lord of Raby and Brancepeth, and
thus brought the honour and castle of Middleham to the Nevills, who enjoyed
the possession for nearly 250 years. This Robert was caused by his wife to
be barbarously mutilated on account of a liaison which he had formed with a
lady in Craven, and died soon after, when his son Ralph succeeded, who, dying
in 1331, was followed first by his eldest son Robert, caUed "The Peacock of the
North," and then by his second son Ralph. This lord of Middleham died
41 Edward III. (1367), and was succeeded by his son John, Baron Nevill,
whose eldest son by his first wife was Ralph, the great Earl of Westmorland,
Earl Marshal of England, whose abode was at Brancepeth. This John Nevill
must have been a personage of high worth and importance, since he married
as his second wife Joan Beaufort, the daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of
Lancaster, by whom he had a daughter, Cecilia or Cicely, " The Rose of Raby,"
raother of King Edward IV. and of Richard III. (see Berkhamstead, Herts),
by Richard, Duke of York ; and an eldest son Richard, created Earl of Salisbury,
who was Lord of Middleham, and was beheaded after the battle of Wakefield,
and whose eldest son was Richard the King-maker, Earl of Warwick in his
wife's right, killed at Barnet in 1471, when all his property, including Middleham,
was confiscated by the Crown. This great man lived chiefly at Middleham,

YORKSHIRE 237
and seems to have sought the solitude ancl security of this fortress in the
many troubled periods of his life. It was here that it is said he confined
King Edward IV, after surprising and capturing him in his camp at Wolsey.
Edward was placed there by Warwick under the custody of the Archbish<jp
of York, Warwick's brother. Edward was allowed to hunt in the park, and
one day was met by a strong force of his friends, who enabled hira to make
good his escape. Edward gave Middleham to his brother Richard, Duke of
York, afterwards Richard III. He seems to have been attached to this place,
and to have lived there frequently, and his only son by Anne, the daughter
of Warwick, was born in this castle ancl died in it. There is scarcely any
mention of Middleham in history after that epoch, and the fabric was probably
neglected, though inhabited partially in the seventeenth century ; the finishing
stroke being put to its existence when the Roundhead Committee at York,
during the Civil War, sent orders to make the place untenable, at which time
the walls were rent and greatly injured by gunpowder, — huge masses of them
now lying about the ruins. The castle was sold long ago to Mr. Wood of
Littleton, an ancestor of the present owner. It stands a little above the town,
the N. side of the fortress, where is the entrance, being next the town ; the whole
is in ruins. The plan is an oblong rectangular enclosure, measuring 245 feet
by 190 feet, having at three of the corners of the outer wall a square tower,
and at the fourth a circular or drum tower, three storeys in height. The walls,
which are about 30 feet high, and 3 to 4 yards thick, and exist partly on three
sides, had attached to them inside numerous chambers and offices, the designa
tion of which can now scarcely be made out. In the centre of the area stands
the Norman keep of 1191, measuring 100 feet by 80 feet, and 55 feet in height,
having at its E. face a grand ascent of many steps leading to the entrance, and
a barbican which contained an oratory ; besides the gate at the top of the
stairs there was another half-way up, and a third at the vestibule. The keep
is built of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings, and is divided unequally by
the usual Norman wall in the middle, with a vaulted basement of two chambers
on the ground level, and state rooms upon the first floor, where was the grand
hall, very lofty, and lighted by round-headed windows, with an adjoining apart
ment on the W. side ; there were two large fireplaces, the shafts of which rise
clear of the roof. There are two small rooms, perhaps garderobes, in the centre
buttresses. The buildings of the outer ward, which are of the Decorated period,
and were rebuUt by the Nevills between 1331 and 1367, encroach so much
round the keep as to leave little space between the buildings ; some of the state
chambers of these dwellings must have been very grand. On the outside
of the enceinte, on the S. and E. fronts, are indications of a ditch. The
home of a character^so interesting in English history as the Earl of Warwick,
Richard the Third, and Anne Nevill, is worthy of more than a passing glance,
however ruined.

238 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

MULGRAVE (minor)
ABOUT a quarter of a mile from the modern seat of the Normanby family,
near Whitby, lies the ruin of this ancient castle, on a ridge between
two ravines, through which flow two rapid streams, rendering it difficult of
access. It is supposed to have been formed in very early times upon the site
of a Roman work, by a Northumbrian earl named Wada, who was concerned
inthe murder of "Ethelred of Northuraberland" (Hinder w ell), hvA. the whole
tradition savours of folk-lore and fiction. The place was long a stronghold
of the De Mauleys, whose fortunes are said by Dugdale to have been formed
by King John, who had used the services of one of them, named Peter, in
the murder at Rouen of his nephew Prince Arthur. This man he caused to
be married to Isabel, daughter of Robert de Turnham, and heiress of Mulgrave
Seven De Mauleys of the name of Peter successively enjoyed the estate
and castle, but the seventh dying without issue, the inheritance passed by
his sisters into various hands. At last, about 1625, it carae to Edmund,
Lord Sheffield, whom Elizabeth had raade a Knight of the Garter, and who
was created Earl of Mulgrave by Charles I. The family failing temp.
George 1 1., a lease of the Mulgrave estates was granted to Constantine Phipps,
of the Anglesea family, who was made Lord Mulgrave in 1767, and who
permanently acquired the estates by purchase, for the sum of ;^30,ooo, and
an annual quit-rent to Government.
There have been considerable buildings on this rugged site, consisting of
large state rooms and domestic offices, bakeries, &c., and the remains are
mostly Edwardian, with additions of later days. There are some very large
fireplaces and chimneys, but not much remains that is of interest or remarkable.
It is said that many farm-houses have been built from these ruins. The entrance
to the outer court is on the W. between two circular towers, one of which is
of great height, and is covered with ivy ; outside the walls there is a deep
ditch crossed by a drawbridge. The keep is square, with a round turret at
each angle ; at the S.E. angle of the outer wall are the remains of a square
tower, the inside measurement of which is 12 feet by 9 feet ; it is two storeys
high, and a fireplace exists in it. The whole is in a very ruinous state. The
area is irregular in shape, and extends no yards E. to W., by 80 yards.

NORTHALLERTON (non-existent)
A CASTLE stood at this place, on the W. side of the town, said to have
been built by Bishop Galfridus Rufus, who was Chancellor in the reign
of Henry I. William Cumin, Chancellor of Scotland, on the death of the
Bishop of Durham in 1140, usurped the see, and held this fortress for three

YORKSHIRE 239
years ; he is said by some to have been its builder : he yielded it to Bishop
Hugh Piidsav in 1144, and this Prince Bishop added to and foriified it in
the year 1173, and then gave it over to his nephew Hugh, Count of Barre.
This must have drawn on him the wrath of that royal destroyer of castles,
King Henry 1 1., who obliged the bishop to demolish the building, though he
offered a large sum to redeem it ; nor does it appear to have been e\'er rebuilt.
All that Leland saw in 1538 was "the ditches and the dungeon hille wher it
sumtyme stood."
The bishops had also a palace which stood near the church, said to
have been "stronge of building & welle motid." It was quite a ruin in
1658, and is represented as being in 1694 "a weather-beaten castle, demo
lished with age and the ruins of time— a receptacle for bats and buzzards,
owls and jackdaws." A considerable portion of the gatehouse was standing
about 140 years ago, of which not the smallest vestige now remains.
The castle mound is a relic of still earlier times ; it is 100 feet in dia
meter and 20 feet in height, and is surrounded by a dry ditch. At a slight
distance are the remains of a rampart and a ditch, beyond which a third dry
ditch and rarapart formed an outer defence. The whole must have been a
formidable work.

PICKERING (minor)
LELAND in his Itinerary says : "This Castelle hath longgid to the Lancaster
y bloode ; but who made the Castelle, or who was the owner of it before
the Lancasters, I could not lerne there." Indeed there is no record of the place
until 32 Henry III. (1250), when William, Lord Dacre, was constituted keeper
of Pickering Castle. After this Henry gave it to his son, Edmund Crouchback,
from whom it carae to his son Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who was beheaded
after the defeat at Boroughbridge, at Pontefract, in 1322, when his estates were
forfeited by Edward II. , who made Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland,
governor of Pickering. The castle and manor have both been attached to
the Duchy of Lancaster ever since John of Gaunt obtained thera and the other
estates through his wife Blanche, the granddaughter of Henry, brother of the
beheaded earl, who obtained a reversal of the attainder. Henry of Boling
broke, when he landed at Ravenspur in 1399, came first to this castle, where
he was joined by his Northern allies, and to Pickering also was his victim,
Richard 1 1., taken before being made away with at Pontefract, as is recorded
in Hardyng's Chronicle (see Leeds, Yorks).
In the Parliamentary War, Cromwell's troops opened a battery against this
castle from the opposite side of the valley, and succeeded in driving a large
breach into the W\ wall. One may still see, on the crest of the opposite hill,
two or three grassy hillocks which mark the site of this battery. William III.

240

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

sold a long lease of Pickering to one Hart at a yearly rent of ;^io, after which it
passed into the possession of various persons.
The castle stands at the N. of the town, on the brow of the hill ; the walls of
it and the towers being continued round the hiU side ; in the words of Leland :
" In the first Court of it be 4 toures, of the which one is caUed Rosamonde's Toure.
In the ynner Court be also 4 toures, whereof the kepe is one. The Castelle
waulles and the toures be neatly welle. The loggins that be yn the ynner Court
that be of timber, be in ruine." The cross walls divide the area into three

PICKERING

courts, and where they meet is the keep, which is multangular, and stood on
a circular mound surrounded by a deep ditch. The Mill Tower, on the left of
the entrance, and the Devil's Tower, on the outer wall, close to the moat of
the keep, and the Rosamond Tower (so called because Fair Rosamond is said
to have been imprisoned there), in the outer court, three storeys high, are
tolerably perfect, and are of Edwardian architecture, but there are some
remains of earlier Norman work. There is a sallyport in the Devil's Tower
giving to the outer ditch. The chapel is poor. Lovely views are seen from
various parts of this castle over the well-wooded country around.

PONTEFRACT (diief)
WHERE the ruins of this fine castle stand on its commanding height,
was an earlier fortress from which its English lord was expelled by
the Conqueror, to make room for Ilbert de Lacy, to whom he granted 150
manors in Yorkshire. In most cases the Norman choice of sites followed the
Saxon lead, which in very many cases throughout the land had depended

YORKSHIRE 241
on the previous military experience of the Romans or of the Britons.
William ordered the erection of this castle, recognising the greal iinportance
of its position, which commanded the main road from Doncaster to York,
with the passage of the river Aire, and also the intersection of the road from
Chester and the Riching Street at Castleford, where was the Roman station
of Lagentium (Stukeley). De Lacy founded the castle about 1080, together
with the chapel of St. Clement inside it. He was succeeded by his son
Robert (who, or perhaps his brother, built Clitheroe, Lancaster), and with his
son Ilbert, on the death of Rufus, espoused the cause of Robert Courthouse
against Henry I., who in return dispossessed them of their lands, and granted
these first to William Traverse, and afterwards to Guy De la Val, a baron who
was there temp. Stephen. Then Ilbert de Lacy regained his property, and
Henry his brother succeeding, built the later Norman work of the castle.
In 1193 Albreda, his sister and heiress, brought it in marriage to Richard
Fitz Eustace, Count of Chester, and their son assumed his mother's name of
De Lacy. John de Lacy succeeding in 1213, married Margaret, daughter of
Hawise, Countess of Lincoln, and coheir of Ranulph, Earl of Chester and
Lincoln, at whose death these titles were transferred to John de Lacy, before
his death in 1240. The grandson of this man, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln,
was perhaps the best of his race ; he married the daughter of Longspec, and
in her right became Earl of Salisbury. Earl Henry lost his two sons early,
one of them being drowned at Denbigh Castle, and the other killed by falling
when he was attempting to run round the battlements of one of the towers
of Pomfret Castle. After the death of this poor boy, De Lacy, dying in 1310,
made King Edward I. heir to all his estates, and at his death the king
conferred them on his own brother Edmund " Crouchback," Earl of Lancaster.
Queen Margaret "of France," Edward's second wife, was staying at Pontefract
when, on a hunthig expedition to Brotherton, she was unexpectedly confined
of her eldest son Thomas, who was surnamed of that place. Then, after the
failure of the De Lacys, Pontefract became indeed " a bloody prison."
Earl Henry left a daughter Alice, who was married to the king's nephew
Thomas, the son of Edmund Crouchback : this was Thomas Plantagenet, the
great Earl of Lancaster, the bitter enemy of his weak cousin's favourites,
Gaveston and the two Despencers, and therefore the beloved of England,
and, like Simon de Montfort, worshipped as a saint when dead. He was
a mighty builder, and, as owner of Dunstanburgh, at that fortress erected
extensive additions, while at Kenilworth he made the Lancaster Buildings.
Here at Pontefract he built the Swillington Tower, and some of the best
portions of the structure. After the defeat at Boroughbridge he was taken to
Pontefract, where his cousin, the weak and vindictive Edward, awaited him,
and imprisoned him in the Swillington Tower; then, brought into his own
hall, he was tried and condemned by his enemies, and was beheaded on the
VOL. II. 2 H

242 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
hill above, which still bears the name of St. Thomas. The earldom and
property were suffered to pass to his brother Henry, whose son was created
in 1351 Duke of Lancaster. He died without male issue, and the castle
and honour of Pontefract went with his daughter Blanche in marriage to
John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward IIL, who in her right became Duke
of Lancaster. He lived partly here, and rebuilt and restored some portions
of the castle, which at his death (1399) passed to his son Henry of Bolingbroke,
Duke of Hereford, who at once deposed his cousin, Richard 1 1., and usurped
the crown. Then occurred at Pontefract the cruel murder of Richard — either,
as given by Shakespeare, at the hands of Sir Piers Exton, or more probably,
according to Archbishop Scrope, by the slow torture of starvation. Richard
had confiscated Bolingbroke's estates, and thus Henry took his revenge.
Since the accession of Henry IV. Pontefract has always vested in the
Crown. This king was a frequent visitor at Pontefract, and in 1405 came thither
to receive from his crafty supporter the Earl of Westmorland, Archbishop
Scrope, and Mowbray, the young Earl Marshal, victims of Nevill's treachery
at Shipton Moor. The warlike prelate, having acted as a prime mover in
placing the crown on Henry's head, took in 1405 a leading part in a Northern
revolt, set about ostensibly to lighten the burdens of the clergy and others,
and to free the country from unjust exactions. A Yorkshire force, 8000 strong,
led by Scrope and Mowbray, advanced from York against the royal troops
under the earl and Prince John, encamped on Shipton Moor, six miles N.W.
of York. Here Nevill, at a parley held between the two forces, pretending
sympathy with Scrope's manifesto, and extreme friendship, joined hands with
him over a friendly cup of wine in view of the rebel troops, who were thereby
persuaded that all was conceded, and at once disbanded in large numbers.
Then the earl's men took possession of the ground, made prisoners of the
archbishop and the Earl Marshal, and hurried them off under guard to
Pontefract to await the king's arrival. When Henry arrived, the archbishop,
who had been watching for him from the castle battlements, came down
to meet him, throwing himself at his feet ; but the king, refusing to hear
him, had him hustled away to Bishopthorpe, and following thither himself,
caused trial and condemnation to be carried out at once in the hall of that
palace. The Chief Justice, Gascoigne, refused to pronounce sentence of death
upon an Archbishop of York, but by Henry's order both Scrope and the
Earl Marshal were led away towards York and were beheaded in a field
near the city.
Here were tried the abettors of the Earl of Northumberland and Lord
Bardolph ; and Pontefract becarae the prison of the unfortunate King James I.
of Scotland, made prisoner, and so long held by Henry IV. ; and in the next
reign the accomplished Duke of Orleans, with other prisoners from Agincourt,

YORKSHIRE 243
was confined in it. Henry V. writes in 1419 : " Wherefore I woUe that the
Due of Orliance be kept stille within the Castil of Pomfret with owte goyng
to Robertis place or to any othre disport, for it is bettre he lak his disport then
we were disceyued " (Facsimile autographs, British Museum).
Many stirring events occurred here during the Wars of the Roses. At the
close of the year 1460 the Royalist leader, the Duke of Somerset, repaired to
Pontefract before the battle of Wakefield, with his Lancastrian contingent, and
after that bloody fight, the Earl of Salisbury, Richard Nevill, father to the King
maker, was carried wounded to the castle, with other Yorkist persons of
distinction, all of whom were, with short shrift, next morning beheaded.
Three raonths after this (Marcii 1461), the newly proclairaed king, Edward
IV., and the Earl of Warwick were at Pontefract with their forces two days prior
to the great battle of Towton ; but the story of Warwick killing his charger
under the castle walls, to animate his troops when on the march towards the
enemy, is not worthy of credit, although from the legend of the Red Horse in
Warwickshire (see Fidbroke) some foundation for it may have occurred during
a panic at Towton Field. Then Edward, returning to Pontefract, reverently
restored to the coffin of his father, Richard, buried there, the head which, since
his death at Wakefield, had surmounted one of the gates of York. Edward IV.
was here again in 1463, and again, in great state, in 1478, remaining a week.
Hither were sent by Richard IIL, in 1483, his unfortunate victims. Earl Rivers,
Sir Richard Gray, Sir Thomas Vaughan and Hawse, for execution without even
the formality of a trial, and they were beheaded at this bloodstained castle.
The leaders of the insurrection called "The Pilgrimage of Grace," which broke
out in defence of the old creed in 1536, came to Pontefract with their whole forces
and succeeded in obtaining temporary possession of the fortress from Lord
Darcy, and Lee, the Archbishop of York, who were secretly favourable to their
cause. Elizabeth, towards the end of her reign, repaired the castle and
restored the chapel ; and in 1603 James I. came thither, the castle and honour
being part of his queen's dower.
In the Civil War, Pontefract became a military post of great importance,
keenly contended for on both sides. It was the rallying-place for the cavaliers
of Yorkshire, and was garrisoned by a very strong force of gentry and
volunteers, under the command of Sir William Lowther. At Christmas, after
the victory at Marston Moor (July 1644), Fairfax came before the castle and
opened the siege ; his main attack was on the N.W. angle, where he threw
down one of the seven towers, called the Piper, which flanked the defences, and
which carried down with it a part of the wall. The breach was made good
with earth at once, and the enemy then ruined the S.E. angle, near the King's
Tower, an attack which the garrison met by countermining, no easy matter in
the solid rock. Great spirit was shown on both sides, especially in the heroic
sallies of the garrison, who were at length weakened by losses of men and by

244 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
dearth of stores. At this moment they were relieved by Sir M. Langdale and
2000 men from Oxford, at whose coming the enemy (March i, 1645) broke
up in haste, and raised the siege. Very shortly after, however, they again
beset the place, and after a second siege, which lasted three months, succeeded
in obtaining its surrender. In 1648 Pontefract was recovered for the king by
a ruse ; Colonel Morrice, a young officer who had faced both ways, introduced
some carts with provisions into the castle, accompanied by a few soldiers
disguised as peasants, who surprised the guard and captured the fortress. It
was an old trick, which succeeded at Scarborough Castle and on other occa
sions in ancient times, and irritated by it, the Parliamentary forces soon after
appeared again before the castle, whose garrison had by that time been greatly
reinforced. Cromwell himself, having viewed the works, wrote to the Council
of War in London stating that as "the place is very well known to be one
of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom, well watered, situated upon
a rock in every part of it, and therefore difficult to mine," he desired additional
troops and money, " 500 barrels of powder, and 6 good battering guns, with
300 shot for each." Too much honour cannot be accorded to the brave
garrison for the stand they made, for at that time the Parliament had triumphed
all along the line. The king had been killed, and only Scarborough Castle
held out ; but they proclaimed Charles 1 1., and made such vigorous sallies
on the enemy's works as to prolong the siege for six months, when their
lessened numbers, reduced from 500 to 100 men, obliged them to capitulate.
Six persons were excepted from mercy, including Morrice and another who
cut their way through and escaped for a time ; the other four were walled up
in an underground chamber, and so eluded capture till opportunity occurred
to get away. The Parliament immediately ordered the wreck of this blood
stained old fortress to be demolished, and the materials to be sold ; the only
marvel being that anything of it should have survived to our day.
The sumrait of the elevated rock, from which Pomfret Castle looked down
on the surrounding country, occupied an area of 7 acres, with a high wall,
having large, flanking, mural towers at intervals, and a deep ditch encom
passing the whole. Two huge round towers reraain, portions of the keep, the
lower part of them probably the work of the great Earl of Lancaster. The
entrance to the keep is by a long flight of stairs ; it contains in its chapel
some Norman work. Narrow staircases lead in it to a sallyport and to a
dungeon, and below are vast subterranean passages and chambers in the rock
of the time of Edward II. The walls are those built by Henry I., Duke of
Lancaster. In Drake's Journal of the two first sieges (published by the Surtees Society),
a drawing is reproduced giving a bird's-eye view of the fortress as it appeared
in 1648. By this the great keep, with its clustering round towers, is shown
on the W., with the square mural towers in succession on the outer curtain

YORKSHIRE

245

wall : first the Red, or Gascoyne's Tower ; the Piper Tower (wrongly called
the Pix), with a doorway, whicii lay next the keep, having been destroyed in
1645 ; then the Treasurer's Tower ; the Swillington, advanced from the wall ;
the Queen's Tower ; the King's Tower ; the Constable's Tower, with its chapel
of St. Clement attached on the W., of whicii the basement remains ; and the
great gatehouse into the inner ward occupying the whole summit — all, except
the keep, being perhaps Norman (Clark), as is the greater part of the masonry.
Only the keep and the ruin of the Piper Tower are now traceable, the rest, with
the hall, kitchens, and the lodgings, having been removed by the Parliament.

Swillingi-on. Tower
tpu.ee n's Toui.er

Entrcbtvcc
UfdJha//-.

Main-.- J
^tun-rci

'{tiSs Taujer

const'alle's Towir
e. Calehou-^e

J". C<site

PONTEFRACT

In front of the gatehouse stood the barbican, whose wall on the E. ended in
the E. or lower gatehouse ; and further S. was another enclosure of wall, com
mencing at the keep and continued on three sides of a square to the lower
gatehouse, with a lower barbican and gateway in its midst. On the W. below
the keep was the west gate, with a bridge and guardhouse in front.
The keep was formed upon the ancient mound, faced with masonry, and
supporting a regular shell keep 60 feet in diameter. From the irregularity of
the rock base this building was supported by the circular bastions mentioned
by Leland, only two of which now remain ; on the S.W. is the platform,
20 feet above the main ward, and at its S. angle rises the conical mound.
Among the ruins of early masonry is the end of an arched vault, which bears
the name of " King Richard's Prison," having near it the shaft of a garderobe.
Mr. Clark alleges the greater part of the remains to be early Norman work ;

246 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
while the enceinte wall, the buildings on the W. platform, the old postern,
the interior of the keep, and the deep magazine seem also to be Norman ; very
little being extant of Early English or Decorated.
The purpose to which this historical enclosure, so full of tragic memories,
has been apphed is the cultivation of liquorice.

RICHMOND (chief)
IT was probably during his raarches through Yorkshire when engaged in his
fiendish destruction of that North country, that William I. observed and
chose as a point to be fortified the rocky peninsula here, around which the
Swale — that " ryght noble ryuer " — bends its dark course. The lands below
this height were the home of his friend, or prisoner, the Saxon Earl Edwin,
who had his earthwork and timber fortress of Gilling there ; but a stronger
position was needed for the Norman tower to which was to be confided the
subjugation of this wild country, and the Breton count to whom the lands
were given was directed to build his castle on these well-protected heights.
This was Alan Fergeant, the second son of one of Duke William's followers,
Eudo, Duke of Brittany, on whom, possibly at his Christmas festivities at
York amid the ashes of that city (December 1069), the Conqueror conferred
199 manors, chiefly then "waste," and after Earl Edwin's defection and death
the bulk of the estates of that noble. The "Registrum honoris de Richmond"
tells how this Alan, who was a cousin of William, and is called Rufus, at once
drew a protecting line of wall round the site, and in 1071 began his castle of
the French name of Richmond ; he took also the title of Richmond for his
earldom. His brother Alan Niger succeeded him, and dying in 1093, was
followed by another brother, Stephen, whose son Alan, marrying the heiress
of Conan, Duke of Brittany, united in his son Conan this dukedom and the
earldom of Richmond. To him is ascribed the existing keep of the castle. He
seems to have been worked on by King Henry II. to resign the Breton Duchy,
and also to betroth his daughter Constance to Henry's son Geoffrey. This
is Shakespeare's Constance in King John, the mother of the murdered Prince
Arthur, Duke of Brittany, after whose death the earldoms of Richmond devolved
upon his half-sister Alice, the daughter of Constance by her third husband,
Guy de Tours. But the richness of Earl Edwin's patrimony caused it to be
coveted by English monarchs to such an extent that the succession to the
honour of Richmond was greatly disjointed over a long period. First, the
estates were arbitrarily seized and retained by Richard I., and John followed
his example, Richmond Castle being placed under Geoffrey de Nevill as
Constable. Alice, meanwhile, the sister of Prince Arthur, was titular Countess
of Richmond and Duchess of Brittany, of which latter possession her husband,

1 IS
S:

YORKSHIRE 247
Peter de Dreux, was deprived by Louis IX., on his becoming a vassal of
Henry IIL (1237), the unfortunate condition of an owner of rank and lands
in two opposed countries. His son, however, at last obtained restitution of
Brittany, and also in 1266 of the county, honour, and castle of Richmond.
Dying in 1286, he was followed by his son John, Earl of Richmond, whose
wife was Beatrix, the daughter of Henry III. ; he was accidentally killed at
Lyons in 1304, leaving two sons — Arthur, who becarae Duke of Brittany, and
John, who succeeded to Richmond, and who was made by his brother-in-law,
Edward I., Regent of Scotland (35 Edward I.), an honour continued by the
next king. This earl was taken prisoner at Bannockburn, and was deemed
of so much importance that the Queen of France and the Bishop of Glasgow
were exchanged for him; poor compensation perhaps "for an active and
warlike earl." He again fell into the hands of the Bruce at the disaster of
Byland Abbey, and paid ransom, but soon after retired to France, giving up
his earldom. On his death in 1330, John his nephew was admitted by
Edward III. to the honour and dignity, and at his death s.p. in 1341, his
honours were claimed by John de Montfort, son of Duke Arthur of Brittany,
but his claims were put aside by Edward IIL, who, anxious to retain this
great fief, conferred the earldom on his fourth son, an infant, afterwards
John of Gaunt, and confirmed his title to Richmond in his twenty-seventh
year, under the Great Seal. In the eighth year of Richard IL, this earldom
was conferred on Anne his cjueen. The Dukes of Brittany, however, long
after continued ineffectuatly to seek restitution of the lands and dignity ravished
from John de Montfort.
Henry IV. bestowed the county of Richmond, but not the title, upon his
then faithful friend Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland, for his lifetime ; and
he was followed in the possessioii by John, Duke of Bedford, and next by
Prince John of Hadham, half-brother to Henry VI. , whose title of Earl
of Richmond expressly gave him precedence of dukes. His wife, Margaret,
Countess of Richmond, was one of the most illustrious women in the world,
for learning, wisdom, and piety; she was the mother of Henry VII. by her
Tudor husband, and her son only resigned this title of hers for that of king
on the field of Bosworth.
The ground plan of the castle is triangular, with its apex pointing N., and
occupied by the keep, in front of which is a circular barbican, covering the
main entrance. The base is the curtain, 159 yards long, below which runs
the clift", 30 feet high, and then a long slope down to the river, while the W.
side, 130 yards in length, crowns a very steep depression to the town. The
E. side has in front of it the outer ward on a gentle slope towards the river.
A portion of the barbican wall remains, connected with what has probably
formed part of an outer gatehouse ; all its W. side has been built over.
The great Norman keep measures 52 feet by 45 feet, and is nearly 100 feet

248 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
high. Its walls at the base are 10 feet thick, the usual broad pilasters
forming the angles on each side, with two pilasters strengthening the wide
fronts, and one on each of the others ; each angle carries a turret at top,
which had two stages. The lower part of the keep building being of better
masonry than the upper part, would suggest an addition in the upper of the
three floors.
The basement is a chamber 32 feet by 21 feet, having lights or recesses,
and in Decorated tiraes the wooden floor above it was removed and a vaulted
roof substituted for this stage, with ribs supported by an octagonal pier of
stone, at the foot of which is the castle well. A Decorated spiral stair ascends
from this chamber to the first floor, the chief apartment, lighted by three
windows on the N. side. The only entrance was, as now, by a door on the
S. face, inside which a straight stair leads up in the wall to the floor above,
which is provided with three sleeping apartments in the thickness of the W.
and E. walks, that on the N. being quite solid. The upper floor has a stair to
the roof and battlements. The entrance to the basement was by an enormous
archway, that to the first floor by an outer stair. There were neither fireplaces
nor garderobes in the building.
Near the keep was the chapel founded in 1278 by Earl John, which, with
the various doraestic offices, kitchens, hall, &c., was built against the wall.
The most perfect of these is called Scotland's Hall, standing against the S.
wall, through which its ground floor has loopholes. Its upper floor measures
70 feet by 26 feet, and is lighted at its E. end by a Decorated window, and
at the W. by one of Early English construction, the side windows being
Norman. Next to this fine building is a rectangular tower occupying the S.E.
angle of the outer walls, having once an ancient postern in its basement.
Extending from the hall along the E. wall is the kitchen, which had
over it a large apartment, and next to that is the chapel. Outside the E.
wall and sloping down towards the river is the outer ward, now a garden ;
it is known by the name of "The Cockpit."
Although so near the great road to the Nortli through Doncaster, Ponte
fract, and Boroughbridge, there is no recorded siege of this fortress, nor any
account of warfare in or about it.

RIPLEY (mino^)
ON a slope of ground on the side of the Nidd stands this fine residence
of the Ingilby family, who have been here for more than five centuries.
Originally there was here a tower of the Ripleys, the heiress of which family,
marrying Sir Thomas Ingilby about the year 1378, brought him these lands,
and his descendants continued here till 1642. At the breaking out of

YORKSHIRE

249

the Civil War, a baronetage was conferred on Sir Williain Ingilby. By the
death of the fourth baronet. Sir John, in 1779, unmarried, the title became
extinct, but was revived by patent in 1781, in favour of his successor in
the property.
It appears from an inscription on the oaken wainscoting of an apart
ment in the tower, that the castle was built by Sir William Ingilby in 1555,
and in later years many additions have been made to the structure.
Nothing of his
toric interest is re
corded regarding the
place, but a note
worthy incident hap
pened here when
Cromwell, after the
victory of Marston
Moor, came through
Ripley, and desired
to be received for the
night in the castle.
Sir William Ingilby
being absent with
the king, his wife,
a daughter of Sir
James Bellingham, at
first refused to admit
him, saying she had
strength enough to
defend herself and
her house against all
rebels ; but at length,
being persuaded not to resist. Lady Ingilby received .the general in the great
hall, with a pair of pistols stuck in her apron-strings, and told him she
expected that both he and his men would behave properly. Then, to assure
herself, she kept watch over him, and " there, sitting or reclining, each on a
sofa in different parts of the room, these two extraordinary personages passed
the night, equally jealous of each other's intentions. At his departure in the
morning, this high-spirited dame caused it to be intimated to Cromwell that
she was glad he had behaved in so peaceable a manner, for had it been
otherwise, he would not have left that house alive " (Baine).
The lodge and the great tower are battlemented, and preserve their original
traces of strength and security.

VOL. II.

2 I

250 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

SANDAL (non-existent)
WAKEFIELD formed a part of the fee of the great family of De
Warenne, of which Coningsborough was the head. John, the eighth
and last Earl of Warenne, succeeded his grandfather in the barony in 1304,. his
father having been killed in a tournament in 1286. Edward I. honoured him
by giving him his granddaughter, Joan de Barr, in marriage ; but it was not a
happy union, and both parties would have had a divorce if they could, but
the Pope would not grant one. The earl separated from her, consorted with
a Norfolk lady of rank, Maud de Narford, formerly the wife of Thomas, Earl
of Lancaster, and if he could, would have made her his countess, and the two
sons he had by her owners at his death of Coningsborough, and all his other
property N. of Trent. It was as a residence for her that he built this castle
of Sandal about the year 1320 ; he, however, survived both her and her sons,
and when he died in 1347, his estates fell to the Crown. In the time of Edward
IIL, John Baliol resided at Sandal during the time that an army was being
raised to place him on the throne of Scotland. But the strongest interest
whicii attaches to this fortress centres in its connection with the war of York
and Lancaster. In 1446 Richard, Duke of York, father of Edward IV., entered
into possession of Sandal, deriving it from his uncle Edward, Earl of Rutland,
and he was slain there fourteen years after, at the battle of Wakefield.
After the battle of Northarapton, in which Warwick captured King Henry
and drove Queeii Margaret into Scotland, the Duke of York made formal claim
to the throne, and it was settled in Parliament that after Henry's death he
should succeed. But to this negation of her son's rights the queen was
naturally opposed, and gaining over the king and nobility of Scotland to her
cause, she collected, with their aid, a large army and invaded England ; her
forces were stated to be 22,000 strong, and were under the chief command of
the Dukes of Somerset and Exeter. The Duke of York, getting together what
troops he could, left London in December to meet the queen's army, though
his numbers did not amount to 5000 men. At Worksop his van came in collision
with Somerset's rear and suffered a slight check ; but York pushed on, and
on December 21 reached his castle of Sandal, where he intended to await
the arrival of his son Edward, Earl of March, with reinforcements, before
attacking the enemy. After a short armistice during Christmas, the Royalists,
breaking up from Pontefract, advanced to Wakefield, from whence Sandal
was about a mile distant, and coming near the castle, sought by taunts
and menaces to draw Richard of York out of his moated stronghold. Unfor
tunately for his cause — perhaps straitened for provisions after nine days —
he allowed himself to accept battle without waiting for the rest of his army,
and on December 30 drew his small force out of the castle to meet his

yorkshirt:

251

challengers. Sandal Castle stood on the summit of a conical mound, pro
bably of Saxon or Danish origin, and its chief gate opening to the S., ^'ork
was obliged, in order to meet the hostile army in the N., to wheel round the
base of his castle hill, a movement whicii gave Somerset time to make his
arrangements for entrapping the Yorkists, which was eifected by advancing
his two wings to a position on the right and lefl of the road by which York
would have to attack his main body. Thus it came about that as soon as
the head of the Yorkist column came to close ejuarters with the Royalist
centre, posted across the roadway, these wings were brought round and fell
upon the flanks and rear of Duke Richard's force, which had marched blindly
into the snare, and was at once overwhelmed ancl cut to pieces by overpowering
odds— some 2800 being said to have fallen. The duke himself was slain, with
many of his best officers, and the whole affair was over in half-an-hour. The
duke's body was beheaded, and the head set up over the Micklegate Bar
of York : "So Vork may overlook the town of York."
But Shakespeare's account is poetical, and there is no doubt that at that time
Queen Margaret was not in Yorkshire. Two months later, however, the
young Edward was proclaimed king, and his first act was to take down his
father's head, and give proper burial to the remains at Pontefract.
The ground slopes gently down from Sandal Castle to Wakefield Bridge,
where the murder of Richard's young son, the Earl of Rutland, by Lord
Clifford occurred, and where is still the beautiful chapel of Edward II.'s reign.
The spot on which tradition places the death of Richard of York is about a mile
from this bridge, near the Barnsley road, where in a marshy place stood till
lately two very aged willow trees ; here it is likely the fugitives were rallied
by the duke, but soon overpowered.
Meagre, indeed, are the vestiges of this castle, consisting of the rubble
hearting of some pieces of wall, from the outside of which the ashlar has been
torn, and many heaps of rubbish ; a circular moat, which has been wide and
deep, surrounds the castle still, 40 or 50 feet below its site.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, inhabited Sandal at times during his brother's
reign. The place was always the manor-house of the barony of Wakefield, and
the Saviles of Thornhill, who acted as hereditary stewards of these estates, some
times resided here. It was held for Charles I. by Colonel Bonivert, and after
a siege was surrendered to the Parliamentary forces in October 1645 ; the next
year it was slighted and dismantled by orders from the Council.

252 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

SCARBOROUGH (chief)
THERE could be no finer ideal situation for a fortress of a marUime power
than that held by the Castle of Scarborough, reared on the summit of Us
lofty headland or scar, 300 feet high, and peering thence over hundreds of
square leagues of ocean. The promontory forms a bay and harbour on Us S.
side, while on the N. it advances boldly into the North Sea, so that the precipi
tous cliff' is washed by the waves on all sides, except where its neck of rock
joins the land side, and here the cliff is scarped, and deep ditches cut off all
access to the castle.
The chief authorities for this part of Yorkshire are the chronicle of WiUiam
of Newburgh, an East Riding man, who wrote at the end of the twelfth century,
and the writings of the antiquary Thomas Hinderwell, published in 1798. From
these it appears that the noble castle of Scarborough was built (temp. Stephen)
about the year 11 36 by William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle and lord of
Holderness, who commanded one of the divisions of the English army at the
Battle of the Standard in 1138. This William was the grandson of Odo de
Campania, a follower of Duke William, whose daughter Adeliza he married,
receiving also frora the Conqueror the lands of Holderness by the Humber,
with other gifts. His son was Stephen, who married the granddaughter of
Malcolm, King of Scotland ; thus William le Gros was of royal blood on both
father and mothers side. He, says the Chronicler, "viewing well, ancl seeing
it to be a convenient plot to build a castle upon, helping nature forward with a
very costly worke, closed the whole plaine of the rocke with a wall, and built a
toure within the very streight of the passage." And from this fortress he ruled
over the country N. of Humber with king-like power, until Henry IL, bent on
putting a stop to the lawless excesses of the nobles, decreed the demolition of
a vast number of their castles, Scarborough among the rest. This mandate
being resisted by Le Gros, Henry came in person to see his orders carried out,
but being struck with the useful situation of the castle, he not only preserved
it, but built a new keep and greatly improved its strength and magnificence.
But he annexed it to the Crown, and Le Gros in dudgeon retired to Thornton
Abbey in Lincolnshire, and died there, 1179. Thenceforth the custodians of this
stronghold were appointed by the king, sometimes from among the highest of
the nobility. In 13x2, when Edward IL, desirous of reinstating his minion,
Piers Gaveston, who had been banished, recalled him to York, the confederated
barons, fearful of Gaveston's power, raised an army, headed by the Earl of
Lancaster, and advanced against the king and his favourite, who together fled
to Newcastle, and then taking ship at Tynemouth, sailed to Scarborough,
where Edward left Gaveston. Thither came the Earl of Pembroke with
a strong force to besiege the place. Gaveston repulsed several assaults

YORKSHIRK

253

with much bravery, but want of provisions compelled him to surrender himself
on ternis whicii were at once set aside ; he was taken as a prisoner tow.ards
Warwick, where the Earls of Warwick and Lancaster met him, and struck olf
his head at Blacklow Hill ; at which place a stone monument has been erected,
marking the spot where he sufl'ered (see Deddington, Oxon),
King Robert Bruce after Bannockburn, and later the Earl Dougl.is, wasted
the northern counties and burned Scarborough, but the castle seems to ha\'e

SCARBOROUGH

been too strong for them to master. It was placed in thorough repair by
Edward III. in 1343. The castle, town, and port were granted in 1473 to
the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard IIL, and Anne his wife, in
exchange for the manor of Bushey.
In 27 Henry VIII. (1536) the fanatics who led the insurrection known
as " The Pilgrimage of Grace " assaulted this castle, but it was bravely de
fended by Sir Ralph Eure, the governor, and the assailants were beaten off.
Again, at the time of Wyatt's rebellion against Queen Mary in 1553, Thomas,
second son of Lord Stafford, led a daring attack by stratagem on the castle.
Dressing up some thirty followers as countrymen, he strolled with them, on a

254 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
market-day, into the castle without exciting suspicion, and suddenly took
possession of the entrance and secured the sentries ; then admitting the rest
of his adherents, he held the castle for three whole days, when the Earl of
Westmorland, coming with a considerable force, recovered it without loss.
Stafford and four others of the leaders were sent to the Tower of London,
where the former was beheaded, and three of his associates were hanged
and quartered.
Nothing memorable occurred here afterwards until during the Civil War,
when the castle was besieged by a Parliamentary army under Sir John
Meldrum, who opened batteries against it in February 1644 ; besides these,
he brought guns into the adjacent Church of St. Marj', firing from the E.
window of that churcli ; but these guns were silenced by the fire from the
castle, that also brought down the chancel,, which indeed is still in ruins. Sir
J. Meldrum was wounded ancl died in June, and the siege was continued by
Sir Matthew Boynton. The clever defender of the fortress was Sir Hugh
Cholmley, who, being at first Parliamentary governor, had gone over to the
Royalist side. He was assisted by his heroic wife, who remained during the
whole siege ancl tended the sick. At last the garrison, reduced by sickness
and want of provisions, became disheartened, and Sir Hugh surrendered upon
very honourable terms in July 1645.
In 1648 Boynton, who had replaced Cholmley as governor, in his turn
declared for the king, but fearing a mutiny of his garrison, he surrendered to
Lord Fairfax, and was allowed to march out with all the honours of war in
December 1648.
In 1665 George Fox, the founder of the sect of Quakers, was imprisoned
here, in one of the rooms facing the sea, now in ruins, remaining there a
twelvemonth. W^e read that in 1745, when the country was in a state of panic
on account of the Pretender's invasion of England, the castle received repairs,
and next year barracks were built there, but, injured as the fabric was by the
siege in 1643, it fell into hopeless decay and ruin, whicii its exposed position has
served to increase.
In spite, however, of the wreckage caused by time and gunpowder, we
still see at Scarborough sufficient remains of the "great and goodly castle"
to afford an interesting example of what these ancient fortresses were.
Approaching from near the E. end of S. Mary's Church, we enter by the
barbican, repaired after the great siege, along the narrow causeway and
across the ditch, originally defended by a double drawbridge, whence the
approach entered the inner ward on the N. side of the keep. The
whole enclosure included nearly 20 acres, of which the greater portion is
in the outer court or castle green, where were the chapel and the principal
offices and barracks for the garrison. The keep or hold is that built by
Henry IL, but of it only the E. side remains perfect, and also part of the

YORKSHIRE

255

N. and S. faces ; the W. side was destroyed, probably after the siege. It
has been a grand tower, nearly 100 feet in height, of the same character
as that of Rochester, though smaller, having a vaulted crypt, and three
vaulted storeys of rooms, divided by a central wall. The walls are 12 feet
through, built of excellent rubble with ashlar facing, and with round-headed

I

ag Staff

SCARBOROUGH

Norman windows. The curtain wall, which was strongly embattled, and
provided with a defencible ancl machicolated gatehouse and many flanking
towers, was carried across the isthmus between the precipices of clift on
either side. The remains of a deep well were discovered within the inner
court in 1783, this portion being divided oft' with the keep by its own moat
and wall ; in it were the habitable buildings of the castle, and the towers
mentioned by Leland, containing the queen's lodging.

256 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
SHEFFIELD (non-existent)
EXCEPT the words "Site of Sheffield Castle" upon the Ordnance maps,
there is nothing to show of the existence of this once splendid and important
fortress, the home of the great Earls of Shrewsbury, and interesting in history
as the scene of the captivity of the hapless Queen of Scots for nearly twelve
years. Some vaulted cellars may stUl exist below the factories and streets
that now cover its site, but not a vestige remains aboveground, though the
name of Castle Hill preserves its memory.
The castle stood on gently rising ground at the confluence of the rivers
Sheaf and Dun, and covered more than four acres. It was one of the strongest
places in the north : the broad river Dun on the N. side, and on the E.
the Sheaf or Sheath, from which the town is named, flowing beneath the
walls, formed its defence, whilst on the S. and W. a wide ditch had been
cut connecting the two streams, and thus encircling the walls with water.
The entrance was on the S., or the castle-folds side, by a drawbridge across
the moat under a gatehouse admitting to the outer bailey, around which
were the stables and dwellings. Over the rivers lay the castle orchard, and
beyond, the great park, eight miles in circuit, stocked with deer, and full
of the finest timber in the country, some trees, says Harrison, being from
12 to 15 feet in girth. A great avenue of walnut trees led from the park
gates towards the lodge or manor-house near the centre of the park, built
by the fourth earl in the beginning of the fifteenth century.
This strong castle, remote on the moors, and its manor-house, which
has disappeared almost as totally as the fortress, were chosen by Elizabeth
as a safe prison for her cousin and victim.
The family of De Lovetot held all the lands here temp. Stephen, and
in the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, Maude de Lovetot, lady of Hallamshire,
married Gerard de Furnival, of a Norman family, and brought him the lordship.
In 50 Henry IIL, Thomas de Furnival had a licence to crenellate a stone castle
on his manor of Shefeld, Ebor. (Patent Rolls), perhaps on the site of a former
one ; and he dying soon after its erection, was succeeded by his son. Other
families are mentioned by Hunter ("History of Hallamshire") as possessing
the castle, which, however, was acquired early in the fifteenth century by
John Talbot, ist Earl of Shrewsbury, on his marriage with Maud, daughter and
heiress of Thomas Nevile, Lord Furnival. He was the celebrated commander
of the English in France, when they were making the last struggle to retain
their possessions in that country — " the great Alcides of the field." He
was, however, routed by Joan of Arc in 1429, and was at last slain by a
cannon-ball when eighty years old, at the battle of Chatillon on the Dordon,
near Bordeaux, in 1453, where the English made their final stand. His

YORKSHIRE 257
sword, manufactured at his forges at Sheffield, was found in the river
long after, with the inscription : —

"Sum Talboti iM.nii.c.xi,.iii.
Pro vincere inimico meo."

— Hunter,

His many titles are thus summed up by Shakespeare (Henry VI,, Part I.
Act iv. Sc. 7). " Valiant Lord Talbot, Ead of Shrewsbury,
Created for his rare success in arms.
Great Earl of Washford, Waterford, and Valence,
Lord Talbot of Goodrig and Urchinfield,
Lord Strange of Blackfielde, Lord Verdun of Alton,
Lord Cromwell of 'Wingfield, Lord Furnival of Sheffield ;
The thrice victorious Lord of Falconbridge,
Knight of the noble order of St. George,
¦Worthy St. Michael, and the Golden Fleece ;
Great Marshall to Henry the Sixth,
Of all his wars within the realm of France."
There is no mention of this castle during the Wars of the Roses, but
John, the second earl, together with his brother Sir Christopher Talbot, was
killed at the battle of Northampton in 1460, on the side of Lancaster ; this
second earl was Lord Treasurer of England. Francis, the fifth earl, was born
here in 1500, and seven Earls of Shrewsbury resided in the castle of Sheffield.
George, the sixth earl, married in February 1567 Lady Cavendish, known as
" Bess of Hardwick," being her fourth husband, and within a year was chosen
by Elizabeth to be the custodian of the captive Queen of Scotland ; she said
" she dyd so trust him as she dyd few." Mary had been removed from Bolton
castle (q,v) and the care of Lord Scrope in January 1569, on account of the
plot for her proposed marriage to the Duke of Norfolk, whose sister was Lady
Scrope, and on Shrewsbury and his grim wife accepting the charge (which they
were possibly obliged to do), the queen was taken to Tutbury Castle (q,v) in
Staftordshire, a place which Shrewsbury held of the Crown. There she
remained, on and off, till December 1570, when the castle of Sheffield, being
the earl's own home, was adopted as her prison, and in it twelve of her
nineteen years (nearly) of captivity were passed in severe durance. Shrewsbury
wrote to Elizabeth : " I have hur sure inoughe, and shall keep hur for the
comyng at your Majesty's commandment, either quyke or ded, ... so if any
forsabuU attempts be gyven for hur, the gretest perell is sure to be hurs." The
standing orders being that in case of any rising or attempt to release her, Mary
should be at once killed, the strictest rules were enforced in regard to the
thirty-nine persons composing her suite. Shrewsbury writes to Burleigh in
VOL. II. 2 K

258 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
1571 that he does not allow the queen "libertie out of the gates, her principall
drift," but that he lets her " walk upon the leads in open ayre, and in my large
dining chamber and also in this courtyard, so as both myself or my wife be
alwaies in her company, for avoiding all others talk either to herself or any
of hers." It came out, however, that at Easter 1571 Sir Henry Percy nearly
succeeded in a scheme to release her, only failing through an unexpected
change of the queen's apartments. The Duke of Norfolk was now imprisoned
again, after he had managed to keep up a frequent correspondence with Mary ;
early in the next year, 1572, Shrewsbury had to preside at his trial, and pro
nounced sentence of death upon him, Norfolk being beheaded on June 2nd.
During the earl's absence at this time. Sir Ralph Sadler was sent to watch in
his place at Sheffield, and during the whole of the queen's captivity Elizabeth
constantly kept spies about her, who sent word immediately to London of
everything that passed. Five uneventful years were passed at Sheffield after
Norfolk's death, during which Mary's sole occupation was her needlework.
How she must have groaned for liberty over that "nyddyll." Between 1570
and 1584, when on September 3rd she finally left Sheffield Castle, Mary was
on three occasions taken for a short' visit to Buxton for her health's sake, and
twice to Chatsworth ; for imprisonment, and the damp, cold air of her jail, had
seriously affected her ; in 1581 she is described as weak and bed-ridden, with
her hair turned grey, and weak in body, though only thirty-eight years old.
Mary Stuart having been defeated at Langside on May 13th, took refuge in
Cumberland on May i6tli, and wrote to her cousin craving her promised good
services and shelter ; but Elizabeth, congratulating her upon her escape from
Loch Leven, proceeded to close the gates of Carlisle upon her at once, and
then fearing the proximity of Scotland, caged her far inland at Bolton Castle.
From the date of the queen's landing at Workington on May 13, 1568, to her
execution on February 8, 1587, is a period of eighteen years eight months
and twenty-two days, and the proportions of her time spent in the various jails
she occupied are given by Hunter as follows : —
I part in Cumberland.
2 parts in Coventry, Worksop, and on journeys.
3 parts at Chartley.

4

Bolton.

4

Wingfield.

4

Buxton.

7

Chatsworth.
12
Tutbury.
63
Sheffield.
During the next fifty years little or nothing is recorded of Sheffield Castle ¦;
the later lords seem to have preferred the better, purer air at the manor-house.
YORKSHIRE 259
and so the old castle was deserted by the family, ancl fell into disrepair. In
the Civil War, however, it was made strong enough to hold a garrison for the
king. The Earl of Newcastle marched thither, and taking possessioii in Charles'
name, placed there as governor Sir William Savile, who appointed Major
Beaumont his lieutenant-governor. On August 4, 1644, Major-General Crawford
was sent with a force to summon the castle, "having three of their biggest
peices of ordnance " to take it with, if necessary. Within was " a troop of
horse and 200 foot ; it was strongly fortified with a broad and deep trench of
18 foot deep, and water in it ; a strong breastwork pallizadoed, a wall round
of 2 yards thick, 8 peices of ordnance, and 2 morter-peices." Fire was opened
on the castle, but with the small guns of the Parliamentarians little execution
was done, so word was sent to Lord Fairfax for " the Queen's pocket-pistoll
and a whole culverin," which being obtained and brought to bear on the walls,
speedily shot down a portion of the outer wall into the ditch, doing also very
great execution on one side of the castle buildings. Arrangements were at
once made for storming, but, on a summons being again sent in, the garrison
surrendered. The victors found 400 stand of arms, 12 barrels of powder,
and ;^400 worth of provisions. An order was then sent from London that
the castle should be made untenable, but this was followed by one directing
that it should be slighted and demolished, which was carried out in
1648, when the walls and most of the buildings were pulled down, and
the lead and materials sold. A part, however, of the fabric survived these
operations, but this, for want of repair, also went to ruin, whilst the growth
of the busy town gradually encroached on the Castle Hill, until all vestiges of
the castle disappeared, so that now a few vaults or undercrofts are all that is
left of it.
From the Talbots the Hallamshire lands passed by the raarriage of the
seventh earl's daughter to the faraily of Howard, and by the middle of the
seventeenth century the property had been restored to the Dukes of Norfolk,
in whose possession the lands remain.

S H E R I F F-H U T T O N (chief)
THIS fine and interesting ruin stands on a hill, in the raiddle of the village
of the same name, about ten miles from York, S.W. of Malton. The
castle was built terap. Stephen, by Bertrara de Bulmer, the Sheriff of Yorkshire
(whence the name is in part derived), and, together with the manor, belonged to
the demesnes of the bishopric of Durham. During the Civil War that ensued
between Stephen and the Empress Maud the castle was seized for the former
by Alan, Earl of Brittany, but being recaptured, was delivered to the Earl of
Chester. Afterwards it was purchased by Bertrara, a descendant of the founder,

26o CASTLES OF ENGLAND
who gave it in marriage with his only daughter Emma to Geoffry de Nevill,
whose descendant, Ralph de Nevill, ist Earl of Westmorland, repaired and
greatly enlarged the structure, and at his death left it to his grandson, Ralph.
This first earl deserted Richard II. when the star of Bolingbroke rose, and was
one of the first to attach himself to this claimant of the throne on his landing
at Ravenspur. It is he who in Shakespeare's play is called by King Henry
" my cousin Westmoreland," his second wife Joan being a daughter of John
of Gaunt. The next earl bequeathed this and other lands to his son Richard
Nevill, who was created Earl of Salisbury, and during the Wars of York and
Lancaster, being taken prisoner at the battle of Wakefield, was beheaded at
Pontefract, and his immense estates, attainted by the Parliament at Coventry
(1460), were seized by the Crown. Of course, in the see-saw of events during
these wars, his son Richard, the great Earl of Warwick, shortly after regained
the property, including Sheriff-Hutton, but at the King-maker's death on Barnet
Field, King Edward IV. laid hold of the lands and castles, and bestowed them
on his own brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. When Richard of Gloucester
became king he imprisoned at Sheriff-Hutton Sir Anthony Woodville, Lord
Rivers, and the Princess Elizabeth, his niece, and future Queen of England ; he
also incarcerated here his young nephew Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of the
unfortunate Duke of Clarence, who continued a prisoner until the death of
Richard at Bosworth. But the change of dynasty brought small alleviation
of his fate to the poor lad, who, having been a captive from his earliest youth,
continued so to his death, and thus grew up ignorant of the ordinary affairs
of life and in an almost imbecile condition of mind. After the coronation of
Henry VIL, Sir Richard Willoughby was despatched to Sheriff-Hutton to fetch
the Earl of Warwick to London, where he was closely confined in the Tower
for another fourteen years, until the conspiracy of Perkin Warbeck furnished
the unscrupulous king with a pretext for attainting his wretched victim, who
was beheaded on Tower Hill in 1499.
It was from the gateway of this castle that in i486 Elizabeth, the White
Rose of York, set out for London, to be married to Henry VII. — a destiny
little to be envied.
There is a licence to crenellate at " Shirefhoton," obtained 5 Richard II. by
Sir John Nevill of Raby, whose buildings, together with those of his successor,
above mentioned, constitute the principal remains now existing. It is a
venerable and striking ruin, with its stately towers and connecting walls ; the
S.W. tower being 100 feet high, rising from a vaulted basement or dungeon
40 feet long by 20 wide. There are in it two spacious rooms, the uppermost
nearly entire, in which, at the end of the last century, might still be seen the
remains of a painting on the wall (Hinderwell). The castle stood on a high
mound and had a square trace, with a large square tower at each of the
four angles. The arched gateway of the chief entrance remains on the E. side.

YORKSHIRE 261
showing still four shields carved on it, and there are remains of outworks on the
W., and some vestiges of the outer wall. The castle is moated in fr(jnt, but
only partly so on the N., while there is a double moat on the S. 200 yards
in length and full of water ; these meet on the W. with the moat coming from
the N. side.
This castle and manor were retained by the Crown until granted to Charles I.
when Prince of Wales, but it was in so ruinous a condition that it was deemed
best to employ workmen to destroy it still further. Then Charles I. bestowed
the castle ancl honour on Sir Thoraas Ingram and his heirs, whence the ruins
came into the possession of Mr. Meynell Ingram of Temple Newsam, whose
widow now owns them.
The great park was sold in the reign of Charles II. to Edward Thompson,
whose descendant possesses the lands still.

SIGSTON (non-existent)
ON the W. side of Cleveland, three miles from Northallerton, was a castle
of early foundation, called Siggeston and Beresend, variously. It was
allied to another neighbouring castle of West Harlsey (^.w.) by marriage between
the families owning these fortified houses.
No vestige of masonry remains above-ground, but the earthworks ancl
foundations are well defined, and a considerable area was enclosed by a wide
moat, stUl to be seen.
Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham (1158-1195) granted to his seneschal Philip
Colville certain townships, including Siggeston, and the estate of Winton, on
which the castle stood. Colville's daughter Joan brought part of these estates
in marriage to John Fitz Michael de Ryhill, between 1260 and 1270, and in
1313 their descendant John Fitz Michael de Siggiston held the lands. In
1323 John de Wauxand and Joan his wife granted to Sir John de Siggeston,
knight, certain lands in Winton ; he perhaps having married their daughter.
And this is the probable date of the building of this castle, as about that
time "John de Siggeston, miles, habuit castellum de Berford in Siggiston"
(Dodsworth, xci. 177), and in 1336 licence was granted at Knaresborough to
the same knight to crenellate his manor-house of Beresende His daughter
Joan married Thomas Ploys, and their granddaughter, an heiress, carried the
property to Sywardby, from whom it came to the Pygots (middle of fifteenth
century). _Tlioraas Pygot left three daughters, coheiresses, between whom a
division of the property was made, but eventually the estate of Winton,
and this castle, came to Elizabeth, daughter of one of these heiresses, whose
daughter brought it to the Batons. From them it passed to the Frewens, in
which family it continues.

262 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
The castle perhaps ceased to be lived in after the partition of the property
between the Pygot heiresses, and would in that case fall into decay, as did their
Chantry Chapel at Sigston Church, where are some memorials of the families.
The last mention of " Bereshend Castle" occurs in 1555.

SKELTON, NEAR Saltburn-by-the-Sea (non-existent)
AT Domesday most of the lands here belonged to Robert, Earl of
^^ Mortain, whose son Williara, rebelling against Henry I., lost them
(see Trematon and others, in Cornwall), the king bestowing them on Robert
de Brus, whose origin is still in doubt, but it is certain that he founded
Guisborough Priory in 11 20, near this place. From the Bruces, Skelton
descended with Agnes, daughter of Peter de Brus (55 Henry IIL), to her
husband Walter de Fauconberg, and their family flourished here through
many generations, till early in the reign of Henry VL, when Joan, daughter of
Sir Thomas Fauconberg, brought the place in marriage to Sir William Nevill
knight, who was created Earl of Kent by Edward IV. He left three daughters,
coheiresses, of whom Alice, the youngest, married Lord Conyers, and had the
manor and castle of Skelton, which remained with their descendants till the
4th year of Queen Mary, when, at the death of Lord Conyers, his property was
divided between his daughters. One of these portions was bought by one
Robert Trotter, whose descendants succeeded in acquiring all the Conyers'
lands here, and in keeping them till 1727, when they were sold to Mr. Joseph
Hall, whose representatives still possess the property — the present owner being
Mr. John T. Wharton.
Mr. Atkinson (" History of Cleveland," 1874) quotes from an old Cottonian
M.S. an early notice of this castle : " On the righte Hande an antyent castle
all rente and torne, and yt seemed rather by the wit and wyolence of men,
than by the envye of Tyme, shewed itself on the syde of a broken banke."
Of what it was like we have no account, but it is said to have been "a
beautiful specimen of antiquity," and Graves says that late in John's reign
Peter de Brus " delighted soe much in the beauty of the chapelle, that he
gave certain landes unto Henry Percye, upon condition that every Christmasse
daye he should come to that castell, and leade his wife by the arme from her
chamber to the chapell." The destruction of the old castle was effected in
1788 by the grandson of John Hall, who assumed the name of Wharton, and
"pulled down every remnant of Norman antiquity, including a magnificent
tower" (Ord). The present house was erected in 1794.

w o ^;o H0.

YORKSHIRE 263

S K I P S E A (non-existent)
ABOUT six miles N. of Hornsea, within Bridlington Bay, is this site of an
ancient fortress, said to have belonged to Drugo or Drogo de Beur^re,
the first Norman lord of Holderness, of which no remains exist. It is, however,
supposed to have been placed on the immense circular mound whicii stands in
the low marsh on the W. of the village of Skipsea, ancl has the usual name of
Castle Hill. It is the largest hill-fort in this part of England, being 50 feet
high, and 30 yards in diameter at the summit ; its circumference at the base is
300 yards, and at the foot is a ditch. The marsh is so low as to be flooded
occasionally, and accordingly we find a raised causeway connecting it with its
outwork, which is an enormous rampart of crescent shape called the Welts,
half a mile long, and with an elevation above the marsh of 20 and 25 feet,
protected in front by a ditch. Between this and the great tumulus are remains
of an inner or second rampart. The whole is probably an ancient British
fortification or camp of refuge, which the Normans fortified. There are
fragments on the S. side of the mound of a strong concrete wall of defence.
No history otherwise is attached to the place ; but on the W. of the mound
are four prints of feet on the turf, which are carefully scoured or cleaned
yearly at Martinmas, being by tradition the marks made three centuries ago by
two heroes who fought together for the possession of a lady, like farmyard
cocks, and killed each other.
Leland writes that the Earl of Albemarle and Holderness, Lord of Skipton
in Craven, had " a castle and great manor place at Skipsey in Holderness, not
far from the shore." SKIPTON (chief)
THE whole of Craven was shared between the two great families of Percy
and Clifford, and the head of the latter lordship was Skipton. It formed
part of the extensive patrimony of Earl Edwin, at whose death and forfeiture
the Conqueror gave these lands to one of his followers, Robert de Romille,
who is said to have built a castle at Skipton towards the end of William's reign.
His daughter, Cecilia, brought Skipton and the barony to her husband, Williara
de Meschines, lord of Coupland, and by her granddaughter's marriage (second)
with William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle, the lands and honour went for several
generations to this family of De Fortibus, till an heiress, Aveline, by marriage
with Edmund Plantagenet, called Crouchback, in 1269, carried them to
the Crown.
Among other profuse gifts to his unworthy favourite, Edward II. bestowed
Skipton on Piers Gaveston, and after his sudden end, the king gave the raanor

264

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

and castle, in 1310, to Robert de Clifford, in whose race and their descendants
Skipton has continued ever since, save in one case of attainder.
The Cliffords, who originated at Clifford Castle, Herefordshire (temp.
Henry IL), were a fighting family, and, having done good service for Henry IIL
and his son, received both endowments and, honours. The Robert who obtained
Skipton was summoned to Parliament as Baron Clifford in 1299. He was slain
at Bannockburn, 25th June 1314. His eldest son, Roger, rebelling in the unquiet
reign of Edward 1 1., and being taken at Boroughbridge, was attainted, and his
lands were given to the Le Scropes, but soon after were restored to his brother,
whose son, fourth lord of Skipton, fought at Cregy (1340). John, the seventh
lord, was killed in
France, his wife being
the daughter of Harry
Hotspur. The eighth
lord was a Lancastrian,
and was slain at the
first battle of St. Albans,
and then came his son
John, the "butcher"
lord of Clifford and
Westmorland, who at
Wakefield stabbed the
young Earl of Rutland,
falling himself next day
at Ferrybridge (1461).
Thenextwasthe "Shep
herd Lord," Henry,
who, for fear of the
reigning Yorks, was hidden for twenty-four years among the fells of Cum
berland and moors of Yorkshire, living the life of a shepherd, and residing
chiefly in Barden. When Bosworth Field had given him safety, he came back
to his own, but from habit he preferred Barden Tower and retirement to a life
at Skipton, and therefore resided there chiefly. He led the men of Craven at
Flodden in 1513 (when he was sixty years of age), and held a command in
the centre of the first line or van. His son, the eleventh lord, was a favourite
of Henry VIIL, and was made by him Earl of Cumberland and K.G., honours
which he repaid by holding out at Skipton for the Crown when besieged in
Aske's rebellion of 1536, called the Pilgrimage of Grace. His wife, the daughter
of the fifth Earl of Northumberland, added to Skipton the Percy lands of
Craven. This earl built the great gallery at the castle, in honour of his son's
bricie, the Duke of Suffolk's daughter, and niece to the king.
The thirteenth lord left a daughter, Anne Clifford, married first to the Earl

GATEHOUSE

"^

">^

.^

^

YORKSHIRE 265
of Dorset, and secondly to the Earl of Pembroke. She repaired the then
dilapidated castle in 1657, placing over the gate the still existing inscription
regarding this her work, which is also seen in other castles of hers (see
Cumberland, &c.).
Skipton Castle had been besieged frora the end of 1642 until Deceraber
1645 by the Parliament, being held for the king by Sir John Mallory, who
had at last to surrender it ; it was then the property of Henry, 5th Earl of
Cumberland, in whom that title was extinguished. Skipton, at the death
of the Countess Anne in 1675, went by will to her grandson John Tufton,
fourth Earl of Thanet, her daughter, Margaret Sackville, having married the
third earl, and with their descendant and representative. Sir Henry Jaques
Tufton, the property continued till lately.
Skipton Castle stands on high ground at the end of the town, having on
its N. front a ravine which it overhangs. If Robert de Romille ever built a
keep here, there is no part of it remaining, and the only Norman work is
perhaps the western door of the inner ward. Robert de Clifford, the grantee,
must have built the chief part of the castle on the W., the curtain walls, 9 feet
thick, and the seven round towers at the angles of the square enceinte and
between them. All this, we are told, had been in a ruinous state from the
time of the Albemarles. The range of buildings on the E. having a length
of 60 yards, and terminated by an octagon tower, was the work of the first
Earl of Cumberland for the reception of his daughter-in-law in 1535, and
this part not being destroyed after the Civil War, was the residence of
Countess Anne, the great restorer of castles.
The great gatehouse, with its twin round turrets, and the open-work motto
of the Cliffords, DES OR mais, carved in the parapet, is very fine. Below is
a dungeon, and perhaps some of the foundations of the earlier work.

SLINGSBY (minor)
ABOUT nine miles from Malton, was anciently a stronghold of the
Mowbrays, given, as to the manor, among other rich possessions, to
Roger de Mowbray by the Conqueror. Camden affirms that the faraily had
a castle here for many generations, " the ruins of which are stUl visible." It
came from the Mowbrays to the family of Wyvell, possibly on the confiscation
of the Mowbray estates by Edward II. after the battle of Boroughbridge in
1322. Leland wrote : " Wyvel of the Northe, that was the ancientest of that
name, had his principal house at Slingesby yn Yorkshire. And this Wyvelle
was a man of fair landes. The House of Slyngesby and the landes of this
Wyvelle be devolvid to the Lord Hastinges by heires general."
In 1338 Ralph de Hastings received a licence to crenellate his house at
VOL. II. 2 L

266

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

Slingsby and to impark his woods, and this was probably the origin of the
old castle, which has now quite passed away, since in the first year of James I.
Sir C. Cavendish began to build a mansion on the foundations and vaults of
the old structure, which he must have pulled down completely.
This Jacobean house was never completed. The plan is a rectangle, measur-

SLINGSBY

ing about 40 yards by 30, with a turret at each angle, and the design and
the masonry are excellent, the particular features being the large square
Tudor windows, now draped in ivy. Slingsby is the property of the Earl, of
Carlisle.

S N A P E (minor)
THIS castle, lying one mile from Well, though not mentioned in Domesday,
is among the earliest subsequent grants to Richard, lord of Middleham.
The word is the same as Knepp or Knapp in Sussex, from Cnoep, the brow
of a hiU.
The castle is supposed to have been built by the Nevills before they took
the name of Latimer, or, may be, the work of John, first Lord Latimer.
Leland describes it as "a goodly castel, in a valley longing to the Lord Latimer,

YORKSHIRE 267
and two or three parkes welle wodid about it. It is his chiefe howse, and standith
about 2 miles from Great Tanfield." Here lived Katherine Parr, afterwards
Queen of England, being then the wife of Lord Latimer.
The Nevills gave way to the Cecils about 1587, and they at once converted
a mediaeval castle into an abode better suited to the tastes of the age, trans
forming Snape into a coramodious and well-lighted house with a courtyard.
The whole is enclosed in a rectangular form, and is partly Perpendicular ancl
partly Elizabethan, the old foundations having been generally preserved. The
interior likewise is changed, but the chapel was not altered ; ancl here in the
S.E. corner is an entire survival of the old castle, the walls of whicii are
massive and have the old windows.
The Exeter faniily inherited this beautiful place until the death of Charles
Cecil in 1725, after which tirae it was wholly neglected and greatly fell to ruin,
ranch of it having been roofless since about 1745. At the beginning of the
nineteenth century the then Marquess of Exeter sold the castle and the
estate ; then the deer were killed oft" and the park was cultivated. The S.
side of the court has, however, been kept in repair, ancl affords a farm-house
to the tenant.
A good drawing of Snape is given by Whitaker, but the fine tower on the
N. side is now draped in ivy. It is handed down that the great oaken tables
in the hall had, by way of trenchers, holes scooped out to receive the food,
while a knife and fork were chained on each side of the hollows. Snape is
now the property of Sir Frederick A. Milbank, Bart.

SPOFFORTH (minor)
THREE mUes from Wetherby, was a seat of the Percy family before
they obtained Alnwick, these lands having formed part of the territory
conceded to WUUam de Percy. But it was not until 1309 (2 Edward II.)
that Henry de Percy received a licence to fortify his house here. In 1407
Henry, the first Earl of Northumberland, was slain at Bramham Moor, within
a few railes of his home, in his revolt against Henry IV. Next, when, at
the fatal battle of Towton, in 1462, another Earl of Northumberland and
his brother. Sir Richard Percy, were killed, these estates were laid waste,
and the buildings injured by the Yorkists under Warwick. They lay in
ruins for a long time, until the middle of the sixteenth century, when
we find Henry, Lord Percy, obtaining a licence to fortify both Spofforth
and Leconfield Castles. Finally, Spofforth was dismantled after the Parlia
mentary War.
The shape of the building, which was never probably a very strong place,
was a parallelogram, with a square tower at the N., and an octagonal tower

268 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
on the N.W., with a circular stair. The former contains a dungeon-like
room lighted by loops. The N. front is about 70 feet long, and contains
two storeys.
The great hall has been a magnificent roora, 75 feet long and 35 broad,
built in the fourteenth century, but after destruction it was rebuilt in
the fifteenth. The apartment below is of late Norman style, and attached
to it are the kitchen, with a vaulted room, and the withdrawing-room, or
solar, — all Edwardian.
The place is the property of Lord Leconfield, inherited, like Wressel, from
the Seymours in 1750, with the rest of the Percy property in Yorkshire.
This castle never possessed a moat or other outer defences, but its situation
was strong, on an elevation over a brook, and the walls were thick, and
loopholed below ; therefore it seems to have been erected in troubled times,
but when more comfort and better accommodation were designed for the
inmates. TANFIELD (minor)
THE church and castle of this name stand on the N. bank of the river
Ure, a few miles N.W. of Ripon, in the beautiful scenery of this rapid
stream. Robert Marmion was here early in the thirteenth century, and in 1215
his grandson, John Marmion, who died in 1323, had a licence to castellate
and embattle his house in Tanfield Wood, called the Hermitage. His
son was John, married to Maud, daughter of Lord Furnival, who perhaps
rebuilt the church where sleep so many generations of Marmions in their
sculptured tombs. The Marmions were a devout family, and Maud founded
here a chantry also. The architecture of both church and castle is Perpen
dicular of Edward IIL, and the windows of the steeple and of the castle
gatehouse are identical.
The son of these good people, Robert, the last Marmion, died s,p,, and
Tanfield went to their daughter Avice, who married Sir John Grey of
Rotherfield (died 1359), the children of the marriage taking the mother's
name. These Grey-Marmions ended, in the second generation, in a daughter,
Elizabeth, who brought the property to her husband. Sir Henry Fitzhugh
(died 1424), and the Fitzhughs lasted here till 1513, when, in default of male
heirs, Tanfield came to the Parrs by the marriage of Sir William Parr with
Elizabeth, sister of the last Fitzhugh, their son. Sir Thomas, being the father
of William Parr, Marquess of Northampton, who was attainted, and of Queeii
Katherine Parr.
After the attainder of the Marquess, Tanfield fell to the Crown, and was
granted to the great Lord Burleigh, frora whose family it seems to have

YORKSHIRE 269
come to Lord Bruce (temp. James 1.), ancestor of the Earls of Aylesbury,
with wheini it remains.
Leland wrote : "The castelle of Tanfield, or rather, as it is now, a meane
manor place, stondeth hard on a ripe of We [Ure], wher I saw no notable
building, but a faire toured gatehouse, and a hall of squarid stone." This
was in the time of the Parrs, who li\'ed elsewhere.
It was a place of no great extent, and its outline can barely be traced, little
of the building remaining now except the gatehouse, which is entire, ancl is
Perpendicular with an oriel window, and shrouded in ivy. Grose informs
us that : "Tradition says, when Tanfield Castle was destroyed, the raaterials
were purchased by several of the neighbouring gentry, and the Earl of Exeter's
house at Snape, and the seat of the Wandisfords, at Kirklington, were built
with them." THIRSK (non-existent)
THIS was one of the fortresses belonging to Roger de Mowbray, as did
Kirkby-Malzeard, which, on the suppression of his revolt against Henry
II. in 1 173, was destroyed by that king. It is supposed to have been a large
building, but nothing wdiatever is to be seen of it now, except the moats, which
raay still be traced. The materials of it are said to have been taken for the
erection of Thirsk Church.
The powerful house of Mowbray possessed four seats, castles attached to
their different baronies in this part of Yorkshire — the first at Thirsk, whicii
dominated the Vale of Mowbray, still so called ; the second at Kirkby-
Malessart or Malzeard, in Craven ; the third, controlling the country from the
N.W. of Craven to Westmorland ; and the fourth was the Isle of Axeholme,
with Eppleworth, or Epworth, Castle.

TICKHILL (chief)
THIS is the most southern of the Yorkshire fortresses, being seven mUes
S. of Doncaster, in the West Riding. The manor was held after the
Conquest by Roger de Busli, who either erected or rebuilt this castle, and
at his death in 1098 the Red King gave it to Robert de Beleme, who
claimed U as being a kinsman of the founder. After his submission Henry I.
took possession of the castle, for it was of importance, standing in the narrow
part of the level country between the hills of Derbyshire and Trent, upon the
high road to the north, and near the Roman way from Lincoln to York ;
a position which had' been seized on in very early times, and fortified by
a mound piled upon a scarped rock. Stephen granted the place to the

270

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

Count d'Eu of Normandy, who also had Hastings, and Ralph, Earl of
Chester, held it for him 1151-1153. Then it reverted to the Crown, and Queen
Eleanor of Acquitaine, wife of Henry 1 1., held it in dower. John fortified and
held this castle against his brother Cceur de Lion, but on King Richard's
sudden return from captivity it was given up, and its defenders were hanged
by Roger de Leir, the king's custodian. John when king came here six times,
although there was no park or chase belonging to the manor. His son
Henry III. restored it to the Count d'Eu,
but Tickhill afterwards returned to the
Crown and was settled upon Prince
Edward, and in 1254 it formed part
of the dower of Eleanor of Castile, his
wife. In 1263 Edward granted the
place to his cousin Henry, son of
Richard, King of the Romans. In 1322
the castle was besieged for three weeks
by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, against
Piers Gaveston, and was gallantly de
fended till relieved by the king in per
son. Edward III. settled it on his
queen, and at her death it was given by
Richard II. to his uncle John of Gaunt,
who rebuilt or added to it, and it
remained an appanage of the duchy
thereafter. At the commencement of the Civil
War in the seventeenth century Tickhill
was considered a very strong fortress,
and it received a garrison for King
Charles of eighty men and thirty horses.
It sustained a siege in 1646, and after
two days was surrendered to a force under Colonel Lilburn, when by order
of the Parliament it was slighted and rendered untenable.
Mr. Clark affirms that Tickhill is a fine example of a pre-Norman or
English earthwork, consisting of a mound, fosse, and lower ward, converted
into a Norman fortress, and demonstrates how such existing forts were
treated in the erection of either the square or the shell keep thereon. Here
the mound has been placed on the top of a sandstone rock which was
scarped around, the material, with the excavations from the ditch around it,
being thrown up. This mound is 60 feet in diameter, and is 60 feet above the
level of the lands. The keep was ten-sided, and was entered from a flight
of seventy-five steps on the W. face ; its foundations are visible, and the

TICKHILL

YORKSHIRE 271
dUch, with part of the outer walls, is in a tolerably perfect state. The
original Early Norman gatehouse remains in a dilapidated state at the S.
of the lower ward, between the keep and the castle buildings; it has a
round-headed gateway, and in front were added a Decorated gateway with
pointed arch and portcullis groove, and four gates in the passage, also walls
supporting the drawbridge The rampart was carried across this gateway
in front. The hall and the chapel mentioned by Leland exist no more.
The outer ditch, partly a moat, is broad and deep, and was supplied by
a stream, the Thorne, which covers the S. front. Outside of all was a
bank of earth. The N. part has been converted into a modern residence,
and the grounds have been formed into gardens and shrubberies. The
area of the whole is about seven acres. Tickhill is now the property of
the Earl of Scarborough.

TOPCLIFFE (uon-e.xistent)
ON the banks of the Swale, N.W. of Ripon, is known to have stood one
of the strongholds and residences of the Percy family, who received
the manor among their other lands from the Conqueror. The position of the
place had been marked in earlier times as a desirable one to hold, as we see
from the mound, now called Maiden Bower, about a mile S. from Topcliffe
village, where the Danish or Saxon lords had their burh, and which now,
thick with fir trees, alone marks the site of the Percys' castle.
Topcliffe enters on more than one occasion into the fatalities which befell
the Percy family. It was at Topcliffe that Henry, the fourth earl, was murdered
by a mob in 1489, and it was at this castle that the insurrection in Elizabeth's
reign, to restore the ancient forras of religion, and called the Rising of the
North, was planned, the first meetings of the conspirators being held here.
It is said that it was here that, when the Rising had been precipitated by the
action of the queen's officers, the Earl of Northumberland was aroused from
bed, and caused to ride in haste to Brancepeth to concert with the Earl of
Westmorland on the immediate necessity of taking arms (see Brancepeth and
Barnard Castle, Durham).
King Charles I. was a prisoner in the castle of Topcliffe, while the treaty
was in progress by the Scots Commissioners for his sale to the Parlia
mentary authorities. This alone should have caused the preservation of
the remains.

272 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

UPSALL (minor)
THE word seems to be of Scandinavian origin, since Upsala in Sweden is
the name of one of the most important sacrificial places in the North-
At Domesday the lands belonged to Earl Mortain, and next they are found
in the hands of the Mowbrays; then in 1277 one Hugh de Upsall was here,
taking his name from the place, and from this family Upsall must have been
purchased by the successful lawyer Geoff'ry de Scrope. This founder of the
Scropes of Masham is said to have been a younger son of Scrope of Bolton,
or, at all events, of the family, who, rising under the patronage of the Nevills,
first appears in Coverdale, 5 Edward II. Six years later, adding to his
possessions through extensive practice of the law in Lincolnshire, Kent, and
Northumberland, he grew in wealth, and being in favour with Edward 1 1.,
was by him, in his seventeenth year, made Chief Justice of King's Bench, and
he soon after, on the attainder of Roger de Clifford, received a grant of the
castle and honour of Skipton. As early as 1309 he had a charter of free
warren for his lands (including Upsall), and is said to have obtained a licence
to fortify this manor-house of Upsall, but it does not appear in the Patent
Rolls, and we therefore are not certain of the date or founder of this castle.
Geoffry died, a knight banneret, in 13 Edward III.
His son Henry I'Escrope was a mUitary man, and died 15 Richard 1 1., seised
of Upsall and Clifton. He was succeeded by his son Stephen, who as a soldier
served in his father's train, and in the first year of Richard II. was summoned
to Parliament, in the lifetime of his father, as first Lord Scrope of Masham.
He died 7 Henry IV., leaving issue, his son Sir Henry I'Escrope, 2nd Lord
Scrope, who obtained a grant of Thirsk and Hovingham from Henry IV., —
a valuable gift to the Lord of Upsall, whose castle overlooked the Vale of
Mowbray. The third lord was married to Joan, Duchess of York, the sister of Holland,
Earl of Kent ; he was made Treasurer of the Exchequer, but joining in the
conspiracy of Richard, Earl of Cambridge, cousin to Henry V., to place on
the throne young Mortimer, brother-in-law to Cambridge, he, together with
the earl and Sir Thomas Grey, lost his head at Southampton (1415), when
his estates were forfeited. His brother. Sir John Scrope, recovered part of
the lands, and signs himself of Masham and Upsall. Whitaker is of opinion
that at this date no castle existed here. Leland has (vol. viii. foi. 56a) : " Dominus
Johannes de Scrope de Upsaule obiit 1455." He left a son, Thomas, who,
dying 38 Henry VI. , was followed by his son, another Lord Thomas, and other
issue of three sons and three daughters, All the sons died s.p., and their sisters
inherited the property on the death of Thomas, the last lord of Masham, in
1515. In 1520 a division of the estates took place, when Elizabeth, the third

YORKSHIRE

273

daughter of Lord Thomas, obtained Upsall, and brought it in raarriage to
Sir Ralph Fitz Randolph, knight, of Spennithorn, by whom she had one son,
who died in his father's lifetime, and five daughters, to one of whom, Agnes,
Lady Randolph devised Upsall. She was mother to Sir Marmaduke Wyvill,
whose son Christopher succeeded to this property. But in the Northern
troubles of 1569 this Christopher Wyvill must have fallen a victim, since we
find Upsall in the hands of the Crown, and in 1577 Elizabeth granted it to one
John Farnham.
Next, early in the reign of Jaines I., Upsall is owned by Joseph Constable
of Burton Constable, in Holderness, ancl it was retained by this fainily for
nearly 200 years, until 1768, when Dr. William Constable, an eminent physician
at the court of George 111., dying s.p,, bequeathed Upsall to Edmund, third
son of the Rev. W. Peters, chaplain to the King ; Mr. Peters assumed the
name of Turton, ancl his son, Edmund H. Turton, is the present owner.
The old castle was a quadrangular building, measuring about 64 yards by
58 yards, with a courtyard in the centre, and turrets at each angle. The
towers at the N.E. ancl S.W. have been square — as can be made out from
their foundations — the most perfect fragment being the N.W. tower, which
was octagonal, and contained the chief rooms. A piece of the N. wall
remains, about 15 feet high, having an arched gateway, which admitted into
the outer ward. The site of the N.E. tower and of the interior buildings is
occupied by a farm-house, built from the ruins, which have long been used
as a quarry. The largest tower, that on the S.W., had a bold projection from
the walls. There was a large park of 600 acres attached to Upsall, whicii
was disparked in 1599.

V^HORLTON (minor)
A PLACE romantically situated on the E. side of Cleveland, in the North
Riding, beneath a lofty range of hUls ; frora one of which, cone-peaked,
called Whorl-hill, it obtains its name. Leland wrote : " Whorlton in Cliveland
was the principal house of the Lord Meinell, which came since to Master
Strangwayes in particion." It was called " old and ruinous " by Camden.
The castle is supposed to have been built by one of the Meinell or Meynell
family, who, deriving from a Norman, Robert de Maisnell, had lands in these
parts temp. Henry I. Sir Nicholas de Meinell was summoned to Parliament
22 Edward I. According to an inquisition takeii 30 Edward III. (1346), on
the death of John, Lord Darcy, it was found that the manor and castle of
Whorlton, which came to him by raarriage with Elizabeth, heiress of Nicholas
de Meinell, had been granted in trust to Sir Thomas Swinford, knight ;
therefore this castle must have an earlier origin than that usually given it, of
VOL. II. 2 M

274 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Richard II.'s reign. The Darcys continued here till the last lord, Philip, died
in 1419, leaving an only daughter, Elizabeth, who brought Whorlton in
marriage to Sir James Strangwayes of Harlsey Castle, whose descendants
possessed both estates until the last Sir James Strangwayes died in 1541,
when in some way not shown Whorlton fell to the Crown, and was giveii to
Matthew, Earl of Lennox. Early in the reign of Charles I. the manor was
granted to Edward Bruce, 2nd Lord Bruce, whose, brother became the first
Earl of Elgin, and it was held by that family until quite lately, when it was
purchased by Mr. James Emerson of Easby Hall, Yorks.
The trace of this castle was circular, enclosing an area of about 2 acres,
and surrounding the whole was a ditch with drawbridge. But little remains
now of all the structure except the gatehouse, which is nearly perfect. The
gateway is in a low-pointed arch, whence a once vaulted passage, defended
by a double portcullis, leads into the courtyard ; on each side of the entrance
are rooms, and a staircase to the guardroom over. There is a second storey
above this. Over the gateway are three shields charged with the arms of Meinell,
Darcy, and Grey, while another one above has those of Darcy impaling Meinell.
The foundations only exist of the kitchens and the lodgings, and there are some
huge vaults underground. The remains of ancient earthworks are to be seen
also in the vicinity.
There is a tradition that in one of the rooms in this castle was signed the
contract betrothing Mary Stuart to Henry, Lord Darnley ; and this is possible,
since Whorlton Castle was granted by Henry VIIL to his niece, Margaret, the
wife of the Earl of Lenno.x, and the mother of Darnlev.

¦WILTON (non-existent)
ON the northern confines of Cleveland, not far from Redcar, is the modern
castle which occupies the site of the Bulraers' ancient abode. The
Buhners were a family who had large possessions in this county and in Durham
in very early times ; as to when they became seated at Wilton we have no clue.
Emma, the daughter of Bertram Bulmer, married Geoffrey Nevill of Raby,
and brought to that family both Brancepeth and Sheriff-Hutton in Yorkshire.
John Bulmer was Lord of Wilton 53 Henry III. In 4 Edward II. Ralph de
Buhner obtained a charter of his lands here, and in i Edward III. received a
summons to Parliament amongst the barons. Three years after he had a licence
to fortify his manor-house of Wilton, being at the time Governor of York, and
we may therefore take this date of 1330 as that of the late castle.
The lands and castle continued in the hands of the Bulmers for a long series
of generations, until Sir John Buhner in 28 Henry VIII. was attainted for his
participation in the rebellion called the Pilgrimage of Grace, and was hanged at

YORKSHIRE 275

iw

Tyburn, while Lady Buhner, his unfortunate wite, was, under the infamous
regarding treason in females, drawn on a hurdle from Newgale to SinithUeld,
and there burnt to death (1537). Generally, after the punishments that followed
on this attempt to vindicate the ancient faith of the eountry, the property of the
sufferers was not forfeited, but the lands of the Buhners were confiscated by
the Crown, and were in the reign of Oueen iMary granted to Sir Thomas
Cornwallis, whose descendant. Lord Cornwallis, sold the estate to Lord HoUand
(Fox), from whom it was purchased by the Lowther family, and it is now the
seat of Sir Charles Lowther, Bart.
Until some time after the beginning of this century there existed a tower of
the old castle, and some other buildings, but being very ruinous they were
removed, and a new mansion was built upon the site by the Lowthers.

WRESSEL (minor)
THIS fine castle of the Percys is in the flat country S.E. of Vork, on a site
slightly elevated above the bank of the river Derwent, the navigation of
whicii it was evidently intended to command at a short distance from its junction
with the Ouse. It was of the usual cjuadrangular type, of four towers connected
by curtains — two of these towers, which are very large, surviving, together with
the S. curtain. The moat encompasses three sides, the fourth, wherein is the
entrance, being dry. The front contains a basement, and on the first floor is
the hall, with the chapel on one side, and the state lodgings on the other.
There was a gatehouse once, where the causeway enters, ancl it was doubtless a
strong fortress ; but the towers gave no flanking fire, and the main protection
was in the broad and deep moat, defended by a high and strong wall. Beyond
this there was the power of the Percy name.
Wressel is said to have been founded by Sir Thomas Percy, the brother of
the first Earl of Northumberland, who is introduced by Shakespeare in the first
part of Henry / V, as plotting with Hotspur, his nephew, the overthrow of the
unpopular king. He had been made Earl of Worcester and Lord High Admiral
of England by Richard IL, and joined his nephew in the insurrection that was
quelled by the battle of Shrewsbury (1403). Worcester was taken prisoner,
and beheaded two days after at the High Cross in Shrewsbury. Since the
manor is named in an inquisition of 9 Edward II. as a lordship of William de
Percy, it probably came to Worcester by inheritance, and not as Leland says by
purchase. Wressel falling to the Crown on his attainder, Henry IV., after
keeping it for sorae time, gave the place to his son John, Duke of Bedford, who
died possessed of it 12 Henry VL (1434), leaving Wressel to the king, who in
his thirty-sixth year (1457) granted it to Sir Thomas Percy, son of Henry, 2iid
Earl of Northumberland. During the vicissitudes of the Wars of the Roses it

276 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
seems that this place was at one time held by Nevill, Lord Montague (brother
of the King-maker, Warwick), together with all other estates of the Percys, but
in 1469 King Edward revoked the grants, and restored Henry, the fourth earl,
to the Percy property. The Earls of Northumberland frequently inhabited this
castle, and kept up their state therein with royal magnificence, with a household
established on the same plan as that of a royal court ; and in September 1541
Henry VIII. was entertained at Wressel for several days, on his excursion into
the North ; but at that date the owner was under a cloud, and was not present
to receive his sovereign.
At the death of Joceline, the eleventh earl, the barony of Percy went with
his daughter and heir. Lady Elizabeth Percy, in 1682 to her husband Charles
Seymour, Duke of Soraerset. But only the wreck of Wressel was then left.
In 1642 it had been garrisoned by the Parliament, when much injury was
done to the place, and again in 1648 this was repeated ; but in the latter
year the capture of Pontefract Castle by the king deterrained the London
Council to take measures to prevent any similar surprises elsewhere, and
sudden orders were sent to the York Committee on April 17 to make Wressel
untenable, by throwing down three sides of the quadrangle, and leaving the
S. front only, in which face large windows were to be broken out. All this
was to be done in four weeks, and without any reference to the owner. In
pursuance of this order three sides of the great castle were entirely demolished,
but the work was only begun in December 1648, and the destruction was
not completed till May 1650.
The Seymours continued lords of Wressel until 1750, when the Duke of
Somerset dying s,p, male, his estates were divided among the heirs ; those
which had come by Lady Elizabeth Percy went with his daughter to her
husband. Sir Hugh Smithson, who became Earl of Northumberland, and the
rest of the Percy lands in Yorkshire were inherited by his nephew, Sir Charles
Wyndham, now represented by Lord Leconfield.
Leland, visiting Wressel about 1538, saw it in its untouched state, and
describes it at unusual length. Modernising his spelling, the account runs
thus : " Most part of the base court of the castle is all of tiraber. The
castle itself is moated about on three parts, the fourth part is dry where
the entry is into the castle. The castle is all of very fair and great squared
stone, both within and without, whereof (as some hold opinion) much was
brought out of France. In the castle be only 5 Towers, one at each corner,
almost of like bigness. The gatehouse is the 5th, having 5 lodgings [storeys]
in height, 3 of the other Towers have 4 [storeys]. The 4th containeth the
buttery, pantry, pastry, larder, and kitchen.
" The Hall and the great chambers be fair, and so is the chapel and the
closets. To conclude, the house is one of the most proper beyond Trent,
and seemeth as newly made. . . . The base court is of a newer building.

YORKSHIRE 277
and the last Earl of Northumberland saving one made the brewhouse of
stone without the castle walls, but hard joining to the kitchen of it. One
thing 1 liked exceedingly in one of the towers, that was a study called Paradise,
where was a closet in the middle of 8 scjuares latticed about : and on the
top of every square was a desk lodged to set books on." . . . "There is a
park hard by the castle." He speaks also of the gardens and the orchards.
The remaining S. side is a fine object, with its large, square towers ;
each of these had a circular newel stair to the roof, ending in an octagonal
turret ; the turret on the S.W. having borne at top a fire-beacon. The W.
tower contained a dining-room ornaraented with carved wood, and the chaptl
was in that on the E. ; as the Roundheads ruined the parish church, this chapel
was long used in its place. Above the chapel was the library. The S. front
contained the state drawing-room and an ante-chamber, with two curious
staircases in octagonal cases or screens, the flights of stairs winding round
each other, as some are seen in France. These rooms must have been
magnificent, having a carved frieze running round the walls, and the windows
filled with painted glass, chiefly heraldic. This part was used as a farm-house
till the year 1796, when a fire destroyed everything except the walls, which
seem imperishable
Parker calls Wressel a fine specimen of the castellated mansions of the
period of Richard IL, of early Perpendicular character.

YORK (minor)
SINCE York was in the earliest times the chief town of the land, when
London was only a mart for traders, a high antiquity must attach to the
great burh or raound upon which subsequently was erected the keep of
a Norman castle, and which still bears the curious structure called Clifford's
Tower. The river Ouse flows past what was the W. side of the town, and at the
southern point of this it receives the waters of a strong stream called the
Foss, coming down from Cleveland. Here, in the very usual manner, on the
intervening tongue of land, sheltered thus on both sides, some early settlers
had fixed their camp, and at some time or other, two huge mounds of earth,
formed by the deblai of surrounding moats, were thrown up, one on the fork
of land, and the other on the opposite side of the Ouse, between them com
manding that river. These mounds would receive the usual Saxon fortification
of water ditches defended by wooden stockades, with a dwelling and barracks
of timber on the summit of each.
And thus probably they remained on the occasion of the Conqueror's first
visit to York in the summer of 1068, when "as usual he ordered a castle

278 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
to be built, and equally as usual the place selected was the mound of the
existing stronghold" (Clark), The position between the rivers was hurriedly
strengthened, and occupied with a garrison of 500 selected men under Sir
William Malet. Next year, however, the citizens revolted and besieged Malet
in his fortalice, which was strong enough to hold out until the king came to
his assistance and relieved the garrison. A second fort was then ordered to be
built upon the other mound, across Ouse, now called the Bail Hill ; "and as
this was done in eight days, its construction must have been also of wood.
Next year came an expedition of Danes up the Humber, to their'old hunting
grounds, when they were met as friends by the Saxons, and an alliance was
formed to make common cause against the usurping Normans and to thrust
them out. An attack on the castle ensued, and the garrison sallying out were
cut off and overcome, some 3000 being said to have fallen, and the forts taken
and destroyed. When these tidings were brought to William, who was hunting
in the Forest of Dean, he swore "by the splendour of God" that hewould
avenge his men, and collecting his forces came northward to Pontefract,
where he bought off' the Danes, and then to York, which the enemy, now
scared, had evacuated. Then began the cruel and fiendish harrying of the
North, in which the Norman king destroyed the life of the country, and made
of the land between York and Durham a burnt and desolated desert : the
crowning infamy of his violent life.
The York castles were of course at once renewed, but, in all likelihood, with
such raaterials as were at hand. It is not probable that, in such pressing
times, architects and masons and workmen could have been procured from
Normandy to build what we call Norman keeps, but they had to content
themselves with lines of palisades along the crest of earthworks, and deep
ditches, with perhaps gatehouses alone of masonry {Clark), The more serious
constructions could only have come later, when time had been given for their
preparation. There is but little of Norraan work in York, and that is of a later
style. The wall " upon the Foss may, in parts, be early twelfth century, but
the round mural towers cannot be earher than the reign of Henry III." Little
is known about the different portions of the main fortress, or its builder.
In its best days it must have been a very strong place, encircled by the waters
of the Foss and only approachable by two drawbridges. The approach was on
the E. side, near the castle mills, and there was a gatehouse on the side of the
town, which was rebuilt many years ago, having a drawbridge. The works on
the E. have been entirely swept away, but until the end of the last century the
sallyport and some towers remained, and the moat connected with the fosse,
whicii latter defence was then filled in.
The chief object of interest now is the great building which clusters on the
Castle Mound, called Clifford's Tower, from the name of its custodian. This is
of singular form, being built as a quatrefoil, or fcnir circular bastions conjoined.

YORKSHIRE

279

measuring 60 feet and 80 feet in its diameters, with walls 3 yards thick and
40 feet high. Outside, above the first stage, are three circular turrets corbelled
out, with a square one in the fourtli angle, which latter contains an oratory.
The ground floor is defended by loops, and commanded the moat surrounding
this tower, and the only entrance from the inner ward was by a drawbridge.
Mr. Clark is of opinion that this tower may be of the reign of Richard I.
or John. It ccnild scarcely, however, have been built at the date of the terrible
raassacre of the Jews which took place in the castle in the reign of Richard
(1190) ; when 500 Jews with their families and goods took refuge in die castle
from the fury of the people of York, who had risen against them and their usury.

THE WALLS OF YORK

They managed to get the castellan out of the fortress and shut themselves in,
being then besieged by an armed crowd. Soon they were in a starving con
dition, and in despair a large number of them killed themselves, after slaughter
ing their wives and children, and having set fire to the tower. When the
citizens got in all the surviving Jews were put to the sword.
Clifford's Tower, together with other quarters, was strengthened at the
outbreak of the Civil War of the seventeenth century, and carried three guns
on the top. Sir Thomas Cobb was governor during the siege of York in 1644,
and after the surrender to the Parliament chiefs the castle was dismantled.
In 1684 a fire, supposed to be the work of an incendiary, broke out in Clift'ord's
Tower and consumed all within U, greatly injuring the structure. The casde
was bought, about 1825, for the formation of a county gaol, and though the
main fortress has much disappeared, the keep tower was reserved intact.

SISERGH

Meetmorlanb

APPLEBY (chief)
APPLEBY is built on the crest of the hUl along the slope of which
stands the county town of Westmorland. It is believed to have
been founded by Randolph de Meschines while in possession of
L the earldom of Caerleoliura (see Carlisle), since from his charter of
1088 he evidently had a castle here. Whitaker ascribes to him the castles of
Appleby, Brough, Brougham, and Pendragon, which must have consisted of the
usual Norman square keep towers only, with their three storeys of chambers.
Appleby had changed ownership three tiraes by heiresses before it came to
Siraon de Morville ; then from Robert de Veteripont it passed, like Brougham
{q,v), to the Cliffords, by Isabella his daughter. It was much exposed to the
inroads of the Scots, and in the time of Richard II. and Henry IV. great injuries
were done to the fabric. In or before 1454 (temp. Henry VI. ), Thomas, Lord
Clifford, built the greater part of what we now recognise as the older portion.
The chief feature still remaining is the great keep, 80 feet in height, and
called, as are many other similar towers, by the inappropriate name of Caesar's
Tower. The gatehouse is supposed to have been built by John, Lord Clifford,
in 141 8, as his arms and those of his wife are upon its walls, and it was his
son Lord Thomas (who fell at St. Albans in 1455) who erected the eastern
portions, that is, the hall, the chapel, and the great chamber. The castle is
said to have been ruined during the insurrection of the Earls of Northumber
land and Westmorland in 1569, and it remained in this state and uncovered
280

a
H<
mw
<

WESTMORLAND

28l

for nearly loo years, until in 1651 Anne, Countess of Pembroke, the famous
castle-builder — who defied the orders of the Protector himself — repaired and
restored the castle, when, as one of many Clifford strongholds belonging to that
lady (see Brough and others), she made it her residence. She had in 1641
garrisoned Appleby for King Charles, and committed the charge of it to Sir
Philip Musgrave ; but in 1648 he was forced to surrender the fortress to the
Parliament forces, who took prisoner there 121 officers and 1200 horse.
The keep is an interesting structure ; it has newel staircases in the S.E. ancl
S.W. corners leading to the several floors, and in the other angles are similar
ones to the roof only ; there are also mural passages and small chambers with
stone seats. About the middle of the wall on the E., towards the river, is the
sallyport, which has portcullis grooves. Outside the walls are seen the outer
and inner moats, defending all sides of the fortress except the face towards the
river. It is the property and the residence of Lord Hothfield.

ARNSIDE TOWER (minor)
ARNSIDE TOWER stands in a very exposed situation on the border of
^ Morecambe Bay.
It is a fine peel tower  - -  ,
of the fifteenth century,
which belonged in
former times to the
Harrington family, and
afterwards to the Stan
leys, lords Mounteagle ;
perhaps it may have
served as a resting-place
for thera in breaking
their journey from the
south to the Isle of
Man. It was once a
Border stronghold of
some importance, and
was formerly given to
Lancashire, but now
under the Parliamen
tary census is included
in Westmorland. It is a
quadrangular bull ding,
with walls of amazing thickness, having projecting square turrets, on one of
VOL. II. 2 N

ARNSIDE TOWER

282 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
which the battlements and machicoulis remain. The windows are small and
square-headed. The interior is a mere shell, with the remains of a narrow
staircase ; the best defined part is the kitchen, which has a large chimney-
corner with seats for the cook and turnspit, and there is an oven, above
which are bed-closets cleverly contrived to be warmed by the oven. In the
Parish Register is an entry of November 1602, with these words : " M^ that
yi 16 day of October, att nyght, being a myghtie wynde, was Arnehead Tower
burned, as it pleased y^ Lord to p'mitte"
BROUGH (chief)
THE castle of Brough is in the N.E. part of the county, and occupies a
commanding position on a height above the W. bank of the river Eden.
The remains consist of the magnificent square keep, with its corner towers of
the usual Norraan type, similar to those of Rochester, Dover, and the Tower of
London ; the walls are of imraense strength, and the masonry is admirable ;
there are also remains of the castle habitations. It possibly occupies the site
of a Roman fort, which may account for the name of "Caesar's Tower" giveii
to the keep. Camden suggests that it was built before the time of an English
conspiracy that was raised against the Conqueror. William the Lion, King of
Scotland, invading England in 1174 at the head of an army of Flemings,
captured this castle. An inscription plate, formerly placed over the principal
gateway, but now removed, declares that the castle was put into proper
repair in 1659 by Anne Clifford, Dowager-Countess of Pembroke, and that
she had since inhabited it in 1661. It had been burnt in 1521, soon after
Henry, Lord Clifford, known as the " Shepherd Lord," had held high Christmas
festivity under its roof two years before his death, and had lain ruinous
ever since. This Anne was daughter of George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland ;
she married, first. Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of Dorset, and secondly,
Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, and inherited the vast property
of the Clifford fainily, which had been derived from the grants by King John
to Robert de Veteripont, and his successors. Barons of Westmorland. She
spent the end of her life in the North, repairing her castles, especially those
injured by the Parliamentary forces, and her meinory was long cherished in
the Northern counties. Her death occurred in 1676, when her property was
inherited by her daughter and sole heiress, who married the Earl of Thanet,
and the Clifford estates passed to the Tufton family (see the castles of
Brougham, Appleby, Pendragon, Barden (Yorks), and others).
The Tower of Brough, once an important Border fortress, was demolished
to the bare walls by Thomas, Earl of Thanet, about 1695, when he was
repairing Appleby Castle. Nicolson in 1777 says the ruins then presented "a
scene of venerable magnificence."

V^ESTMORLAND

283

BROUGHAM (dwf)
THIS large, strong, and magnificent edifice — now in utter ruin — stands at
the confluence of the Lowther with the river Eamont, about \l miles
from Penrith, having been in its day one of the most important of the Border
fortresses. The entrance to it is along a series of arches by the river-side.
One part of the ruin consists of three square towers, with the remains of their
connecting wall stretching for a considerable distance towards the S.W., and
terminating in atower.
In the centre of the
main group rises the
keep, "a lofty square
tower, frowning in
Gothic strength and
gloomy pomp." The
turrets on its summit
have disappeared, to
gether with the para
pet and galleries. The
lowest storey has a
vaulted stone roof
with eight arches, sup
ported by one centre
shaft. It is of Norman
origin, but the date of
its building is uncer
tain. On the S. are
traces of the Roman
camp which stood
here on the road from
York to Carlisle. The Conqueror William granted it and the manor to his
nephew, Hugh d'Albini, in whose family, and that of the Meschines, it re
mained until 1 170, when it passed to the De MorvUles, but being forfeited
under them to the Crown, King John gave it to a Norman knight of high
repute and power, Robert de Veteripont (or Vipont), Baron of Westmorland,
together with other lands of great extent in that county. His son and grandson
held these possessions in the reign of Henry IIL, when Robert de Veteripont
fought on the side of Simon de Montfort, and died of his wounds after
either the battle of Lewes or that of Evesham, the estates being forfeited
to the king, but they were soon after restored to the two infant daughters of
Earl Robert. These two heiresses, Isabella and Idonea (or Ivetta), being com-

BROUGHAM

284

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

mitted by the king to the care of two knights, Roger de Clifford, of Hereford,
and Roger de Leybourne, of Kent, were in time married by these guardians to
their own eldest sons, when a division of the Veteripont property was made
between them ; the elder daughter, Isabella, who had married young De
Clifford, holding Brougham as a residence. When, however, her sister died
without issue, Isabella de Clifford succeeded to the entire estate, and in the
possession of her de
scendants, the Earls
of Clifford, it con
tinued for about four
centuries. The castle was re
built and added to
by the first Roger de
Clifford, who indeed
reared the greater part
of the fortress, and he
caused an inscription
to be placed over the
inner door, with the
words " Thys made
Roger." He died in
the reign of Edward I.
Standing as it did
on the old Roman
"Maiden-way" on the
borders of Cumber
land, it was subjected
to much ill-treatment,
being attacked in
some of the inroads made by the Scots in Henry IV.'s reign, about 141 2,
and nearly destroyed. In 1617 James I. was here on a hunting expedi
tion, and was entertained with masquerades. In 1652, the old Countess
of Pembroke, Anne, who inherited the vast estates of the Clifford
family, thoroughly repaired Brougham Castle and made it one of her
principal residences ; but after her death it was allowed to go to ruin. In
1691 her grandson. Lord Thomas Tufton, pulled down a great portion of
the castle, and in 1708 it was further demolished, and some of the materials
were sold.
On the N. of the Norman keep are two distinct gateway towers, connected,
and abutting on the keep. On the opposite side of the river is the old castle
mill, and this, viewed together with the castle and the river, forms a highly

Scale. Gof io 1 tne

p B 0 fp UO 30 I4O ^ 60 /Jfi So SO
t-l I 1 II -I — r^  I— ': I- ."-I—.

fio 130 I Ifi fell.

'LOfei

WESTMORLAND 285
picturesque scene. Licence to crenellate his house was granted (1 Edward II.)
to Ricardus de Brun of Dummaloch (a neighbouring hill), but this refers pro
bably to Brougham Hall, since the castle at that period belonged to the
Clifford fiimily. The ruin is owned by Lord Brougham ancl Vaux.

BROUGHAM HALL (minor)
BROUGHAM HALL is situated about half a mile from the castle, on the brow
of a hill, and commands one of the finest views in England. It has been
generally rebuilt, but still retains some very ancient portions of the fourteenth
and even of the twelfth centuries. The entrance gate is temp. Edward I. The
raanor, apart from Brougham Castle, is shown to have been in the possessioii of
Gilbert de Brohain in the second of King John, and it is still the property of
his descendants, having been repurchased in 1727 by the grandfather of Lord
Chancellor Brougham. A portion of the estate is held by the curious Border
tenure of "cornage," which service has been said to consist in blowing a horn
to give notice of the arrival of marauding Scots, or others, in the vicinity. This
was a signal for lighting up Penrith beacon, and for communicating by similar
signals with Appleby, and so into Yorkshire on one side, and into Lancashire
on the other, whereby all the barons of the Marches were put on the alert.
The original horn by whicii this service was performed is still preserved at
Brougham Hall, the residence of Lord Brougham and Vaux.

B U L E Y (non-existent)
BULEY was an ancient residence of the Bishops of Carlisle, on the S. side of
the Eden, opposite to Crackenthorpe. Nicolson in 1777 describes it as
a mean and ruinous building, and even this has now perished. It was probably
built by a John de Builly, whose daughter Idonea raarried a Norraan knight,
Robert de Veteripont, a noble of high repute in the reign of John, to whom
that king granted the lands and castles of Appleby and Brough in Westmorland,
and other large possessions (see Brougham).

BYTHAM OR BETHAM HALL (minor)
ON the river Byth, there was anciently a large handsome building, called a
castle by Leland, and described by Gough (1762) as then in ruins. The
manor was held, temp. 17 King John, by the heir of Thomas de Bethun, and in
20 Edward III. Ralph de Betham is directed to send prisoners from his castle
to the Tower of London. In 3 Henry VI. Thomas de Betham is the represen-

286 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
tative in Parliament of Westmorland, and he is the last found of the name
The tradition is that after Bosworth the manor was forfeited and given to the
Stanleys, but from the absence of records, it was more probably purchased
by that family.
Ascending from the Byth you come to the gateway and grand entrance
into the castle-yard, which measures 70 yards by 44, and has a wall of the
enceinte, with the marks of soldiers' barracks along the side. On the left
is the loopholed castle with a hall of the fourteenth century, now used as
a barn. The windows are small, and are raised high from the ground for
purposes of defence. The greater portion is of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. The fortress stands near the bay at Milthorp, the only seaport in
the county.
CASTLE EDEN (non-existent)
CASTLE EDEN is a place near the coast, a few miles N. of Hartlepool.
It was of some importance in Saxon tiraes, and suffered much from
Danish invaders.
It is said that a castle existed here, but its site cannot be traced, and all
records refer to the manor. HARTLEY (minor)
THIS was once a noble structure, standing on an eminence over the village
of Hartley and town of Kirkby Stephen. As long as the Musgraves
resided here, the castle was kept in good repair, but nothing now remains
except the venerable ruins of part of the walls. The ancient name of this
manor was Hardclay, indicating the nature of its soil, and its possessors, who
held frora the Veteriponts, from earliest times (Henry I.) were called De
Hardclay or Harcla through many succeeding reigns. In 8 Edward II.
Andrew de Harcla held the manor, and seven years later was created Earl
of Carlisle for his great services to Edward II. in having vanquished the Earl
of Lancaster, together with John de Mowbray and Roger de Clifford, in the
fight at Boroughbridge, Yorkshire. But the very next year, King Robert
Bruce having raided that part of the Border without hindrance from the king,
the earl repaired privately to the Bruce at Lochmaben, and there made
a treaty for mutual support and defence with him. This being told to
Edward IL, he resented the action of the Earl of Carlisle, proclaimed him
a traitor, and sent Anthony, Lord Lucy, to apprehend him at Cariisle Castle,
which was ably done by Lucy with an armed force. The Chief Justiciar
was then sent to try the earl, who was next day sentenced to be degraded,
hanged, and quartered, and the sentence was at once carried out with all the

WESTMORLAND 287
brutality of the law of high treason (see Carlisle, Cninbcrlaud). The estate
was then confiscated by the Crown, and granted to Nevill, Bar(jn of Raby,
who sold it to Sir Thonias Musgrave of Musgrave, knight, the representative
of an ancient fainily dwelling in these parts since the clays of Stephen. His
lineal descendant was created a baronet by James I., and the son of this man,
Philip, distinguishing himself on the king's side during the Civil War in the
ne.xt reign, was given at the Restoration a warrant as Baron Musgrave of
Hartley Castle, but never took out the patent. This grand castle was
destroyed by Sir Christopher Musgrave in order to build his new house of
Edenhall. The sentence executed on Andrew, Earl of Carlisle, the lord of Hartley,
in 1322, was to this effect : "He and his heirs are to lose the dignity of the
earldom for ever ; he is to be ungirt of his sword, ancl his golden spurs are
to be hacked from his heels. He is further adjudged to be drawn, hanged,
and beheaded ; one of his quarters to be hanged at the top of the Tower of
Carlisle ; another at the top of the Tower of Newcastle ; the third on the bridge
at York ; the fourth at Shrewsbury, and his head to be spiked on London
Bridge." His remains were collected in 10 Edward IIL, fifteen years after,
by the king's order, and given for burial to Sir Andrew's sister Sarah, the
widow of Robert de Leybourne.

HAZLESLACK TOWER (minor)
THIS tower, which is of similar character to Arnside, and probably of the
same date, is now a ruined farm-house. These buildings may have been
erected for the defence of the lands round Morecambe Bay, as on the opposite
side are vestiges of "Broughton Tower" and of "Baziii Tower;" and inthe
centre of the Bay is " Peel " Castle. Again at Haverbrack Park, near the estuary
of the Kent River, is a small hill on the top of which was formerly a circular
castle, whence it is still called Castle Hill. There is no history attached to
Hazleslack. It possesses garderobes of better construction than are usually
found, and may therefore be of comparatively late date.

HOWGILL (minor)
THIS was originally a stronghold of the De Stutevilles, who held the raanor
of Milburn under De Meschines in the reign of Henry I. It lies up in
the hills where are the head waters of Tees, about five iniles from Appleby.
The family of Lancaster, descended from the Barons of Kendal (q.v.), succeeded
the De Stutevilles, and the last of them, William de Lancaster, dying s.p., his
inheritance was divided between his two sisters, Hawise and Alice, an illegiti-

288 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
mate son naraed Roger coming in for certain lands, including this manor and
Howgill. This was towards the end of Henry III.'s reign, and Roger Lancaster
died 19 Edward I., leaving three sons, John, William, and Christopher.
John, who succeeded to Howgill, died 8 Edward II. s.p., when his brother
William's son, John, obtained the property, and it descended in the family until,
in the time of the Roses (1438), the succession ended in four daughters, one of
whom, Elizabeth, brought this Lancaster property to her husband, Robert de
Crackenthorpe, the brother of her neighbour at Newbiggin. It went again by
an heiress, her great-granddaughter, to Sir Thomas Sandford of Askham, and
the Sandfords continued here till the beginning of the eighteenth century, when
the property again went, by default of heirs male, to the Essex family of Honey-
wood. Howgill is now the property of Lord Hothfield.
The site is a strong position, on the brow of a ravine through which runs
a hill stream, and seems to have been considered sufficiently defensible without
earthworks or ditches. We know nothing as to the nature of the original
dwelling of the De Stutevilles, if they had one here ; but it is probable that
when Roger de Lancaster succeeded, in the thirteenth century when much
castle-building was going on, he erected what was perhaps a North-country
tower or peel for his safe abode, to be extended in later times in the forra in
which we see the place.
Howgill Castle consists of a central block between two immensely strong
rectangular towers, each measuring 64 feet long by 33 wide, with walls 9 feet
and 10 feet thick ; the basements have barrel-vaulted roofs, with two stages
above, and formerly a battlemented roof. Wide-splayed loops gave light to
the ground floor of each side tower, and small staircases, in the thickness of the
walls, lead to the first floor, from whence each has a newel stair to reach the
upper stages. The central block originally contained the hall, which has been
destroyed at some time or other, and rebuilt with thin walls, and subdivided,
perhaps at the end of the seventeenth century. Access is obtained to the side
towers by pointed-arch doorways, and Tudor, with later inserted, windows, give
light to the apartments (Dr. M, W. Taylor).

KENDAL (minor)
THE original stronghold which occupied this commanding site over the
Kent valley was brought in marriage, together with the lands, by Lucy,
the heiress of Turold, lord of Spalding, to Ivo de Taillebois of Anjou, a
Norman companion of the Conqueror, from whom he obtained the barony
of Kendal. His descendants were called De Lancaster, and the male line
failing at William de Lancaster, seventh in descent, the Honour of Kendal
and its estates passed to his sisters Hawise and Alice. Then Margaret, the

WESTMORLAND

289

eldest coheir of Hawise by Robert le Brus, inarried the younger son of
Robert, Lord Roos of Hamlake and Works, by Isabel, daughter of Alexander II.
of Scotland. Their grandson Sir Thomas de Roos inarried Katherine, daughter
of Sir Thomas Strickland of Sizergh, Westmorland, and had an only daughter
Elizabeth, who brought Kendal Castle and a rich inheritance to the Parrs,

''/.rfil.?/.y.:"'.y,i:y;.^.'^-,/y,-

KENDAL

by her marriage with Sir William de Parr, knight. Their grandson Sir
William Parr, K.G., married Elizabeth, one of the coheirs of Lord Fitzhugh
by Alice, daughter of Ralph Nevill, Earl of W^estmorland, and Joanna
Beaufort, the child of John of Gaunt. Alice's sister was Cicely NevUl, "The
Rose of Raby," mother of Edward IV. and Richard IIL, and the great-grand
mother of Henry VIIL, who thus married his fourth cousin in Katherine Parr,
the first Protestant Queen of England, born at this old castle in 1513. After
the Crown had granted it to various favourites, U was sold and resold many
times. VOL. II. 20

If ' ' 'T

290 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
The ruin is finely situated on a circular mound about half a mile E. of the
town, on the opposite side of the river, having a wide prospect from its walls.
There is a good fifteenth-century gatehouse, and parts of the keep and two
of the round towers exist. The reraains of the chief apartments and of a
dungeon or cellar may be traced, the whole being surrounded by a moat.
The place was decayed
even in Camden's time,
and it has never been
repaired. "This crum
bling relic rises like a
grey crown over the
green hills of Kendal,
situate on a lofty emi
nence, with panoramic
views over the town
and picturesque vale of
the clear and rapid
Kent. A circular tower
is the most considerable
portion of the ruins,
but there is a large en
closure of ivy-mantled
walls reraaining, with
a few broken arches"
{Agnes Strickland).
The strength of the
walls is very great, but
they have been built
in rude early Norman
fashion. The earliest
portion is the tower on
the N.W., which may
have been erected about the time of Ivo de Taillebois ; the tower opposite,
on the S.W., is likewise ancient and strong, that on the S.E. being of
later construction.
It is probable that during its long possession by the Parrs this fortress
of the Barons of Kendal was altered many times and adapted to more modern
requirements, and it is difficult now to trace the old Norman arrangements.

ii%f)WWW

ll
i:
11
ll

KENDAL

T

WESTMORLAND 291

L A M M h; R S I D F: {non-c.xisleut)
HIS is an ancient ruin near Wharton, in a fine situation, but only a
few remains appear, in fragments of walls and a part of a tower, with

its dungeon.

NEWBIGGIN {minor)
ALTHOUGH the present hall does not pretend to be a castle, yet it is
on the site of an early Norman fortress which gave shelter to the owners
of the lands here for many generations. There exist charters of grants to one
Laurence de Newbigginge, whose race continued in the male line for seven
generations, when Robert de Newbiggin married Emma, daughter of Threlkeld,
and left one daughter and heiress, who brought Newbiggin to her husband,
Robert de Crackenthorpe. This was early in the reign of Edward III. Then
followed fifteen generations of Crackenthorpes of Newbiggin, an ancient family
of Danish origin, as the name implies, which held a strong position in the county,
and intermarried with most of the leading families of Westmorland and
Cumberland. They were Lancastrians, and two brothers of the family shed
their blood at Towton Field in 1461.
An inscription over the door shows that the existing manor-house was
built by Christopher Crackenthorpe in 1533 (25 Henry VIIL), and this owner
added to the estate by the purchase from the Crown of some of the Church
lands at the Dissolution.
According to tradition, the original castle was built temp. Edward I., and
it was in all likelihood a rectangular peel tower of strength ; but there are no
vestiges of it left. The situation was in a low ground capable of being flooded,
and hence perhaps its chief defence.
The existing building is of the same design, having, like Howgill, a central
block supported at either end by strong rectangular battlemented towers.

PENDRAGON (minor)
PENDRAGON is said by Camden to have been called anciently the "Castle
of Mallerstang," from the neighbouring forest of that name. It takes its
name of Pendragon from a Welsh tradition about its founder, and is believed
to date from Saxon times. The ruin is finely situated on a mound above the
Eden, and a deep raoat afforded protection on the other side. One of the
flanking towers is stUl tolerably perfect.
Owned temp. Edward I. by Roger de Clifford, it was burned to the ground

292 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
by the Scots in 1341 (terap. Edward IIL), but was afterwards rebuilt and
possessed continually by the Cliffords. This was one of the casdes of Anne
Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, repaired by her in 1661, and stated on the
usual inscription stone set up by her to have Iain ruinous without timber
or any covering since 1541. This lady also buiU the bridge over Eden,
near the castle. The building was demoUshed in 1685 by Thomas, Earl of
Thanet, its owner.

SIZERGH (minor)
SIZERGH is a venerable fortified mansion belonging to the ancient family
of Strickland (orig. Stirkland), who have owned estates in that district
since the first year of King John. There exists one lofty tower, or peel, of
the time of Henry VIL, a square building 60 feet in height, defended by
two square turrets ; it has good battlements and a fine chimney. A few of
the original windows are left ; but the house has been much altered in the
time of Elizabeth and at later periods, being still inhabited (Parker), It is
three miles from Kendal. To Sizergh came Katherine Parr, about the year
1530, when a young widow of about eighteen, at the death of her first husband.
Lord Borough, to live with her kinswoman. Lady Strickland ; and here she
occupied herself much in embroidery, specimens of which are shown at
the castle. The apartment she occupied is still called the Queen's Room, —
a fine state chamber in the ancient portion of the building called the
D'Eyncourt Tower, opening from the drawing-room, and panelled with richly
carved black oak, which is covered with tapestry of great beauty (Agnes
Strickland).
WHARTON HALL (minor)
WHARTON HALL is the seat of an old Westmorland fainily, near Kirkby
Stephen, dating from the tirae of Edward I. A considerable portion
of the house still remains, partly converted into a farm-house There is a
quadrangle with an entrance gatehouse, showing the date of 1539, possibly
erected by Sir Thomas Wharton, ennobled by Henry VIII. The principal
tower exists with its staircase, the great hall, and many of the domestic offices.
The family of Wharton came to an end at the death of the last heir male, the
eccentric Duke of Wharton, born 1698, who was raised to that dignity by
George I. in 1718, and whose character is well given by Pope. This place
was then purchased by the Lowthers, and is now the property of Earl
Lonsdale. The first Baron Wharton won his elevation by his surprising
conduct and success in the signal defeat of the Scots at Solway Moss, in
November 1542, in which a force of 500 under the Duke of Norfolk routed

WESTMORLAND 293
King Jaines V.'s army of 10,000; "perhaps," Gough says, "the most considerable
victory the English ever gained over the forces of the neighbouring kingdom."
Fie died in 1568, being succeeded by his son Thomas, who died in 1572, and had
as successor his son Philip, a distinguished Whig temp. Queen Anne, created
Viscount Winchendon and Earl of Wharton, and afterwards Marquis of Wharton
in 1715, in which year he died. His only son was the profligate character
mentioned above as the last of the family ; he is said to have replied in the
House of Lords with such vigour to the first Earl of Stanhope, the minister of
George I., on the matter of the South-Sea Bubble (1721), as to have caused the
death of Stanhope, who succumbed to a fit of apoplexy the next day.

YANWATH HALL (minor)
THE Manor of Yanwath Hall lies nearly three miles S. of Penrith, on the
Westmorland side of the Eamont River, a few miles after it leaves the
lake of Ldlswater, and was placed there to guard an important ford in the river,
on one of the main Border roads. A wooded bank slopes precipitously
down to the river at the back of the house, and the tower, as is generally
the case, commands a wide view over the adjacent country. In one of the
papers pubUshed by the Archaeological Society of the county, it is said that
no part of these counties is so rich in examples of old manorial houses as
the district around Penrith. They are generally tenanted now by farmers.
Yanwath was a peel, and a good specimen of a fourteenth-century fortress,
being built, like all Border towers of the same epoch, for defence and also
as a refuge for men and cattle from the incursions of Scottish marauders.
It occupies a commanding position on the S. bank of the stream, like all
these English peels, in order to impose the river between the castle and
the enemy. Parker (vol. ii. p. 216) says that this castle is of two very distinct
periods ; the original structure is believed to have been built by John de
Sutton, who married Margaret, the heiress of the family of De Somerie, in
1322. The heirs of this union became Barons Dudley, and in the reign of
Henry VIIL, Thomas, the eldest son by the second wife of Edmund, Lord
Dudley, settled at Yanwath, and inarried Sarah, the daughter and coheiress
of Sir Lancelot Threlkeld of Yanwath, a member of an ancient county family.
It was sold in 1654 to the Lowthers, and is still owned by the Earl of
Lonsdale The building is in the form of a quadrangle, three sides of which now
are standing, enclosing an inner baUey or "barmkin," as it used to be called.
The fourth side was possibly closed by a wall, or by wooden buildings. On
the S. side are the chief tower, the hall, and the kitchen. The present gateway
is modern, the old entrance having existed at the arch of the N.E. angle.

294 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
where are the guardrooms, and a thick wall, with crenellated parapet. At
the W. end stands the great peel tower of three storeys, with its battlements
and watch-turrets at each angle. There is a vaulted basement to the tower
quite untouched. The hall, which was probably rebuilt in the fifteenth century,
was originally a fine apartment, 42 feet by 24 feet, but it was altered then, and
later additions have quUe spoilt it. The oldest portions of Yanwath are early
fourteenth century, but the tower received many alterations in Elizabeth's time.
At the N.E. angle is more of the early work, with an interesting look-out and
platform for the warder. In Nicolson and Burns's History, it is said that
there existed a chapel over the gate, but the buildings here are now used
as stables, and it is difficult to say if it was so. The present gateway is
entirely modern.

DACRE

Cumberland)

ARMATHWAITE (minor)
THIS was the fortified manor-house belonging to the Skeltons of
Skelton, and was their chief seat. John Skelton, the poet laureate of
Henry VIIL, was one of this fainily and was born here. They retained
it till 171 2, when it was sold by Richard Skelton to William Sanderson,
from whose family it passed to the Milburns, and in 1846 became the property
of the Earl of Lonsdale, the present proprietor. Jefferson says that the Skeltons
frequently represented this county and Carlisle in Parliament, between the
reigns of Edward II. and Henry VIIL, and distinguished themselves in the
Scottish and French wars. Before coming here, they were a considerable
family (temp. Edward II.) in the W. of Cumberland. Richard, a son of Sir
Clement, was at Agincourt in the suite of the Duke of Gloster, and his
nephew, John Skelton, who was also a warrior, and much esteemed by the
duke, was the first to seat himself at Armathwaite, where, in 1445, he built
a house of defence against the Scots.
The castle stands on the site of an ancient fortress, upon a rock washed
by the river Eden. It has a modern front of ashlar stone, and has received the
addition of a new wing of offices. 29s

296 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

ASKERTON (minor)
THIS is a lonely fortified house, buiU by Thomas, Lord Dacre, when
Warden of the Marches, to guard against inroads from Liddesdale by
Bewcastle and the Maiden Way, as an advanced post above Naworth
Castle, and for the protection of the barony. It stands on the banks of the
Cambock, and was the usual residence of an officer called the Land Serjeant,
whose duty it was to take the command of the inhabitants in repelhng the
inroads of the borderers ( Whellan),
In a MS. in the British Museum, published in the Scottish Archceologia,
dated 1590, Askerton is thus mentioned : " Upon the E. side of Eden lyeth
the barony of Gilsland, under the government of a Steward who ought to be
at Askerton Castle. In his charge is all the safety of that Barony, without
either help of warden or other. . . . This Castle since the RebeUion is sore
spoyled, and ever since worse governed."
It was a Border watch-tower, whose uses ceased after the union of England
and Scotland. Mr. Ferguson calls it a building of great interest, occupying
three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth or E. side being completed by a
curtain wall. There are towers on the S.W. and S.E. The W. wall is thin
and modern, but on that side stood the hall, of which a part remains at the
N.W. angle, with a three-light window in its N. end, and part of a staircase
to the battlements above it. The fine massive original roof is still in its place.
This hall was once embattled. The interiors of the towers have been dis
mantled, having had formerly two small rooms with fireplaces and windows,
and garderobes. On the N. side is a stable with hayloft over. The design of
the whole was a quadrangle in whicii the entire garrison, horses and all,
could be contained, the gates shut, and a short siege stood, until rescue from
Naworth or Carlisle was forthcoming.
There is nothing to show that any previous building ever existed at this
point. The fabric, whicii was in great decay, as we have seen, in the reign
of Elizabeth, has since been repaired and converted into a farm-house. There
was once a park attached to it.

BEWCASTLE, or the CASTLE OF BUETH (minor)
ITS Celtic predecessor (see Triermain and Irthington) was a remote Cumbrian
fortress on the Maiden Way, "rugged and solitary," and not easy of
access. There are the remains of a Roinan camp. The lands were granted
by Henry II., by charter, to Hubert de VaUibus or Vaux, the lord of Gilsland,
after the death of Gilles Bueth, but it was rather regarded as a part of the

CUMBERLAND 297
barony of Burg. The De Millions, or Moultons, however, took possession of
it after they had obtained Gilsland by marriage In the reign of Edw.ird 111.
Bewcastle was held by the Swinburnes, after which time it got into the
hands of the Crown, and then was held by the Musgrave fainily, from the
time of Henry VIII. tiU the seventeenth century. Jack Musgrave being captain
of it at the period of the Commonwealth.
Bushworth says Bewcastle had a garrison of a hundred men in 1639, which
was afterwards withdrawn to Carlisle, when this castle was dismantled ; though
Hutchinson states that it was destroyed by the Parliament forces in 1641. Its
latter proprietors have been Graharas.
All that remains of the castle is a large enclosure of 87 feet square, with
four huge walls, much broken down on the N. and E. The date of its erection
is not known, and there are no details whereby this can be traced. As the
windows are insertions of late Tudor work, the castle may have been rebuilt
when the Tudors came to the throne. A gateway has been added on the W.
The lodgings and offices appear to have been built round the walls of the
enceinte, as at Askerton, and had two storeys and a basement. The doorways
remain, and are furnished with the long holes for the wooden bars to fasten
the doors.
Many are the stories of the lawlessness of the Bewcastle folks, in the times
of disorder ; they were all moss-troopers, " and many of them appear in the
lists kept by Lord William Howard of those whom he had either hanged upon
the fatal trees at Naworth, or sent to Carlisle, where the officer ' does his work
by daylight.' " CARLISLE (chief)
THE city of Carlisle (Caerluel), placed on the western approach to Scot
land from London, is the successor of British, Roman, Saxon, and
Danish settlements, whose occupants in earliest ages chose this well-protected,
elevated rock of new red sandstone for their stronghold against the Scots.
Three rivers — on the N. the Eden, W. the Caldew, and E. the PetteriU — cover
its three sides.
When the Red King settled the boundaries of England and Scotland at
this point, he drove out the owner of the lands and commenced the building of
a Norman castle upon the N. and most elevated spot of this piece of high
ground, rising 60 feet above the Eden. The slopes of the hill on the
N., E., and W. are very steep towards the meadows intervening between
the three rivers below. Rufus retained the district in his own hands, but
Henry I. granted it as the earldom of Caerleolium to Ranulph le Meschines,
who soon after (through his mother Maud, sister of Hugh d'Avranches, sur
named Lupus, Earl of Chester) inherited the earldom of Chester, on the
VOL. II. 2 P

298 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
drowning of Earl Richard, together with Prince Williain and many other
young nobles, on board the White Ship at Barfleur. He thereon surrendered
Caerleolium to the king, and the earldom was divided into two parts, the
eastern portion going to form the county of Westmorland, and the rest
being divided into baronies.
During Stephen's reign, Cumberland was given over to the Scots, and
it is probable that Carlisle and its walls were finished by King David of
Scotland, who soinetimes resided here. Fordun fixes his occupation in 11 38,
and Carhsle remained in the hands of the Scots till 1157, when King Malcolm
surrendered the city and castle to Henry II. In 1174, William the Lion
besieged the place with a force of 80,000, as is said ; but on his capture at
Alnwick the siege was raised. Here in 1186 King Henry attended with
a large army to meet this same Scottish king and his brother David, then on
friendly terms. But in 1216 King Alexander II. laid siege again to Carlisle,
when the castle held out, but from the injuries it received became so dilapi
dated that in 1256 a survey was ordered for its repair. In 1296 an incursion
of the Scots under the Earl of Buchan was beaten off, and a systera of
fire-beacons was instituted in the surrounding country to give notice of an
enemy's approach. Soon after Edward I. arrived here with his army, this being
the first of four visits which he paid. The last occasion was in 1307, when he
kept his last birthday here, and shortly after died at Burgh-upon-Sands, in
the neighbourhood. Most of the Edwardian additions to the castle are of
this reign (Clark). It was in 1305 that the heroic Sir Williain Wallace was
confined in irons here on his way to his cruel death at Smithfield.
The Bruce laid siege to Carlisle in 1315, directing the attack chiefly against
the city waUs ; but Sir Andrew de Harcla, the governor, drove him off after a
hard-fought siege of eleven days, for whicii service in 1322 Harcla was made
Earl of Carlisle and Lord Warden of the Marches ; he had also that year
earned the gratitude of Edward II. by vanquishing at Boroughbridge the
Earl of Lancaster, John de Mowbray, and others, and quelling their insur
rection. But the next year, wearied with the weakness of the king, whom
perhaps he thought likely to lose his kingdom, Harcla sought Robert
Bruce at Lochmaben and entered into traitorous terms with him for mutual
support. This was brought to the notice of Edward, who sent at once Sir
Anthony de Lucy with three knights to apprehend Earl Harcla. On February
23rd, Lucy with a few followers entered Carlisle Castle, concealing their arms
under their cloaks, and passed without challenge into the inner ward, and
thence to the great hall, whence they proceeded to the private apartments of
the governor, whora they found there unarmed and engaged in writing. He
was at once arrested ; but the sound of voices alarmed the retainers, who
came to the rescue, and the keeper of the inner ward was killed by Sir
Richard Denton in his attempt to close the gate. Lucy's warrant, however,

CUMBERLAND

299

prevailed; the castle was surrendered to him, and the governor made close
prisoner. On March 2nd the Chief Justiciary, Sir Jeffrey le Scrope, arrived,
and on the following day the earl was arraigned and tried, found guilty, de
graded, and sentenced to be hung, drawn, and quartered. The sentence was
at once carried out with all its barbarous cruelty, his quarters being distributed
over the country, one of them disfiguring the castle keep.
Edward III. 111 1334, being in Scotland, sent Edward Baliol to Carlisle
to defend Cumberland ; and in 1337 ^•''c^ L^45 the Scots made incursions
against the fortress, which must have needed repairs, as a survey was
ordered at that period. During the weak reign of Richard 1 1., the Scots
made several attempts against the place, in 1380, 1385, and 1387 ; and in
the Civil Wars of the
fifteenth century Car
lisle suffered greatlv,
though we hear little
regarding its castle.
Edward IV. made his
brother Richard of
Gloster governor of it,
and he resided here,
one of the towers be
ing called after him.
Henry VIIL, in or
der to adapt the castle
for artillery, caused
many alterations to
be raade, building a
blockhouse or citadel
on the S. side, of similar form to those which he provided along the S. coast.
Pennant describes it as oblong in shape, with three circular bastions, and a
strong machicolated gateway, defended in front by a moat and drawbridge.
Elizabeth built the chapel and barracks, her arms being placed thereon ;
but the survey of 1563 shows that large repairs were then necessary, 70 feet
of the wall of the outer ward, 9 feet thick and 18 feet high, having fallen,
and both the keep and the captain's tower needed repair, the parapets also
being ruinous and deficient.
In 1568 Mary Queen of Scots was brought here with some state, after
her landing at Workington on Sunday, May i6th, by the sheriff. Sir Richard
Lowther, and she remained here until her removal to Bolton Castle on
July 13th, thus spending six weeks at this castle, where she must have received
the insulting and pitUess rejoinders of Elizabeth, and realised the loss of
her liberty. She occupied a tower in the S.E. corner of the inner ward.

CARLISLE

300 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
which was of finer architecture than the other parts, and contained the state
apartments for distinguished visitors ; the lower part was Norman, with a
circular-headed gateway, holding a portcullis, and having a postern on the
right. The upper part was Early English. A sketch of this tower and its
description are given in the " History and AntiquUies of Carlisle," published
by Jefferson in 1838 ; three years after, the tower was pulled down on account
of its insecure state — a fate shared also by the chapel.
In 1644 General Leslie brought a Parliamentary force to Carlisle, which
was occupied for the king by a large garrison under Sir Thomas Glenham
and Sir Henry Stradling. After a siege prolonged for ten months, the garrison
was starved out and surrendered, when the castle was occupied in force
by the Roundheads.
Prince Charles Edward arrived before Carlisle at Stannix Bank on
November 9, 1754, with a force of about 7000 men and six six-pounder guns,
retreating to Brampton on being fired upon ; but on the 13th they returned
and opened trenches against the city, and when on the 15th scaling-ladders
were brought and an assault ordered, the garrison, which consisted of 300
militia only, hung out a white flag and offered to surrender. The prince
required that the castle should be given up as well as the town, and this
being agreed to, the Highland army entered, and obtained a large booty
of arms and stores and 100 barrels of powder. The people of the neigh
bourhood had sent their plate and valuable effects into the castle for safety,
but these were ordered to be restored to their owners. A garrison was left
in the castle of 100 men, and the prince's army then proceeded on their
incursion into England, from which they returned on the 20th December,
passing one night at Carlisle to change the garrison, and retreating next day
into Scotland. The same day the king's army under the Duke of Cumberland
marched from Penrith to Carlisle, and being received with artillery fire, raised
batteries against the place and summoned it, whereupon the town and castle were
delivered up to the royal troops. Nearly 400 prisoners were sent to London
with Mr. John Hamilton of Aberdeenshire, the governor, who, with another
officer, was hung, drawn, and quartered. There are traces of two field-
works in the meadows N. of the castle, evidently prepared for the reception
of the Scots army as they approached over the brow at Stannix in November
1745 (Clark).
The plan of the castle is a right-angled triangle, of which its right angle
is on the S.W., and the longest side, somewhat curved, from N. to E. ; the
area contained being about 3 acres. A strong buttressed wall with bastions
crowns the edge of the slope, and is carried on the E. and W. sides past
the castle to unite with the city waUs. The S. front is separated from the
town by a deep ditch 30 yards broad and 10 yards deep, and a glacis.
The walls of the inner court converge on a flat salient, in the middle of the

CUMBERLAND

301

outer court at the gatehouse, called the Captain's Tower. This is rectangular,
with a low-arched Decorated gateway and xaulted passage furnished with
gates and portcullis; in front was once a ditch and a drawbridge. Old plans
show a small lunette battery placed near in front, and coraraunicating with
the outer gatehouse by a covered-way ; but all this outside work has been

¦^^-^

CARLISLE

removed. The wall is backed by a rampart and masonry, probably of the time
of Henry VIII.
The keep measures 66 feet N. and S., and 61 feet E. and W., and is now
68 feet high. It has been so much altered that the old plan cannot be well
seen. The entrance, which had an Edwardian portcullis, is on the ground
level on the E. face. . The basement is vaulted in four compartments, and had
a stair in the N.W. angle to the first floor, which has been vaulted in brick
and is used as a mess-room ; it has a large Norman fireplace now walled up.

302 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
The second floor, reached from the exterior, has a wooden ceiling, and its E.
wall has a mural chamber once used as a prison, and bearing inscriptions by
prisoners. The third floor is vaulted in modern brick to carry a gun platform
on the roof. An external stair (Edwardian), built against the N. face, leads
up to the ramparts.
The hall and the domestic buildings, with Queen Mary's Tower, were at
the S.E. angle, but all is now gone save a fragraent of panelled work, part of
a grand staircase of early Edwardian work which led to the chief apartments
(Clark), The N. wall of the inner ward is protected by a rampart 27 feet thick, and
on the outside are six enormous buttresses (Decorated or Perpendicular), to
support it. Formerly in the centre a spur curtain wall extended down the
slope, ending in a round tower, for flanking this N. wall : it is now reraoved.
The N. face of the curtain and its N.W. corner have been restored in Decorated
style, but most of the W. wall is original (Clark). In the centre of this W.
wall is a small projecting Norman tower, open at the gorge, with a postern
close to it ; it is continued to join the city waU across the outer ditch, and
some way along this is the tower called after Richard IIL, or "Tile Tower,"
which may be Norman work altered. There was, it is said, an underground
passage below this tower and the enceinte. The S. wall is original, with
Norman pilasters. Here is another postern in the wall from the S.E. angle
to the city wall, now banked up ; this led to what is called the Lady's Walk,
at the foot of the S. wall as far as the S. gatehouse, which is alleged to have
furnished the usual promenade of the captive Mary Stuart.

CASTLE CRAG (non-existent)
ON the sides of Lake Derwentwater, overlooking the Vale of Keswick, is an
eminence of this name which was once occupied by a Roman fort, and
afterwards by a fortress of the Norman lords of Der. The materials of this
structure are said to have been employed in building a house on one of the
three wooded islands of the lake, called Lord's Island, upon which the Radcliffe
family had a stately mansion. The island was originally a peninsula, but was
cut off from the mainland by a ditch with a drawbridge, remains of which are
still visible. This residence was given to a younger branch of the family :
Sir John, the brother of Sir Cuthbert Radcliffe, lived and died here. It
then fell to decay, and nothing now remains of it, nor of the Roman castrum
and the Norman tower; for it is alleged that the stones of all were carried
away to build the town-hall of Keswick. The Derwentwater estate extended
for two miles along the shore and for half a mile in depth, between the present
road to Ambleside and the FaUs of Lodore.

CUMBl'.RLAND 303
The Derwentwaters appear to have been settled in Cumberland as early as
the time of King John, and continued diere till 48 Edward III., when Sir John
de Derwentwater was sheriff of the county, a post he also filled in the leign
of Richard II. Fie was the last of his race, and his property was inherited by
his daughter Margaret, who, temp. Henry V., inarried Sir Nicholas de Radclilfe,
of a faniily coming from the vUlage of that name in Lancashire, near Bury
(see Dilston), whose pedigree assumes a De Radclilfe prior to the time of
Henry II. (Gibson). Many of these Cumberland Radcliffes were buried at
Crossth waite. CASTLESTEADS (non-c.xistcnt)
HUTCHINSON says (vol. i. p. 102) that the ancient mansion-house of
Gilsland was at a place in the parish of Walton called Castle Steed, and
that Gilbert Bueth dwelt here (see Irthington) ; also that the lords of Gilsland
used its ruins for building Naworth Castle. But the fact is, that there is no
evidence for the existence of any castle or tower here at any time : there
seems to have been nothing but a Roinan camp, the ramparts and ditches
of which are still very apparent, and from this site many altars and Roman
remains have been dug.

CATTERLEN HALL (minor)
THREE miles N.W. of Penrith, situated on a hiU at the base of which
flows the PetteriU, is a good specimen of a Border peel tower, with later
additions, which increased civilisation required and improved security allowed.
It is not known by whora the ancient tower was erected ; it probably dates
from the Wars of the Roses, and is simUar to others in the district. It was
added to in the fifteenth century, and, in the middle of the seventeenth, it
received the more iraposing buildings, approached by a flight of stairs.
The peel is a small one, 30^- feet long by 19I broad, and consists of a
single barrel-vaulted basement lighted by narrow slits and old loops enlarged,
the walls being 4 feet thick. In the S.W. angle a low-pointed doorway leads
to the newel stair by which the other floors are reached. The first story is
the solar, in a single apartment, with a small closet having a window on
the E., over which is a shield with the arms of Vaux of Catterlen. The
flooring of both storeys is gone, but the joist corbels remain. The second
floor was the ladies' chamber, with windows on the N. and E. sides. The
parapet round the roof was crenellated.
The ranges of building added at the end of the tower consist of a two-
storeyed erection 22 yards long, with a hall and kitchen and sleeping rooms

304 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
overhead. Over the doorway is an inscription by the builder, Rowland Vaux
(1577). The hall, with a wooden roof, is a good Tudor building, where the
lord and his guests dined in coinmon with his retainers.
The second addition was made by the Richmond family, about 1657, at
right angles to the last range ; this contains a courthouse and a retiring-room
reached by stairs from the court, with inferior rooms below, all built in the
style of the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages.
After the Conquest, Hubert de VaUibus (Vaux) wrested the lands from
Wilfrid, son of the Saxon thane, and Henry I. granted them to him,
together with Gilsland, despoiled from the Saxon Beuth. The faraily of Vaux
continued to hold the property till the last John Vaux died, s.p., in 1642, when
the manor went with his daughter Mabel to a neighbouring squire, Chris
topher Richmond of Highhead Castle, frora whose fainily it carae in 1775 by an
heiress to the Duke of Norfolk, and it is now the property of the Howards.

COCKERMOUTH (dnef)
THIS castle stands on a steep and rocky knoll on the point of land
formed by the confluence of the Cocker with the river Derwent. Such
a position was in earliest times a favourite one for the placing of a strong
hold ; and upon this triangular space of scarped rock, defended on all sides
but one by water, and perhaps following Roman foundations, the Norman
baron built a keep, with a bastioned curtain wall around the highest ground
enclosing his bailey or ward, and protected on the open side by a ditch
with a barbican. This early castle must have been that destroyed by
Henry III. in his vengeance on WiUiam de Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle,
in 1221 (see Bytham, Lincoln); for the remains of these buildings are trace
able, and the greater part of what now exists was erected in Decorated and
Perpendicular styles between 1360 and 1400.
When Ranulph de Meschines succeeded to his cousin's great earldom
of Chester (see Carlisle), he ceded to Henry I. the rights and fief of Caerleol,
whereon that king created five new baronies, Copeland or AUerdale above
Derwent, AUerdale below Derwent, Wigton, Greystock, and Levington,
reserving to the Crown Inglewood Forest and Carlisle ; the rest of the fief
went to Westmorland. Ranulph's brother, who had obtained the barony
of Gilsland, resigned it in exchange for that of Copeland, between Dudden
and Derwent; while Waldeof, son of Gospatric, Earl of Northumberland,
obtained AUerdale below Derwent, which passed, four generations later,
to William Fitz-Duncan, Earl of Moray, the nephew of Malcolm, King of
Scots. Meanwhile, Copeland had come to Cicely de Meschines, the grand
daughter of William, and then to her daughter Alice (by Robert de Romilly,

CUMBERLAND 305
lord of Skipton), who was married to this same Williain, Earl of Moray ;
and their only son, who is known in poetry as "the Boy of Egremont,"
became heir to all these large possessions in England, as well as to his father's
vast territory in Scotland. But an even greater future seemed pfissible for
this son — the victim of the Wharfe — for when David, King of Scotland, died,
Malcolm his successor was not favoured by the Highland clans, because he
had acted as a vassal or feudatory to his cousin King Henry II. of England
at the siege of Toulouse, and they desired to see this cousin, this Boy of
Egremont, on the throne in his place (Skene's "Celtic Scotland," vol. i.
p. 456). But the catastrophe of Wharfe,
" When Lady Adaliza mourned
Her son, and felt in her despair
The pang of unavailing prayer,"
ended all these bright visions, and the English lands fell to the three sisters
of the Boy — Cicely, Amabel, and Alice — who all, in themselves or their descen
dants, possessed Cockermouth.
Cicely, the eldest daughter of Williain Fitz-Duncan and his wife Alice de
Romilly, carried Skipton to her husband, William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle
(see Scarborough). And their only daughter Hawise inarried successively William
de Mandeville, William de Fortibus, and Baldwin de Bethune, by the second
of whom she left an only son, Williara, who through her became the second
Earl of Albemarle, and was the rebel in the early part of Henry III.'s reign.
Alice was the wife of Robert de Courtenai, as her second husband (1196),
and paid to King John a fine of ;£5oo, ten palfreys, and ten oxen, to have the
liberty of her inheritance, and not to be compelled to marry again. She
died s.p., when her property of AUerdale went to the descendants of her
sister Cicely, and to those of her other sister Amabel, who had married Reginald
de Lucy and had obtained the barony of Copeland.
There is a command of the young King Henry III. in 1221 to the sheriff
of Westmorland, following on Albemarle's rebellion, that he should cause the
castle of Cockermouth to be besieged and destroyed to its very foundations.
This order seeras to have been carried out, though, perhaps, only in part, for
we see in the W. tower evidence that it was built early in the thirteenth
century, and was destroyed very soon after, a fourteenth-century building
being afterwards erected on the old foundations. Williain de Fortibus, how
ever, managed to make his peace, and perhaps rebuilt the castle. He married
Aveline, the heiress of Robert de Montfichet, and died in 1241, leaving an only
son, William, whose second wife was Isabel de Ripariis (1247), sister and
heiress of Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon. William died in 1260, and his
VOL. ir. 2 Q

3o6 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
widow had Cockermouth as her dower ; but the immense possessions of the
Earls of Devon and of De Fortibus fell to Aveline, sole heiress of this last
Williain and Isabella de Redvers, so that she became a suitable match for Prince
Edmond "Crouchback," Earl of Lancaster, whom she raarried in 1269. She
died six years afterwards, and her vast property was escheated to the Crown,
though descendants of the two sisters Cicely and Amabel were still living.
Edward I. retained Cockermouth Castle in his own hands, and Edward II.
handed it over first to Piers Gaveston, and afterwards to Sir Andrew Harcla,
whose rebellion and destruction are related under Carlisle Castle.
Then Anthony de Lucy, who had claimed the property, being a descendant
of Amabel, the second sister of the Boy of Egremont, was, in return for his
capture of Harcla, presented with Cockermouth. He died in 1343, and his
son Thomas married Margaret, one of the three coheiress sisters of John de
Multon ; the other two being married, Elizabeth to Robert de Harrington,
and Joan to Robert de Fitzwalter ; and each of the three became entitled to
a third of the Egremont barony. This Thomas de Lucy is given by Froissart
as one of the companions of Edward III. in Normandy in 1346, and he pro
bably fought at Cre9y. He repaired the bastion at the W. salient of this castle
and buiU the great hall. His son Anthony succeeded him in 1365, but died in
the Holy Land, whereupon his sister Maud, the wife of GUbert de Umfraville,
Earl of Angus, becarae heiress of the Lucy line. This Anthony de Lucy was
lord of Cockermouth from 2 Edward II. to 17 Edward IIL, and being a
high military chief on the marches, probably kept his castle in proper order.
It may have been he who remodelled the Norman work, and built the new
front of the inner ward and the great kitchen, in the Decorated period (Clark).
The Lady Maud had by the Earl of Angus a daughter, who after the earl's
death (8 Richard II.) inarried Henry Percy, ist Earl of Northumberland.
Failing her own heirs, the honour of Cockermouth was settled on the heirs
male of her husband, who were to wear the arms of Percy (a blue lion), and
of Lucy (3 lucies), quarterly ; and the remainder taking effect, Cockermouth
passed to the Percy descendants of Earl Henry's first wife Margaret, daughter
of Ralph, Lord Nevill of Raby. The arms of all these families appear on the
shields over the castle gatehouse built by this earl, by whom the area of the
fortress was trebled by the extension of the outer ward, eastward. Maud died
in 1398, and Earl Henry, like many other nobles, after helping to place Boling
broke on the throne, turned against him and joined Owen Glendower and
Roger Mortimer ; he was beheaded after the fight on Bramham Moor in
1408, his eldest son, Henry, " Hotspur," having been slain at the battle of Shrews
bury five years before. His grandson, the second earl, fell at St. Albans, and
the third earl at Towton (1461), when the estates became forfeited to the Crown
by attainder, and this castle and honour were then granted to Richard, Earl
of Warwick, and, after his death, to Henry, 4th Eari of Northumberland, who

CUMBERLAND 307
was murdered at his seat of Cock Lodge, Yorkshire. The fifth earl, who did
not live here, died in 1527, being the first of these lords who died a natural
death during 150 years, and the si.\th died s.p,, leaving his property to die
Crown. The Percys were thus dispossessed for twenty years, but in 1557 Thomas
Percy was restored, and when Queen Mary Stuart landed at Workington, at the
mouth of the Derwent, in 1568, and was by the sheriff. Sir Richard Lowther, con
ducted to Cockermouth Castle, Earl Thomas hastened to receive her there, and
desired to bring her to his grander home of Alnwick, which, from the proximity
of that castle to the coast, was not permitted by Elizabeth.
In 1577 a survey of the castle was made, which stated that the fabric was
then in a great state of decay " as well in the stone work as timber work thereof."
This was in the time of Henry, eighth earl, who, being confined in the Tower for
complicity in Throgmorton's plot for liberating the Queen of Scots, was in 1585
found dead in his bed in the Bloody Tower, with three bullets in his side. His
son Henry, ninth earl, caUed " The Wizard," was also committed to the Tower
on the charge of being concerned in the Gunpowder Plot, and remained there
for fifteen years ; he died in 1632, and was followed by Earl Algernon, whose son
Earl Jocelyn (eleventh) ended the male line of his race, and Cockermouth came
by his daughter and sole heiress to Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerset. Their
son, Duke Algernon, created Earl Egremont and Baron Cockermouth, died in
1750, leaving a daughter, but Cockermouth Castle and the earldom were settled
on Sir Charles Wyndham, the grandson of Duke Algernon, and thus descended
to George, the last earl, who died s,p. legitimate, leaving this castle to his
natural son.
The entrance is at the N. end of the E. front, formerly through an open
barbican with a drawbridge, and thence through a three-storeyed gatehouse
(cir. 1400) which has a fine newel staircase with groined roof. Inside the walls
are raodern buildings and traces of early ones, and on the left is an ascent to
the flagstaff tower at the S.E. angle of the wall, and to the wall allure. In
front is the great face of the inner ward (1390), which once had before it a
dry ditch across the courtyard. Passing through the inner gateway in the
centre we cross the cellars or prisons, formed within what was originally the
first moat, and by a steep flight of stairs ascend into the inner ward, where, on
the right, is the castle well, and an entrance into the great hall which abuts on
the kitchen. This is a huge tower, open to the roof, and having a gallery across
its N. side which led into the hall, with recessed pantries below it, and on its
opposite side a newel staircase in the wall to the rooL The hall measures
48 feet in length by 30 feet, and beyond it runs a range of solar or state apart
ments, whose inner wall has disappeared. In the salient circular tower at the
W. the archers' seats still remain in the windows. Perhaps the chapel stood
over the great entrance

3o8 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
In August 1648 the castle was held for the Parliament, and being attacked
by a Royalist force it held out for a month, until relieved by General Ashton.
As there are no battlements remaining, there seems good reason to believe that
the fortress was dismantled at this period.

CORBY (minor)
ON the E. side of the Eden, four miles E.S.E. of Carlisle, stood this fortress,
built on a precipitous cliff impending over the river, on the site of a
still earlier work. The square walls of its keep were incorporated in the
later mansion built about the middle of the sixteenth century.
The manor of Corby was given by Henry II. to Hubert de Vaux, who
gave it to one Odard, whose descendants assumed the name of De Corby.
In the reign of Edward I. this De Corby family gave way to the Richmonds,
who 16 Edward II. conveyed the property to Andrew de Harcla, afterwards
Earl of Carlisle, after whose execution (see Carlisle) it was bestowed in 1335
on Richard de Salkeld for his former good service in assisting in the capture
of the earl. His descendant in the reign of Henry VII. left two daughters,
and the families derived from thera owned Corby, and in 1606 and 1624
sold their moieties to Lord William Howard, who gave the place to his
second son. Sir Francis, ancestor of the present proprietor. Lord W. Howard,
or Belted Will, is written of in the Memoir of Naworth (q.v).
There is little of antiquity apparent in the existing structure, so many
and various have been the alterations and additions made thereto. The castle
is surrounded by celebrated and very beautiful grounds.

DACRE (minor)
THE river Eamont, flowing E. from Ullswater, receives at its N. bank
the small stream of the Dacre beck, and about a mile from this place
up the beck, at the mouth of a pleasant valley, stands this castle on a spur
of high ground, with the village of Dacre close beside it. William of
Malmesbury, writing A.D. 11 31, mentions a castle at Dacre as being the place
where Constantine, King of the Scots, and Eugenius, King of Cumberiand,
put themselves and their kingdoms under Athelstane, the King of England,
about the year 927. But whatever may have been the rude fortress of
those days, the present one, from its Early English style, was not built
till some time in the thirteenth century. It was perhaps erected by
Ranulph de Dacre, who was a firm Royalist during the Barons' War, and
was sheriff of the county, as his father was before him, dying 14 Edward I.

CUMBERLAND

309

His family doubtless took their name from the place, and lived here probably
tiU by the abduction of Margaret de Multon, the heiress of Gilsland, in 1313
(see Naworth and Kirkosivald), Ralph de Dacre obtained the fine seat of
Kirkoswald, which formed an abode more befitting the increased iinportance
of his person and family. These Dacres were bold men of high spirit and
reputation, and were as successful in love as in the State. Sir Thomas at
the end of the fifteenth century followed his ancestor's example in acquiring
the lordship of Greystoke by a marriage of elopement.

mmmm

%

DACRE

In the seventeenth century Thomas, Lord Dacre of the South, created
Earl of Sussex 1674 (see Hurstmonceaux, Sussex), made many additions to
the building, inserting also the square-headed windows, and placing his arms
(which quartered Lennard, Fiennes, Dacre, and Multon) over the entrance.
He died in 1715 s.p, male, when his earldom ceased, and the barony of
Dacre fell into abeyance between his two daughters, Barbara and Anne, who
sold Dacre to Sir Christopher Musgrave of Edenhall. It was afterwards sold
to Mr. E. W. Hasell of Dalemain.
Dacre Castle consists of a plain massive stone tower, almost square in
form, with large square turrets projecting at the E. and W. corners, square

310 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
with the tower, and at the N. and S. angles two other smaller turrets, set
diagonally like buttresses. The suminit of both tower and turrets has a
crenellated parapet, the height of this from the ground being about 66 feet.
The large turret on the W. contains a broad newel staircase leading to the
upper storeys and the battlements, and the one on the E. side has four small
apartments. Against this latter is built, on the outside, a flight of stairs giving
access to the pointed doorway of the castle. Of the two smaller turrets, that
on the N. contains rooms for sleeping accommodation, and the opposite one
was appropriated to garderobes and drains, and is nov\' blocked up.
The outer walls are very strong, being 8| feet thick. The basement has
two barrel-vaulted chambers for cellars or dungeons, dimly lighted. Above
these, with its oven and fireplaces, is the original hall or kitchen, formerly
a single apartment 36 feet long by 21 feet wide ; opposite the fireplace is a
curious recess with a shelf and water drain, like a piscina. The chamber
of the second floor is called by tradition "The Room of the Three Kings,"
from the legend of Williara of Malmesbury ; it is 17 feet high to the wooden
ceiling, and a minstrels' gallery seems to have formerly occupied its E. wall,
reached by a stair from the turret and a mural passage.
A large moat, once 15 to 20 feet deep, and from 30 to 50 feet wide,
extends from the N.E. of the castle, and forms a quadrangular enclosure
150 feet square, being still filled with water. The court thus enclosed probably
held the stables and offices, and the outer defences were perhaps closed on the
tower by palisades.
DALSTON HALL (minor)
THE manor-house of Little Dalston, lying four miles to the S.W. of
Carlisle, is a building which, like Naworth, has expanded from the
original peel, the tower at the E. end of the range of building measuring
31 feet by 25 J feet. Little Dalston was a manor within the barony of Dalston,
which was presented by Ranulph de Meschines, Earl of Cumberland, to
Robert de VaUibus or Vaux, the brother of Hubert of Gilsland. He took
the name of the place, whicii he enjoyed until Stephen ceded Cumberland
to King David ; but this manor he gave to a younger brother, whose descen
dants kept it till 1761.
Sir William Dalston, created baronet in 1640, was a staunch Royalist and
suffered considerably in the cause. During the long siege of Carlisle in 1644,
he had to retire before General Lesley, who seized on his house and converted
it into headquarters. He died in 1657, and the male line failed at the death
of Sir George, the fifth baronet, in 1765, who, however, had sold the property
five years before to Monkhouse Davison, after whose death it was purchased
(1795) by Jaines Sowerby, in whose family it remains.

CUMBERLAND 311
This old fort is situated on an eminence overlooking the valley of Caldew,
and is at present used as a farm-house. It consists of two square embattled
towers echeloned 50 feet apart, and connected by inferior buildings. Upon
a cornice is seen this old inscription : "^loljll 3Dal|3t0n CU'jillietlj tolpl)e maH
p0 IljlDj^lig:," which is thought to refer to an owner in the middle of the
fourteenth century. The fabric itself is ancient, but the square-headed
windows are of the date of Henry VIIL The tower is of the same type as
all peels, in three storeys, with a staircase in the wall.

DRAWDYKES {non-existent)
THE tower of this name, in the township of Linstock, was built in 1676
by John Aglionby on the site of an old Border fortress, which was
removed during that century, but of which there are no remains, nor any
history. The vallum of the Roman wall is clearly traceable in front of the
castle ; the three busts on the top of the tower are said to have come frora
the wall, but they have nothing Roman about thera (/. C, Bruce).

DRUMBURGH (minor)
CLOSE to the Roman wall, at the head of the Solway Firth, qi railes from
Burgh, are considerable remains of a fine specimen of an old fortified
manor-house. Leland, writing of it in 1539, says : "At Drumburygh, the Lord
Dacres father builded upon old ruines a prety pyle for defence of the country.
The stones of the Pict wall were pulled down to build it." It was anciently a
seat of the Bruns, lords of Bowness, and afterwards belonged to the barony of
Burgh, which passed by heiresses through the several great families of Estriver,
Eugaine, De Morville, Dacre, and Howard (see Naworth, &c.). It now belongs
to the Earl of Lonsdale, since in 1678 Henry, Duke of Norfolk, sold the demesne
to John Aglionby, who repaired the castle, then in ruins, and later conveyed
it to the earl's ancestor, Sir John Lowther, in exchange for Nunnery, the head
of the Armathwaite manor. Thomas, Lord Dacre, rebuilt the structure in the
reign of Henry VIIL, and in 1680 John Aglionby inserted new square windows ;
so although built at the end of the fourteenth, or at the beginning of the fifteenth
century, its appearance is quite changed, and there is nothing now of a castel
lated nature remaining.

312 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

DUNWALLOGHT (non-existent)
THIS castle was in the parish of Cumrew. Here William de Dacre had
a manor-house, which in i Edward II. (1307) he obtained a licence to
fortify. It was then written as Dunmalloght, and there are some existing
traces of it.

EGREMONT (minor)
THE castle stands on a remarkable hill close to the town, commanding the
ford over the Eden and the bridge of later date, — a most favourable site
for a fortress, but no traces exist of any fortification earlier than the twelfth
century, though there may have been a hill-fort in prehistoric times.
When Williara de Meschines obtained the barony of Copeland from
Henry IL, he buiU on this "cop" a fort to protect himself against a hostile
population and also from the attacks of the Scots. There is shown under
Cockermouth how AUerdale below Derwent came to Alice de Romilly and
Williara Fitz-Duncan, Earl of Moray, and also the disposition of the lands after
the death of their son, "The Boy of Egremont," — so called, perhaps, from having
been born here in the castle of his grandmother Cicely de Meschines. His sister
Amabel or Annabel married Lambert de Multon, the eldest son of Thomas de
Multon of Holbeach, Lincolnshire, and brought to her husband these lands and
the castle, to which he is said to have added the great hall. He died in 1247, and
the property descended for three generations of the same family to Thomas
De Multon in 1293, who, an important man of his day, figures in the Roll of
Caerlaverock. He died about the time of the Bruce's raid into England in
1315, leaving a widow Eleanor, who had for her dower the castle of Egremont
with its lands.
John de Multon, the last of his race, died s.p. in 1335, when the barony
passed to his three sisters, the caput baronies, i.e., the castle and lands, falling
through the eldest, Joan, to Robert Fitzwalter.
We next hear of Egremont in 1371, when Walter, the son of this Joan and
Robert Fitzwalter, being taken prisoner in the invasion of Gascony, had to
mortgage the castle in order to raise £1000 for his ransom. Perhaps this
money was furnished by the Percy family and was never redeemed, since in
1449 Thomas Percy, a son of Hotspur, was created Baron Egremont of
Egremont Castle ; he was slain at the battle of Northampton in 1460, when the
title expired, but this property reraained with his family.
About the year 1528, Henry Algernon Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland,
the early lover of Anne Boleyn, bought from Robert, Viscount Fitzwalter, one
third part of this ancient barony and castle, whereby he seems to have acquired

s

CUMBERLAND 313
the greater portion of the whole property ; but on the death of this earl
i" 1537 the entire Percy estates fell to the Crown, and were afterward-
granted by Philip and Mary in 1557 to his nephew Thomas, at whose exe
cution, in connection with the rising in the North in 1572, his brother
Henry inherited.
A survey was then made of the Percy estates, and at Egremont it was found,
in 1578, that "the Castle of Egremont is now almost ruinated and decay'd,
save that some part of the old stonework & walls thereof are yet standing,
& one chamber therein now used for the Court house in like ruin & decay.
About which castle is a pleasant dry dich, & without the said dich hath been
the base court now called the Castle-garth, the site of which said Castle together
with the said Castle-garth contain by est. 2 acres & worth to be lett p. ann.
14s. 6d." Such condition of
the old fortress at that date ,
is sufficient to account for its "^ '
present state, without ascribing
its further ruin to the Parlia
mentary forces of the seven
teenth century.
The castle occupies an oval-
shaped eminence, the sides of
which have been scarped on
all sides, its highest point being
at the N., where perhaps stood
the original tower of the Mes
chines, and where Buck's draw- egremont
ing of 1739 shows a high raised
tower fronting the road from St. Bees Abbey (also founded by William de
Meschines) to Egremont. Round the crest of this hill ran the enceinte wall,
which once had bastion towers at various points.
The square entrance tower remains at the S.W. corner, the lower part of
which, with a considerable length of the curtain wall adjoining on the left of
it, is of the first half of the twelfth century, according to Mr. Jackson (Trans
actions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian Society, vol. iv.), and
contains herring-bone work, as appears on the drawing given. There was a
steep approach up to the drawbridge, and a circular Norman gateway opened
into a groined archway, defended by strong doors.
The outer ward is 120 feet in length and ends in front of the great hall,
built cir. 1260, which formed a defensible dwelling of the nature of a keep
(as at Knaresborough), with an entrance defended by a portcuUis. Traces
of screens and window seats remain, but little of this building now exists ;
the lights were double, and raised far above the court. No chapel is to be
VOL. II. 2 R

314 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
found, but as the walls of the inner bailey have nearly perished, this and
other buildings which we now seek in vain may have been situated
here. The salient on the S. was formed by a thirteenth-century circular bastion,
which has vanished.
Below the upper ground there runs round the castle a broad lower terrace,
also scarped : on the inner side of this was the ditch, of which a portion
remains near the S.W. entrance. The barbican at the main entrance has
gone entirely, as likewise have defences which perhaps stood at two other
points of approach up the scarp of the terrace, round which probably ran
a strong palisade. Below the S. end of the hill were the pleasaunce and
gardens, and perhaps the tilt-yard. This is the castle to which, as told by
Wordsworth, is attached the legend of the Horn of Egremont, relating to its
possession by the Lucys, which could not, however, have lasted many years
after 1335.

GREYSTOKE, or GREYSTOCK (chief)
THIS beautiful mansion of the Howards, occupying the site of the ancient
castle, was built in the seventeenth century by the Hon. Charles
Howard ; but subsequent owners, Dukes of Norfolk, have added to and
greatly embellished the work of those days. It stands on an eminence
protected on the E. and S. by a rocky bank, below which a small stream
flowed on its way to join the PetteriU. There are but few remains of
the ancient fortress, which was demolished by the Parliament after its
capture in the Civil War. " Some broken towers are seen to the E., and
in the back part of the present mansion some other old edifice appears"
(Hutchinson). The Conqueror gave Cumberland to Ranulph de Meschines, who granted
this barony to one Lyulph, to whom it. was confirmed by Henry I., and
whose posterity assumed the name of Greystock. The Greystocks continued
here in unbroken succession, generally from father to son, with much honour
and wealth, intermarrying with the best families in the land, until the reign
of Henry VIL, when Robert, the son of Ralph, Lord Greystock, concluded the
line, leaving an only daughter. She, being lady of Greystock and Wem, eloped
from Brougham Castle one night and married Thomas, Lord Dacre of Gilsland,
whereupon her estates went to the Dacres, whose race ended in the male line
at the death of George, an infant, from the effects of a fall in the nursery, in
II Elizabeth. His sisters then succeeded. The eldest, Anne, became the wife
of Philip, Earl of Arundel, eldest son of the Duke of Norfolk, and brought
Greystock to that family (see Naworth). The old castle must have been built

CUMBERLAND

315

in the fourteenth century by Williain, Lord Greystock, who obtained a licence
from Edward IIL, and who built also the castle of Morpeth ; he died in 1359.
Greystoke was garrisoned and held for King Chailes, but in 1648 it was

greystoke

captured by a Parliamentary force of General Lambert's division, and was then
burnt and destroyed. It stood in a park of 500 acres.

HARBY BROW (minor)
NEAR the village of AUhallows and not far from Aspatria, on the N. bank
of the Eden, is an old peel tower, 30 feet square and bofeet high, now used
as a farm-house.
HAY, OR HAYES (non-existent)
IN the Whitehaven district, half a mile from Distington, was once the
residence of the Moresby faraily, and the manor-house of the lords of
Distington. Little remains of the place except a portion of the N. wall, but
its foundations may be traced over a considerable area.

3i6 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

HIGHHEAD (minor)
THIS place lies about eight mUes S. of Carlisle, in the township of IvegUI.
The tower belonged to the barony of Dalston, and is called in old records
" Pela de Hivehead," — showing that originally it was a peel tower only. The
manor belonged to Sir Andrew Harcla (see Carlisle), and after his execution to the
Crown. In 1326 Ralph Dacre obtained a grant of it and of the tower for ten years,
afterthe expiry of which Williain L'Angleys, or L'Englise, was made custodian for
life. In 1342 (16 Edward III.) WiUielmus Lengleys, "dilectus vallettus noster,"
had a licence to crenellate his house of Heyheved, and this is probably the date
of the new buildings then added to the old peel. His son in 1358 built the
chapel, which was but a mean edifice. From the Langleys the property passed
in 1550 by sale to John Richmond, in whose time the building was altered
and enlarged, and all that remains of the old castle was then incorporated.
His descendant Christopher Richmond left two daughters, the elder of whom
became the wife of S. Gledhill, and the younger, Elizabeth, married Peter
Broughara of Skelton, whose son, Henry Richmond Brougham, the High
Sheriff of Cumberland, spent ;^io,ooo upon new buildings here, procuring
workmen from Italy to carry out the plaster-work. He died in 1749, before the
place was finished, and the house passing into the hands of two families,
half of it to each, was neglected by both, and fell partially into ruin. In
the present century, the famous lawyer. Lord Chancellor Henry Brougham,
a descendant of one of the owners, became purchaser of the castle, which
has since been placed in better repair, and is now used as a farm-house.
There was once a good deal of carved woodwork about the building, which
has been removed to Brougham Hall.
Mr. Ferguson says that the remains of the ancient peel have to be sought
behind the panels of upper bedrooms. Buck gives a drawing of Highhead as
it appeared in 1739.
This grand structure stands on the brink of a rocky ravine, overhanging
"the Ive rivulet which flows below. Upon three sides the position is strong
by nature, and upon the fourth the defences were assured by a massive wall
and iron gates. In Buck's view there is shown the ruined gatehouse with a
staircase turret in the inner corner, ending in a look-out, and on each side
a high embattled wall ; on the brink of the rocks stand the shattered remains
of a large tower. H. R. Brougham's work must have commenced immediately
after the taking of this sketch, and the building as erected by him is in a
singularly inappropriate Italian style, with a balustrade parapet at top support
ing a grand pediment decorated with figures in high relief. A double flight
of stairs leads to the entrance, which conducts to a great hall with rows of
Ionic columns, and corridors branching off right and left to the various

CUMBERLAND 317
apartments ; in the midst rises a fine staircase, in two flights, to the
upper storeys.
The only remaining portion of the ancient building is at the S.W. side,
incorporated in the present house, and made to match the new work by a
new stone facing.
HUTTON JOHN (minor)
THIS is a peel belonging to the chain of Border towers extending through
the Eamont and Eden valleys, among whicii are Yanwath and Dacre,
and perhaps Blencowe, which is, however, a Hall of the fourteenth century.
It is a square embattled tower, with added wings of later date, the work
of Andrew Hudleston in 1662, when, after being driven away from his other
possessions, he retired here with his faraily. The building was altered again at
the end of the last century, but still retains its ancient appearance.
The old peel seems to date from about 1362, when it was the property of
William de Hoton, being held under Greystoke. The Hotons were here in
the thirteenth century, and possibly began to build at that period.
The structure is in two storeys, and raeasures 38 feet long by 30 feet wide ;
it has sorae interesting masonry and arras upon it. A branch of the Hotons
or Huttons held it till 1564, when an heiress, Margaret, sister of the last raale
heir, brought the property to her husband, Andrew Hudleston, whose fainily
afterwards parted with the greater part of the lands to Charles, nth Duke
of Norfolk. It was a member of this fainily. Father John Hudleston, who
assisted in the escape of Charles II. after the battle of Worcester (September
1651), and followed hira in his exile and wanderings, attending him on his
deathbed. A portrait of this priest is preserved here

IRTHINGTON (non-existent)
THE Chronicle of Lanercost shows the caput baronim of the barony of
Gilsland to have been at Irthington, a village on the N. side of the river
Irthing, 2\ miles from Brampton. Here was once a Roman carap, where
now stands the Nook farm-house, alongside of which is an ancient mound,
on which the English owners, the Irthingas, built their wooden homestead,
and which was perhaps included in the Norman castle afterwards erected
upon the site of the Roman camp.
Ranulph de Meschines, after the Conquest, had granted the barony of
Gilsland to his kinsman or follower Hubert de Vaux or VaUibus, and with
the consent of Henry II. his family continued to possess it. The lands had
belonged to a Celtic fainily called Bueth, one of whom, Gille Mor, was

3i8 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
driven out by the Conqueror ; but when King David obtained Cumberland
from Stephen, he supported Gille Mor Bueth against the Norman possessor,
Robert de Vaux. On Henry II. regaining Cumberland from the Scots,
this Robert re-entered on his property, and the legend runs that he invited
his rival Bueth to a friendly tryst at Castle Steads, and there treacherously
murdered him. It was by way of expiating this deed that, about 1169,
Robert de Vaux is said to have founded the priory of Lanercost.
There is no evidence as to when Irthington Castle was destroyed ; the
foundations of it are well ascertained. Maclauchlan (" Memoir of the Roman
WaU") says that the centre of the present farm-house occupies what was once
the site of the ancient castle : its dimensions were about 96 feet by 75 feet,
with a tower at the S. angle, and perhaps at the others. The middle of the
castle was about 50 yards from the mound, and the walls were some 10 yards
clear of the ditch surrounding that elevation. The mound has been lowered
in order to form a garden on its summit. Many Roman remains, coins, &c.,
have been found here.

I R T O N (minor)
THIS is an early Border tower, square and embattled, on the W. side of
the county, which has been incorporated in the modern dwelling-house
with other portions of the old building — the home of an ancient faraily
who took their narne from the place and the river Irt. The manor was
held as far back as the reign of Henry I. by their ancestor Bertram de Irton,
whose successor Adam became a Knight Hospitaller and went to the Crusades.
The fainily has continued here in high standing and honour through all the
vicissUudes of the country. One member. Sir Thomas Irton, was knighted
for his conduct at Flodden (1513), and others have fiUed the office of High
Sheriff for Cumberland until late in the last century ; the present owner is
Mr. Samuel Irton.

KIRKOSWALD (minor)
THE remains of this once magnificent abode of the Dacres are situated
on rising ground about 200 yards S.E. of the town, in a fine valley,
eight miles from Penrith. The town was called after St. Oswald, King of
Northumbria. This favourite residence of the lords of Gilsland is said to have been buiU
originally by Ranulph or Randolph de Engain, Baron of Burgh, who married
the heiress of the Trivers faraily not long after the Conquest. His grand
daughter Ada brought the inheritance to Simon de Morville, and, in the

CUMBERLAND 319
second year of John, Sir Hugh cle Morville obt.iined a licence to fortify the
castle and enclose a park. This Hugh, Baron of Burgh and Kirkoswald, has
in error been confounded with his notorious namesake who was one of the
murderers of Becket. The assassin of St. Thomas, however, was Hugh, lord
of Westmorland and Knaresborough at the time when Kirkoswald was held
by Simon de Morville, the grandfather of Sir Hugh, who fortified the casfle.
After three generations of this fiimily the lands went with ;in heiress to the
Multons of Holbeach, who as owners greatly enlarged the fortress (temp.
Edward IL). In the seventh year of this king, the castle and manor passed
by the runaway marriage of Margaret de Multon to Ranulph de Dacre of
Dacre (see Nawortli), and the new owners made this place their favourite
residence ; so that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Kirkoswald rose
to its full splendour, and in or about 1500 the castle received its last
additions from Thomas, Lord Dacre, who " encompassed it with a large
ditch for better security, and beautified it at great expense." This Sir Thomas
held the property from 1485 till 1525, and by carrying off at night from
Broughain Castle the young heiress Elizabeth, daughter of the last Lord
Greystoke, he united her barony of Greystoke to Kirkoswald. During his
wardenship of the Marches he lived chiefly here, and some of his despatches
are dated from this place.
Upon the division of the vast possessions of the Dacres into the two
branches of Dacres of the North and Dacres of the South, this castle fell
to the latter, that is, to the Fiennes and Lennard families ; the last of whom
marrying a natural daughter of Charles II. by the Duchess of Cleveland,
was created Earl of Sussex, and died in 1715, leaving two daughters. The
property was then exposed for sale, and was purchased by Sir Christopher
Musgrave, Bart., of Edenhall, in whose family it continues.
These South Dacres, however, did not live here, and under their rule the
place was little cared for and fell into ruin ; at last it was disraantled by
order of Lord Dacre, and was also subjected to spoliation to a vast extent,
a quantity of the carved wood and of painted glass finding its way to Lowther
and Corby. Lord William Howard enriched his castle of Naworth with
curious genealogical glass windows and the panelled ceiling of the hall —
all miserably burnt there in the fire of 1844 (see Naivorth). In 1622 the
beautiful chapel roof of Kirkoswald was removed, and put up over the
library of Belted Will ; so that in 1688 Thomas Denton wrote of this castle
as "a bare shell or heap of stones." Buck's drawing of 1739 shows it almost
as ruinous as it is at present ; some walls, however, were then standing w hich
have since been removed for use in other buildings.
The castle stands in the centre of a space of about if acres, enclosed
by a rectangular moat, 30 to 40 feet wide, and from 12 to 18 feet deep,
which is supplied by a brook in the park above. In the W. angle of the

320 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
moat is a separate outwork, an outlying mound which once was fortified,
surrounded by water, and flanking the drawbridge on the W. side. There
are no traces of the gatehouse which, with this bridge over the moat,
gave admittance to the outer ward. The buildings of the castle formed a
square of about 150 feet, and two towers partly remain on the S. face of it,
having a vaulted basement and two floors. On the N. side stands a tall
slender tower, tolerably entire, 65 feet in height, built diagonally to the castle
wall ; it contains a spiral staircase, admitting to the three floors of the castle
by mural galleries, the doorways to the several entrances still remaining.
There is a fourth doorway leading to the battlements, which have all dis
appeared. On this N. face were situated the chapel and chief apartments,
the great hall lying probably on the E. side.
Sandford, visiting Kirkoswald in 1610, declares this castle to have been
"the fairest fabrick that ever eyes looked upon. The hall I have seen 100
feet long, & the great portraiture of King Brute lying at the end of the
roof of this hall and of all his succeeding Kings of England. In this grand
Castle I was some 60 years agoe, when there was many fair towres and
chambers & chapels."
On the W. face, among grassy mounds and heaps of rubbish, can be
traced the site of the inner gatehouse, and in the outer ward that of the
stables and offices. It seeras possible that before the moat was added by
Sir Thomas Dacre, in 1500, there was an outer wall of defence Nothing
remains now of the Norman castle, all that we see being chiefly the buildings
of the time of Edward II.

LIDDELL, OR LYDDAL (non-existent)
AT Liddell there is a strong earthwork entrenchment, about two miles from
Netherby, called the Mote, situated on a lofty cliff overlooking a vast
expanse of country. At one end of the enclosure is a high mound, and in
the middle lie the foundations of a square building. The work is further
strengthened on its weaker side by a curved lunette in front.
Leland appears to be the authority for this work having contained a castle.
He says : "This was the noted place of a gentilman cawled Syr Walter Seleby,
the which was killed there, & the place destroyed yn King Edward the Thyrde
tirae, when the Scottes went to Dyrham." It is said to have been takeii by
storm by David 1 1., who caused the two sons of Sir Walter to be strangled
before their father's face, and then commanded their parent to be beheaded.
This is all disallowed, however, in a paper on the work by Mr. R. S.
Ferguson, published in the Transactions of the Cumberland Archceological Society,
vol. ix. He affirms it to have been purely a Roman post, and denies that any

CUMBERLAND 321
castle existed here, though perhaps there may have been an early sixteenth-
century abode of the Graham family.
The barony of Liddell was held by the Crown from 1343 till the seventeenth
century, when Jaines I. granted it to Francis, Earl of Cumberland, who sold
Liddell in 1629 to the ancestors of the Grahams of Netherby, of whose estates
it still forms a part. LINSTOCK {minor)
LINSTOCK is a square peel on the Borderland N.W. of Carlisle. It was
J granted by Henry I. to his chaplain Walter, and given by him to the prior
and convent of Carlisle ; afterwards, from the foundation of the bishopric in
1133, it was for nearly 200 years the residence of the bishops. Bishop Irton,
a prelate einployed by the king in negotiations with the Scots, died here in
March 1292, after a tedious journey in the snow to attend the Parliament in
London. The next year Bishop Halton entertained here John Romaine, Arch
bishop of York, and a suite of 300 persons, on his way to Hexham. In 1307
Edward I. came with his queen, and was sumptuously lodged for six days
by the Bishop. Linstock was, however, an insecure retreat, lying exposed
to the incursions of the Scots, who were small respecters of persons, and during
the time of the soldier bishop, who was governor of Carlisle, the annoyances and
the difficulties of defence were so great that about this time it was abandoned
and deserted ; and so it remained till about a century ago, when the castle was
rebuilt and modernised by one James Nicolson, lessee of the estate.
The ancient square tower or keep, built of red sandstone, still exists. Its
walls, which are very massive, contain four chambers ; the ground floor is
vaulted, and is lighted by a single loop. From the large room on the first floor
a stair contrived in the wall leads to the second floor, which is in two rooms.
It was repaired and modern windows were inserted in 1768, and it is now used
as a farm-house. Part of the moat which once surrounded the building still
exists. There is no way of fixing the date of erection, but originally the castle
must have been of much larger extent to have accommodated the bishops with
their retinue and their visitors.

MILLOM (minor)

ILLOM is on the extreme S.W. point of the county, between the sea and
the Duddon sands, in the barony of Egremont, and was granted by

M
William de Meschines to one Godart de Boyville or Boisville, temp. Henry I.
His famUy retained the property till the reign of Henry IIL, taking the name
of De Millom, and ending, after five generations, in an heiress, Joan, who
brought the lordship to her husband. Sir John Hudleston, knight, with whose
VOL. II. 2 s

322 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
descendants it continued for nearly 500 years. These Hudlestons were a
very ancient stock, whose origin is traced back long anterior to the Conquest ;
Sir John served at the siege of Caerlaverock, and in 1301 signed the celebrated
letter of the barons to the Pope, under the title of Lord of Aniieys in Millom.
Another, Sir Richard, fought as a banneret at Agincourt (1415). Sir WiUiam
Hudleston was a distinguished and devoted Royalist in the Civil War, being
made a knight banneret on the field by Charles I., for his great personal
bravery at the battle of Edgehill, where he recovered the royal standard.
Millom is said to have been beset by the Parliamentary forces in 1648. The
Hudlestons were still living there in 1688, but the castle was then in a
ruinous state. William Hudleston left a daughter Elizabeth, who in 1774
sold the estate, for about ^^20,000, to Sir James Lowther, Bart., and it now
belongs to his successor, the Earl of Lonsdale.
There are considerable remains of the castle, which was fortified by Sir
John Hudleston by licence obtained 9 Edward III. (1335), on the plea of
defending himself against the raids of the Scots. In early time there were
the surroundings of a fine park, but most of the timber was cut down in
1690 for fuel to work iron furnaces ; as late as 1774 the park was well
stocked with deer, but in 1802 it was disparked by the Lonsdales.
Canon Knowles states (1872) that the house of the thirteenth century
consisted probably of a hall, a solar chamber and cellars, a palisaded court
and offices. It had on the E. a stone gatehouse flanked by two semicircular
turrets, of which there are traces. Sir John Hudleston added a kitchen on
the site of the old hall, with dormitories above ; as well as the present entrance
tower and the new hall and solar, with the corridor buildings. In the fifteenth
century some rooms occupied the site of the old hall, and late in the sixteenth
the great tower, 50 feet square, was built. It is a quadrangular building. The
entrance tower on the E., now a ruin, leads into the courtyard, in which can
be seen traces of the original gatehouse ; on the N. is the kitchen, and S. the
solar. On the W. corner is the ancient hall, dismantled perhaps in 1322, and
next to it is the great tower, the battlements of which have disappeared.
Of late the fabric has been used as a farm-house.

MUNCASTER (minor)
THE manor of Mealcastre or Mulcaster was, like Millom, held of the
barony of Egremont, and lay between the rivers Esk and Mite, about
a mile from the railway at Ravenglass, where these two streams unite with
the Irt in the estuary of Esk, and flow thence into the Irish Sea.
There was an ancient castle here upon an eminence N. of the Esk,
belonging to the Penningtons, a family whose domicile, prior to the Conquest,

CUMBERLAND 323
had been at a place of that name in Furness, where they resided till
1242. The fee of Ravenglass had been giveii to Alan Pennington temp.
John, and his descendant Sir John Pennington, a steady Lancastrian, residing
at the time at Muncaster, gave shelter there to King Henry VI. after the
disaster at Hexham in 1464, on his flight from Bywell Castle in Northumber
land to find an asylum in the Lake Country. On leaving the friendly castle,
he is said to have presented his entertainer with "an ancient glass vessel
of the basin kind, about 7 inches in diameter, ornamented with some white
enamelled mouldings," which has been preserved here with pious care ever
since, and is called the " Luck of Muncaster.'' Like a similar relic at Eden
hall, it was given with a prayer that as long as it should be preserved the
family should prosper, and never want a male heir. There is an old painting
representing this incident in what is called King Henry's Bedroom here.
Sir John was a distinguished soldier, and led the left wing of the English
army in an expedition into Scotland. His grandson fought at Flodden, and
one of his descendants was a trusted admiral of Charles I. In 1783 Sir John
Pennington was created Baron Muncaster, and the property continues with
his descendants.
The present castle is chiefly modern, but the principal tower of the
ancient castle has been preserved, though it has no longer its original out
ward appearance. The place is surrounded with fine grounds and woods,
and has a magnificent prospect over Eskdale
Near Ravenglass is a very curious relic of a building called Walls Castle,
said by Canon Knowles to be decidedly of late Roman constmction. It
consists of some low walls forming a series of rooms, with doorways and
traces of windows. NAWORTH (chief)
NAWORTH was probably erected about 1385, "in magno periculo propter
Scotos," and is a truly beautiful castle, formed by the enlargement of
an original peel, which was placed here in very early days. It is an irregular
quadrangular building, defended on three sides by a deep ravine, and formerly
on the fourth by a moat with gatehouse and drawbridge, and lies about twelve
miles N.E. of Carlisle, in the parish of Brampton. Ranulph de Dacre, Sheriff
of Cumberland 20 Henry IIL, was its first possessor, and had a licence to
crenellate in 9 Edward III. (1336) ; he was governor likewise of Scarborough
and Pickering, and of Carlisle at his death, 52 Henry III.
Mr. Ferguson says that he found the lower part of the Carlisle or old tower
at Naworth and the S. curtain wall of a date not later than the tenth century,
and that this was the original peel from which the famous castle grew.
When Henry II. recovered Cumberland from the Scots, he granted the

324 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
barony of Gilsland to Hubert de VaUibus or Vaux, whose family had come
from Normandy some years after the Conquest, and this property descended
from ancestor to heir in unbroken series, through the successive noble families
of De Vaux, Multon, Dacre, and Howard, to its present possessor, the Earl of
Carlisle ; it has never been sold or alienated for a period of over 700 years.
Robert de Vau.x, the second baron, founded the neighbouring abbey of Laner
cost, and defended Carlisle in 1174 against William the Lion. In 6 Henry III.
we find Robert de Vaux, a crusader, at Gilsland. His son, the fifth baron,
who succeeded him 1234, left an only daughter, Maud, who brought Gilsland
to her husband, Thomas de Multon, who was of a Lincolnshire family, and
thus obtained the De Vaux estates in Cumberland, Yorkshire, Norfolk, Suffolk,
Somerset, and Devon. Thomas de Multon, his great-grandson, was summoned
to Parliament among the greater barons, and died in 1313, leaving an only
daughter and heiress, Margaret, married to Ranulph de Dacre, who came from
a place of that name in the same county, in the barony of Greystoke. This
Ranulph had eloped in 1313 with Margaret, a girl of seventeen, from Warwick
Castle, where she and the Gilsland lands were placed under the tutelage of
the Earl of Warwick. He was a man of much importance on the Borders,
and suffering from an inroad of Scots under Lord Archibald Douglas in 1333,
obtained Ucence to fortify his house at Naworth in 1336 ; he died in 1340.
His great-great-grandson Ralph, Lord Dacre of Gilsland, was killed at the battle
of Towton, and his possessions were forfeited, a great part going to his niece
Lady Joan, married to Sir Richard Fiennes, (through her) Lord Dacre of the
South. His brother Humphrey, however, made his peace with Edward IV.,
and was suramoned to Parliament as Lord Dacre of the North ; he was Lord
Warden of the Marches, and died in 1485. To hira succeeded Thoraas, Lord
Dacre, who in 1487, following the example of his ancestor, carried off by
night frora Brougham Castle Elizabeth, the heiress of Greystoke, a ward of the
king, and in the custody of Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, who perhaps
intended her for one of his own family. Thus was Greystoke added to the
Dacre inheritance, and the united estates were possessed by this lord's de
scendants till 1569. This Thomas was a notable figure in history ; he
accompanied, in 9 Henry VIL, the Earl of Surrey in his relief of Norhara
Castle. At Flodden he commanded the cavalry :
" The right-hand wing with all his rout.
The lusty Lord Dacres did lead ;
With him the bows of Kendal stout,
With milk-white coats and crosses red.''
He filled the office of Warden of the East and Middle Marches, and later of
the West also, and carried out many negotiations with the court of Scotland.
In 1523 he led the cavalry in Surrey's attack upon Jedburgh, and after an

CUMBERLAND

325
I Knight of the

obstinate conflict, took the castle of Fernhurst. He died
Garter in 1525.
William, Lord Dacre, who was governor of Carlisle temp. Edward VL,
Mary, and Elizabeth, died in 1563, and was followed by his eldest son, Thomas.
He died two years
after, leaving an infant
son George, who died 1 I
1569 from falling off' a i
wooden rocking-horse, i
when the barony of
Dacre of Gilsland
(of the North) fell
into abeyance be
tween three coheir
esses. Their uncle
Leonard tried to wrest
the lands from them,
but failing in this
he embarked in the
Northern Rebellion.
Laying hold of Na
worth, he fortified and
held it, but being de
feated by Lord Huns-
den, the governor of
Berwick, at the Gelt
Bridge, he betook
hiraself to the Low
Countries, and died in
exUe there (1573), as
did his next brother
Edward. The mother of the
infant Lord George had
married, as her second
husband, Thomas,
Duke of Norfolk, who
was beheaded by Elizabeth, and who had apportioned the three heiresses, then
minors, to his three sons. Ann accordingly married the Earl of Arundel, Mary
was given to Thomas, Lord Howard de Walden, and Elizabeth to Lord William
Howard, his third son. Mary, however, died before her marriage ; Arundel was
imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth, and died in the Tower, and Lord William had

naworth

326 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
to purchase Naworth and the estates for ^^10,000. He and Elizabeth Dacre
were married in 1577, and they lived together for sixty years. The persecu
tion of his family ended at the death of the queen, and on the accession of
Jaines, Lord Williain was restored in the blood, and in 1605 made Warden of
the Marches. He at once occupied Naworth and commenced repairing and
altering the old stronghold, whose chief interest perhaps is gained from him.
He was not only a bold soldier and the terror of marauders in the Borderland,
but was also a man of culture, the friend of Camden and Cotton, and one of
the original members of the Society of Antiquaries. Legend and poetry have
thrown a charm over the name of him whom Scott calls " Noble Howard —
Belted Will." Another Border name for him was " Bauld (or bold) Willie."
" Howard, than whom knight
Was never dubb'd, more bold in fight ;
Nor when from war and armour free.
More famed for stately courtesy."
He is said by a strong hand to have given peace to the Borders, and substituted
obedience for anarchy. He died at Naworth 111 1640, aged seventy-seven.
His eldest son Philip died during his lifetime, leaving a son. Sir William
Howard, who was by Charles II. created Lord Dacre of Gilsland and Earl of
Carlisle, and whose family have since then possessed the lands and Naworth.
The castle stands on a triangular tongue of land formed by the castle
stream on the N., and a little rivulet on the S., which unite and flow into the
Irthing ; from their banks, which on either side are rocky and precipitous,
rise the castle walls. It has been said to be "one of England's choicest
architectural monuments.''
In the S. front, close to the old tower, is the entrance, adraitting under the
main building into the courtyard or quadrangle, around which the castle is built.
The outer defence in front consisted of a deep ditch extending from one stream
to the other, but stopped at each end and crossed by a drawbridge. The E.
front contains the chief rooms, the N. side being occupied mostly by the great
hall, which is entered by a flight of stairs from the court ; it has sixteenth-
century windows on the inner side (enlarged afterwards), and is 70 feet long
by 24 feet wide. At the end is the dining-room, and the kitchens are at the
W. end of this front. The W. front contained the chapel and the lodgings,
the S. side being chiefly a curtain wall.
The hall and gatehouse into the small outer ward, as well as other buildings
taken down after the great fire, were erected by Lord Thomas Dacre, the
great builder of the family. But the Dacres, who created Naworth, resided
principally at Kirkoswald, and the successors of Lord Thomas did little for
Naworth, which after 1569 was unoccupied for thirty years ; so that in the

CUMBERLAND 327
Survey of 31 Elizabeth it is stated to be "in very great decay in all parts."
Then succeeded Lord William Howard, who repaired Lord Thomas' w(jik and
rebuilt a great part, including the upper portion of the tower be.iring his name,
and the long gallery in the E. front ; some of his work bears the m.irk 1602,
about which time he came to reside here. The first Earl of Carlisle repaired the
castle, and the third earl, who built Castle Howard, did more in that way, his
architect Vanbrugh adding the music-gallery ancl the hall-screen. The old or
Carlisle Tower is like the Strickland Tower at Rose Castle. The E. front is
shown by Buck with its two great flanking towers ; that on the S.E. being the
old tower, which is 29 feet square, and that on the N.E. Lord Williara Howard's
or Belted Will's Tower.
On the lotli May 1844 a fire broke out, during the absence of the faraily,
which destroyed the greater part of the castle, but was fortunately stopped before
it reached the N.E. tower of Belted Will, where the apartments remain rauch in
their original state. These are closed with iron doors, and contain his furniture,
and his scholarly library of books is still in the room in winch he used to sit.
Near this room is an oratory, ancl the fire revealed below this tower three priests'
holes lighted by slits. Beneath the great S.E. tower are three dungeons on the
ground floor, and one above, quite unlighted, with iron doors and a ring in the
wall to which prisoners raight be chained. In the " Legend of Montrose "
is mentioned a private stair and passage from Lord William's room to these
prisons, and the fire revealed others. Here he used to immure the daring
moss-troopers, and there are two raagnificent oaks near the entrance on
which he is said to have hanged his victims. He kept a garrison of 140 men
at Naworth. PENRITH (minor)
SINCE the men of Penrith obtained a hcence to fortify their town in 1347
(20 Edward IIL), it is evident that no castle of any sort was then in existence
here. In 1397 Richard II. granted the manor of Penrith to Ralph Nevill,
Earl of Westmorland, and to his heirs, his son Richard succeeding ; and it is
likely that Penrith Castle was built at this time. When the Earl of Salisbury
had been beheaded after the battle of Wakefield, Henry VI. gave Penrith to
John, Lord Clifford of Broughain Castle ; and when he fell at the battle of
St. Albans in 1461, this manor and castle were given by Edward IV. to the
Earl of Warwick, the king-maker, on whose death at Barnet, in 1471, they
reverted to the Crown. Edward then granted them to his brother Richard,
who is said to have lived here when engaged in the defence of Cumberland
against the Scots ; for five years he is described as sheriff, and of PenrUh
Castle, which fabric he greatly enlarged, but after this the castle seems to have
been neglected. The Crown held it till 1616, when it was devised in trust for

328

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

Charles, Prince of Wales, and in 1672 it formed part of the jointure of Queen
Catherine of Braganza, who possessed it on the death of Charles II. In 1696
William III. granted the honour and castle of Penrith to his friend William
Bentinck, Earl of Portland, and in 1787 the Duke of Portland sold the
property to William, 5th Duke of Devon.
In the Survey of Elizabeth's reign in 1572, two towers are mentioned :
one the Red Tower, and the other the White, or Bishop Strickland's Tower,
with one great chamber adjoining the latter, a bakehouse, brewhouse, &c., all in
good repair. The outer gatehouse, with the gates, was in utter ruin, as were
also the chapel, the great hall and solar, and the kUchens ; these could not be

PENRITH

repaired, for already much stone material had been abstracted from the ruin
and carted away for building purposes since 1547.
PenrUh was captured in 1648 by General Lambert, who made it his head
quarters for a month, and the castle seems to have been demolished at this
time, the lead and timber being sold for the use of the Commonwealth.
The castle stands on rising ground near the railway station. It was built
in the form of a paraUelogram, and was fortified with a very deep ditch outside,
and a walled rampart. There was one entrance on the side of the town, where
an opening still exists, and where the approach lay over a drawbridge.
Buck's view in 1739 shows two large detached fragments of the main buUding
with windows of the hall, and a long range of the outer walls with supporting
turrets, having the corbels for carrying a wooden allure outside. There are still
many cellars and dungeons remaining.

CUMBl'.RLAND

329

ROSl'". (chief)
ROSE, the episcopal palace of the see of Carlisle, is situated by the
Caldew ri\-er, se\eii iniles S. of the city. The origin or nucleus of the
fine group of towers ancl hanging gardens which we see now, was the baronial
manor peel of Dalston, granted to the see by Henry 111. in 1228, the remains
of this building forming the present Strickland Tower on the N.E. corner of

ROSE

the N. front of the fabric. The name of The Rose was borne by the tower
at that time
The first historical notice we get of the place is in 1300, when Edward 1.
was residing here, after the siege of Caerlaverock, probably as a guest of Bishop
Halton. Whilst here he summoned a parliament to meet him at Lincoln,
the writs for which are dated "Apud la Rose, Sep. 25, 1300." In 1322,
during an inroad by King Robert Bruce, the buildings were burnt, and the
same thing happening a few years later. Bishop John Kirby in 1336 obtained
a licence to crenellate his house called La Roos. This bishop then built himself
VOL. IL 2 T

33° CASTLES OF ENGLAND
a spacious mansion within the walls, and the works were continued by his
successor, Bishop Welton. The castle then formed a quadrangle, the hall
being on the E. side, to the S. of the old tower ; on the W. side was a council
chamber, and at the end of this was the chapel, with the Constable's tower
beyond. All this stood within an inner court surrounded by its own moat :
outside of this was the outer bailey, around which a second wall was drawn,
with towers at intervals, and a strong gatehouse at the point of the present
entrance. The whole was encircled by a moat supplied by a spring from the
bank above.
In the fifteenth century Bishop Strickland restored the old peel or keep,
which has since borne his name, and by the provision of larger windows and
better sleeping accommodation, the fortress was rendered more habitable and
convenient. Bishop Bell afterwards built another tower on the N. front, which
bears his monogram of a bell ; and Bishop Kite in the sixteenth century added
a third tower on the W. side, and more private apartments ; the total number
of rooms being sixty. Later in that century Bishop Meye complained, in the
reign of Elizabeth, that he was turned out of the Rose by the Warden of the
Marches, who occupied it as a stronghold against the Scots. No historical
interest attaches to it till 1645, when the castle, being held for the king by Mr.
Lowther, the Constable, with only twenty or thirty men, was attacked and
takeii by a detachment of Colonel Heveringham's regiment, and was used as a
prison for Royalists. In 1648 it seems to have changed hands again, and
was once more beset and summoned. After suffering a storm of two hours'
duration it was taken and burnt, so that in the Survey of 1680 the castle was
reported to be in a state of great decay, its materials being valued at only ;^425 ;
and when Bishop Rainbow came here after the Restoration, no part of the
fabric was habitable.
Succeeding bishops repaired the building and added to it, but its present
state is due to Bishop Percy, who in 1827 restored the place to a condition
worthy of its ancient narae, and in the style which prevailed at the date
wdien the older portions were erected, that is, in the fourteenth century.
Beyond Kite's Tower at the S.W. angle was another, called Pettenger's
Tower, where once some one of that name had hanged himself, but this
was removed. The gatehouse contains a room for the warder, above the
archway, which may be of as early a date as Bishop Halton : a rose is
sculptured on it.
The original retreat of the bishops of Carlisle was at Linstock (q.v).

CUMBERLAND

331

SCALb'.BY (minor)
SCALEBY lies about six miles N.E. of Carlisle. The manor w.is giveii by
Edward 1. to Richard de Tilliol, surnamed the Rider, and in 1307
(1 Edward II.) a licence was granted to Robert de Tylliol to crenellate his
house. The last of the fainily, Robert, died s.p. in 1435, leaving two sisters,
the eldest of whom, Isabel, brought this estate to John Colville, whose son

William left only two daughters ; they both married into the Musgrave
family, the youngest, Margaret, conferring Scaleby on her husband, Nicholas
Musgrave, whose descendant. Sir Edward Musgrave, largely rebuiU the castle
in 1596. His grandson. Sir Edward, created a baronet in 1638, was a zealous
Royalist, and garrisoned Scaleby Castle for the king in 1644, but during the
siege of Carlisle in 1645 it was taken from him. Recovering it, however,
he held U again for King Charles in 1648 ; but the place had suffered so
much in the first siege that it was now too weak to hold out, and after firing
a single shot. Sir Edward had to surrender to General Lambert, whose soldiers
are said to have set fire to the castle.

332 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Then, to relieve himself from his heavy losses in the Civil War, Sir Edward
was obliged to sell his property, which was conveyed to Dr. Richard Gilpin,
who repaired the castle and fitted it up for his own residence. Here in
1724 was born the Rev. Williain Gilpin, the voluminous author. Afterwards
the place was acquired by the family of Stephenson, or Standish, and is now
the property of their descendant. Captain W. P. Standish. After the Gilpins
the castle was long deserted, and fell into a state of decay ; but it was again
put into good repair by a Mr. Rowland Fawcett, whose family inhabited it
for many years.
Although the castle stands on a flat site it is a place of considerable
strength, having two broad and deep moats for an outer defence, one of
which, partly filled with water, still remains : the circumference of the outer
one measured nearly a mile. With the deblai of these moats a mound was
formed, upon which part of the castle was built. The entrance was across
two drawbridges defended by a strong tower with a portcullis, and a very
lofty battlemented wall. A considerable portion of the old work remains
in a tolerably perfect state, the walls being immensely thick. The vaulted
hall is a fine apartment, and beneath it are large cellars.
Perhaps the large area contained withiii the moats was intended for the
protection and the support of cattle, which would be driven in at a time of
alarm on the Border.

SEATON (non-e.xistent)
NEAR Workington, on the W. coast and close to the sea, there was a castle,
once the seat of the Curwen family, who left it as early as the twelfth
century, and removed to Workington Hall, on the other side of the Derwent
River. A few remains exist, and are known as the Barrow Walls, being
used for shooting-butts by the local volunteer force. The Curwens trace
their descent from John de Tailbois, a brother of the Count of Anjou,
before the Conquest.

TRIERMAIN (minor)
TRIERMAIN, an ancient fief of the barony of Gilsland, is situated at
some distance from the left front of Birdoswald, the Roman station of
Amboglanna, and the largest one, upon the line of the great wall of Hadrian.
The Celtic possessors of Triermain before the Normans were named Bueth,
of which family one Gille-mor, or "the big gillie," or servant (hence GiUesland,
or Gilsland), was deprived of his lands by Henry I. in favour of one Hubert de
Vaux or VaUibus (see Irthington). Robert de Vaux had the place in 1169, and

CUMBia^LAND 333
it was held by a succession of male De Vauxes until the reign of Edward IV.,
when Jane, daughter and heiress of the last of them, brought it to Sir Richard
Salkeld of Corby, whose daughter inherited Triermain, and from her it passed
in several changes to the faniily of Dacre, and finally to that of Howard in the
beginning of the seventeenth century.
This tower may have been erected b)- an early De Vaux of Triermain, it
being built of stones takeii from the convenient neighbouring quarry of the
Roman wall. It was a total ruin temp. Elizabeth, and is thus described in
an inquisition taken in the thirty-first year of her reign: "The scite of the
said manner of Tradermayne, was sometime a fair Castle ealled Tradermayne
Castle, a house of great strength & of good receipt ; it stood and was built
opposite to the coasts of Scotland and Tyndell, and about vi miles distant
from Lydderesdell, and was a very convenient place for both annoying of the
enemy and defending the country thereabouts, but now the said Castle is
utterly decayed."
In 1832 great portions of the ruin fell, but before its coUapse itwas described
as an oblong quadrangle, turreted at the eastern ancl western extremities ancl
moated round. The principal entrance was underneath a massive archway in
the western turret. This is the castle celebrated by Scott in his romantic
poem of " The Bridal of Triermain."

W O L S T Y (non-existent)
THIS castle, which was two miles from SiUoth, must in early times have been
a position of strength and importance, since Roman pottery has been
found in the earthworks. The place became Church property, and a licence
to crenellate a castle was granted to the abbots of Holme by Edward III. in
1349. It was afterwards used by the abbots of Holme Cultram as a strong
hold wherein to preserve their treasure. It belonged to nine generations of
the family of Chamber of Holderness, afterwards of Hanworth, Middlesex.
The only existing remains are those of the site of a part of the ditch, which
was large and deep.

DURH.VM

2)urbam

AUCKLAND, or BISHOP AUCKLAND (chief)
AUCKLAND CASTLE stands on a hill ten miles S.W. of Durham. Of
the fourteen castles and manor-houses once held by the ancient
bishops palatine, this is the only remaining episcopal residence. It
L stands in a well-timbered park — the remains of the chase which
originally perhaps attracted the early bishops, who were mighty hunters, to
the manor-house; and it is stated that Bishop Anthony Bee (1283 to 1311)
" did sumptuously build and incastellate the ancient manor place of Auckland."
He is said to have built " the great hall with its divers piUars of black raarble
speckled with white " — though this is now thought to be of earlier date — but he
certainly added a hall, of which portions are to be seen in the present kitchen,
as well as the chapel, the great chamber, and many rooms adjoining. The
succeeding three bishops made large additions to the buildings, until their
palace became a very grand edifice. It was not a highly defensible place, and
was called a manor-house, and not a castle, till the sixteenth century, but it
was certainly strong enough to afford protection to the bishops in troublous
times. Bishop Ruthal (1509-1522) built a dining-hall, the great window of
which was completed in the reign of Henry VIII. by Bishop Tunstall
(1529-1558), who also added that part of the castle stretching westward,
called "Scotland," from the fact that it was set apart for the lodgings of
Scottish hostages. All this has been modernised. Beneath are the cellars,
334

DURHAM 335
and on the first floor the servants' dwellings, with a long line of bedrooms
above, built by Bishop Tunstall.
Thus Auckland remained in the seventeenth century, a stately and luxurious
seat, of considerable strength, compassed with a thick stone wall on the side
of its hUl, below which runs the river. In the park were wild cattle, such as
are still seen at Chillingham — "all white, which will not endure your approach,
very violent and furious."
In 1611 it was determined to send to Auckland, to the custody of Bishop
James, the Lady Arabella Stuart, who had married contrary to the intent of
her tyrant cousin. King James. On the road thither she managed to escape
from her conductors at Highgate, but being retaken, was afterwards confined
in the Tower of London, where she lost her reason and died a prisoner.
Six years after this. Bishop Jaines was so roughly upbraided by the king, in
his own castle of Durham, that he retired to Auckland and died there three
days after of " a violent fit of strangury," brought on by vexation — " scolded
to death," as was stated in the Mortality Rolls.
In May 1633, Charles I. spent three days here, on his journey to Scotland,
and was magnificently entertained. He was here again in 1647, a prisoner
with the Scottish army, at which time the castle was in the hands of his
enemies. In this year the castle palace was confiscated ancl was conveyed
by the Parliamentary Commissioners to Sir Arthur Hastlerigg of Noseley,
Northants, for the sum of ;4'6i02, 8s. ii^d., when the purchaser began to con
struct for himself a magnificent mansion within the castle yard, using the
materials of the chapel, whicii he destroyed with powder ; but he meddled very
little with the castle itself, in spite of the assertions to the contrary of Bishop
John Costin, who, coming in at the Restoration, made as an excuse for his own
alterations, that Hastlerigg had "ruined and almost utterly destroyed" the castle.
This prelate removed the new mansion of Hastlerigg, and built the courtyard
walls shown in Buck's drawing of 1728. Succeeding bishops added rooms on
the S. front and carried out various " improvements," spoiling thereby much
good old work.
All that remains of Bishop Bee's work is the chapel in the N.E. corner,
called after its founder, and perhaps a sraall tower in the S.W. corner of the
outbuildings. BARNARD (minor)
ON the summit of a high rocky cliff, W. of the town of the same name,
are the ruins of this once magnificent fortress. The position is an ideal
one for security, defence, and picturesqueness, overhanging the Tees at a
considerable elevation, with far-reaching prospects up and down the valley,
and over the spreading country below. William the Red King gave to

336

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

Guy Baliol— one of his father's followers from Normandy — the forests of
Teesdale and Marwood, with the lordships of Middleham and Gainforth, and
Guy's eldest son Bernard built this castle about the year 1130. He was one
of the barons who defeated the army of the Scots at the Battle of the Standard,
and he was taken prisoner with Stephen at Lincoln in 1142, when that restless
and valiant king was struck down, fighting against overpowering odds, in the

BARNARD

decisive battle there. In 1174 (20 Henry IL), when the Scots under their
king William the Lion laid siege to Alnwick Castle, Bernard de Baliol,
Robert de Stuteville, lord of Knaresborough, and others, collected their forces
and marched to its relief. A thick fog coming on, a halt was advised,
when Baliol exclaimed that he would push on alone if the rest waited, and
so they all moved forward, and with such despatch that they surprised the
enemy, and in a short skirmish took the Scottish king prisoner, and sent
him to Richmond Castle. During the time of the next lord, Hugh Baliol,
Alexander, King of Scotland, came before Barnard Castle with an army, and

DURHAM 337
reconnoitred it to ascertain if it were assailable. While the enemy was thus
occupied, some one from the walls with a crossbow-shot killed the king's
brother-in-law, Eustace de Vescy, lord of Alnwick, whereon the northern
force decamped. This Hugh was in great favour with King John. On the
forfeiture of the estates of John Baliol, King of Scotland, in 1294, Edward I.
gave Barnard Castle to Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in whose family
it reraained through five descents. After them, Anne Nevill, daughter of the
King-maker, brought the property in marriage to King Richard III. (at that
time Duke of Gloucester), who resided at the castle as one of his favourite seats.
The sculpture of his cognizance, the white boar, is still visible on the ruins, and
there is a fine oriel window in the W. front which is said to have belonged
to his state chamber.
The castle and manor were restored by Henry VII. to Warwick's widow,
but that greedy king afterwards obliged her to reconvey thera to him. Then
they passed, through several other possessors' hands, to Charles, Earl of
Westmorland, who with the Earl of Northumberland headed the Catholic
insurrection in 1569, known in history as the " Rising of the North." The
deep attachment of the northern provinces to the old faith seeras to have
been stirred by the zealous proceedings of Pilkington, the first Protestant
Bishop of Durham, while at the same time the raisfortunes of Mary Queen
of Scots had evoked general interest, which was quickened by the imprison
ment, on her account, of the Duke of Norfolk, head of the ancient nobility
of England, and brother-in-law to Westmorland. At the first alarm of a
disturbance in the North, Elizabeth summoned both Westmorland and
Northumberland to London, as the chief men of those parts both in dignity
and property. Being neither of them strong men, they were worked upon
to believe that their lives and estates were to be forfeited, and that the royal
troops were on their way to seize thera. The Earl of Northumberland
therefore left his house by night, and sought the Earl of Westmorland at
Brancepeth, where he found him similarly alarmed, and arming his followers,
— the bells ringing backwards, and beacon-fires blazing. The two earls had
no difficulty in rasing 1500 men, a force which was doubled as they proceeded
to Durham. Here they made a Catholic deraonstration, celebrated mass in
the cathedral, and then proceeded southwards, their forces numbering 4000
foot and 600 horse. Meantime the queen's forces under Radcliffe, Earl of
Sussex, and the Earl of Warwick with 3000 raen in support, were coming
to meet the insurgents, while the bulk of the Catholic nobility and gentry
abstained from giving any assistance. At this critical moinent the two earls
showed neither talent nor decision, but retreated to Raby, and then turned off
to besiege Sir George Bowes, who had taken possession of Westmorland's
castle of Barnard. The rebels gained the outer bailey and the outer circuit
of the castle walls without difficulty, but the strong keep defied them, obsti-
VOL. II. 2 u

338

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

nately defended as it was. Sir George Bowes held out for ten days, and
then surrendered upon good terms from want of provisions ; but this delay
enabled the queen's forces to come up to Northallerton, when the insurgents dis
banded and fled. The earls made their way into Scotland, and there Northum
berland was betrayed by a faithless Borderer named Graham, to the Regent
Moray, who sent him to Berwick, where he was beheaded. The Earl of
Westmorland escaped to Flanders, where he survived to old age (see Raby
and Brancepeth). On the forfeiture which followed this foolish rebellion.

,^^^^^^^^:

<:;;:;;::::::::;:;;;:: ::.^^;>>""'"|l))l^^^^>H.^^„„,  u;;;;;;::^^,,.

BARNARD

under the Act of Henry VIIL, the castles of Barnard, Raby, and Brancepeth,
with all the manors, ought to have vested in the see of Durham, but Elizabeth
obtained an Act enabling the Crown to retain the whole properties (Surtees).
Barnard Castle was then leased to Sir George Bowes, whose own castle
of Streatlam had been entirely wrecked by the rebels. James I. gave it to
his minion, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, on whose attainder it reverted
to the Crown, and became part of the provision of the Prince of Wales.
Afterwards the castle, honour, and privileges were purchased by an ancestor
of the present Duke of Cleveland, and in 1640 Sir H. Vane obtained a grant
of these, which were afterwards made into a barony by William IIL During
the Civil War the castle was held for the king, when it was besieged by

DURHAM 339
Cromwell, who opened batteries upon it from the other side of the Tees,
on Towler Hill, with such ellect that the garrison were soon obliged to
capitulate. The circuit of the walls of this grand fortress covers an area of nearly
seven acres, but the remains are now nothing more than a shell. The
strongest part of the castle, whose situation is so charmingly described in
"Rokeby," stands on the brink of the cliff, 80 feet above the Tees at its N.W.
corner. The whole is enclosed by the ancient walls, the portion on the N.
being the oldest, and the W. front overlooking the river containing the
chief apartments. At the N.W. corner is Baliol's Tower, a circular structure
of great size and antiquity, and of excellent masonry ; it was in such good
preservation that at one time it was let for a shot factory, an employ
ment whicii caused some serious damage to the fabric, especially to the
vaulting of its curious floor and staircase. The wall on the S. is very thick,
and was strengthened by balks of oak, laid in tiers in the centre of the
wall, for resisting the blows of battering-rams. The outer court is separated
from the inner by a deep ditch which surrounds the rest of the fortress.
There is one entrance from the market-place into the outer bailey, where
perhaps was the chapel spoken of by Leland as having sculptured figures of
the Baliols, but all this has vanished. Another gatehouse, with a circular
arch, having a semicircular flanking tower, led from the flats adjacent and
the old Roinan road communicating with the ford. In the interior is the
building known by tradition as Brackenbury's Tower, which was anciently
used as the castle keep. It is supposed to be named after Richard's officer,
the notorious Constable of the Tower of London, who was entrusted with
the murder of the princes.

BRANCEPETH (chief)
OF Brancepeth Sir Bernard Burke writes : " Of all the feudal fortresses
of England, whether we regard their venerable antiquity, the rank and
authority of their early possessors, or the wealth and taste which have been, in
modern times, expended upon them, there are few which can claim precedence
over this home of the Nevills." Still, so much of this castle has been rebuilt
and so much modernised, that as a building, and standing as it does on a low
site, its effect is disappointing.
Brancepeth is five mUes S.W. frora Durham, on the road by Nevill's
Cross. It was originally erected by the family of Bulmer, seated here for
many generations, till the death of their last male representative Bertram,
whose only daughter Emma married Geoffrey Nevill, a grandson of that Gilbert
Nevill who was admiral in the fleet of Duke William of Normandy. Their

340

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

daughter and heiress, Isabel, inarried Robert Fitz Meldred, lord of Raby,
whose son Geoffrey assumed the name of Nevill, and from whom sprang the
noble line of warriors and statesmen of that narae, whose principal seat for
so long was at Raby {q,v). Ralph, Lord Nevill, in 1398 was created Earl of
W'estmorland by Richard IL, and the lordship and castle of Brancepeth con
tinued with this family till the time of Elizabeth, when Charies, the sixth eari,
joining in the Rising of the North (1569), the object of which partly was
to eff'ect the marriage of his brother-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk, with Mary
Queen of Scots, his lands were forfeited to the Crown (13 Ehzabeth), with

BRANCEPETH

the castles of Raby and Brancepeth (see Barnard Castle). Under the Act of
Henry VIIL, all this large property ought to have vested in the see of Durham,
but Elizabeth obtained a special Act to retain it in the Crown. Jaines I. granted
it to his favourite Robert Carr, who lived here as Baron Brancepeth from 1613
until his trial and conderanation (see Grey's Court, Oxon). Thus Brancepeth
reraained until the eighth year of Charles I., when the castle and lordship
were sold to Lady Middleton and others ; then to the Cole family ; and in
1 70 1 a new sale was made to Sir Henry Bellasys, whose grandson devised
the property to the Earl of Fauconberg, and he sold it in 1776 to John
Tempest. Twenty years after it was purchased by Mr. William Russell, and
his son Matthew, considered the richest commoner in England, at enormous
cost reared the present structure in 1818. In 1828 the marriage of Emma

DURHAM 341
Marie Russell wUh the eldest son of Viscount Boyne brought Braneepedi into
that family.
Leland says that " Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, builded much of this house
A.D. 1398," and as Brancepeth was nearer to Durham and to the Marches than
Raby, U was oftener used by the Nevills as their residence ; the fourth, fifth, and
sixth earls seem from their correspondence to have spent much time there.
At the present day there is little of the original fortress visible. It consisted
of four square towers with their connecting curtain walls built as a quadrangle,
each corner tower having four turrets. The entrance gatehouse was on the
N., flanked by two square towers, with a portcullis. E. of this was the
battlemented wall connecting another large sc]uare tower, and so round the
enceinte. There may originally have been eight of these towers. On the N. and
E. the castle was defended by a moat, but on the W. it stands on a rock with
a small stream running below, and this side alone gives a picturesque view of
the fortress. An old min, roofless and decayed, is a venerable object of interest ;
every one of its stones seems imbued with historic associations ; but when the
old work gives place to new, and ancient walls are rebuilt or covered up to
meet modern requirements and raodern taste, with nineteenth-century windows
and sham battlements, then, alas, good-bye to all interest in the fabric.
The worei Brancepeth is said to have been derived from " Brawn's path,"
or the track of a great wild boar which tradition says had its lair there and
was accustomed to pass through the manor in search of its prey.
In the barons' hall is the original sword of Richard Nevill, with which he
fought at Nevill's Cross, bearing his name, with the date 1345.

DURHAM (chief)
EXCEPT at Edinburgh, we have in this kingdom no combination of
architecture and scenery so fine as the view of Durham Castle and
Cathedral standing over the woods and gorge of Wear. The original church,
which was reared over St. Cuthbert's grave in 999, was standing when the
Conqueror ordered the rebuilding, in 1072, of the palace of the Saxon bishops
of Durham, which had been burnt down two or three years before. This edifice
did not perhaps suit the taste or requirements of the proud and wealthy prelates
who came after, and in 1174 Bishop Pudsey rebuilt the whole, with great addi
tions, in the best late Norman style of military architecture. Freeman says :
"The bishop of the days at once following the Norman Conquest, turned by
Norman polity into a military tenant of the Crown, dwelling commonly as a
stranger among a straijge and often hostile people — often raised to his see as
the reward of temporal services to the Crown— as soon as he found himself on
his rural estates began to feel like any other baron. He raised for himself, not

342 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
a house, not a palace, but a castle in the strictest sense ; a fortress not merely
capable of defence in case of any sudden attack, but capable of being made a
centre of military operations in case the bishop should ta.ke a fancy, in times
of civil strife, to make war upon some other baron, or upon the king himself."
William placed Bishop Walcher as a ruler both spiritual and temporal over
the turbulent and wild natives of the district, and him they besieged and
murdered. Then Rufus had to lay siege to Durham, and afterwards Henry II.
took possession of both castle and town. In Clark's work is given a curious
poem by Lawrence, the prior in 1149, describing the castle as it was during
the strife between Stephen and Maud, which raged with great severity in
that part of the kingdom, on account of the claim of King David, Maud's
uncle, to the old inheritance of Northuraberland and Cumberland. The castle
still retains many features there depicted.
It is built on a high rocky hill of horse-shoe shape, round which the river
Wear flows, under steep cliffs, 80 or 100 feet below, serving as a moat to the
fortress. The line of walls, with their five gates, extended round that side of the
hill not occupied by the cathedral, enclosing the courtyard or bailey. The
great N. gate, which flanked the keep to the E., and the space leading down to
the town commanded the most iraportant approach, and was rebuilt and much
strengthened by Bishop Langley in 1417 ; it had double gates towards the
bailey, and one towards the city, with portcullis and battlements. The old
gate had a postern and a round tower at the end of the ditch, still existing.
The second gate, called the King's Gate, commanded a ford on the river, but
has disappeared. Two others stood where are now Queen Street and Duncow
Lane ; and the fifth, or water gate, being that of the outer court, stood in its
ancient form until of late years.
The mount on which the keep stands is 44 feet high, and was vaulted beneath.
The tower was an irregular octagon 63^- feet across, and four storeys high, with
an entrance on the W. ; the eight angles were supported by buttresses, and a
battlem.ented parapet ran round the summit. Nothing, however, remains of
this edifice but the mount, the vaults, ancl the outer shell ; it was probably the
work of Bishop Hatfield in the raiddle of the fourteenth century, who also built
the great hall. Bishop Morton entertained Charles I. here and all his retinue,
with a magnificence that cost ^£1500 a day. The bishops palatine of Durham
seem to have vied with each other in enlarging and beautifying their dwelling,
which continued to be their residence till 1833, when the Durham University
was founded, and the castle given up to accommodate the members.
Many royal visitors have stayed in this grand fortress since William I. Most
of our Angevin and Plantagenet sovereigns came there, and also Jaines I. of
Scotland and his English queen ; the saintly Henry VI. ; the Princess Margaret
on her way to join her husband, Jaraes IV. of Scotland ; James I. of England,
and Charles I. his son.

DURHAM 343

HOUGH TON-LE-SP RING (minor)
THIS tower, like the one of Corbridge in Northumberland, is an instance
of a rectory house which the state of the country made it necessary to
fortify. In 1483 the then incumbent, John Kelyng, began to crenellate and
embattle a peel tower without first obtaining a licence, for which he was
called to account by the prince bishop, and only pardoned on payment of a
fine. To this was afterwards attached a large dwelling, in whicii the famous
divine, Bernard Gilpin, known as the "Apostle of the North," lived ancl
ministered with profuse hospitality for the many years in which he was rector
of Houghton, and where he died in 1583. This building was destroyed in
1664 by a succeeding rector named Davenport, who built it anew and added
another tower and a chapel. The whole of Davenport's work, however,
was demolished by the last rector.
The appellation added to Houghton is derived from a fainily named Le
Spring, who possessed the manor in the thirteenth century. One of them.
Sir John le Spring, was murdered in his house at Houghton in the si.xth
year of Edward IIL, as is related in a pathetic ballad giveii by Surtees. His
effigy is in the church at the side of Gilpin's tomb.

HYLTON (chief)
THIS castle, or what is left of the ancient structure, stands on the N. bank
of the Wear, about 2i- miles on the W. of Sunderland, in a low situation,
surrounded by trees, and well sheltered from the N. by a hill on which formerly
stood the vill of Hilton. In the days of its baronial grandeur the castle must
have been of great extent and strength, to judge from its gatehouse, the only
part of it remaining, which is a massive, imposing edifice, five storeys in height,
resembling in form a superior peel tower, 66 feet long by 36 feet deep, having
on its W. or principal front angle turrets forraed by the junction of broad
projecting pilasters on either side, with two equidistant pilasters, one on each
side of the gateway ; all these turrets are continued above the roof, and are
terminated in octagonal super-turrets boldly projected beyond the face on
corbels, and machicolated on all sides. The E. front has a circular turret at
each angle, and in the centre a single broad projecting tower, the whole of the
roofs being screened by a heavy crenellated parapet. The walls are from
8 feet to 12 feet thick. During the restorations in 1869 a square courtyard was
disclosed on the W. side, which seems to prove that the main buildings of the
castle were on that quarter.
The origin of the Hilton family is hidden in its antiquity. The first member

344

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

recorded is one Romanus, in the reign of Henry IL, who then appears in 1166
in an application for a chaplain to officiate in his chapel of Hylton, and therefore
the tradition of the Hiltons being here long before the Conquest is possibly true.
The Prince Bishops of Durham were sovereigns in their own domain ; they had
a mint, and sustained a court of barons, in which the Hiltons, as powerful lords
holding a very extensive territory both in this county and in Northumberland
and Curaberland, and in Yorkshire, always had a seat, the name of the Baron
of Hylton always standing first on the list.
The names of the successors of Romanus are proved by charters, licences,
and other documents as far as the middle of the fifteenth century, with a steady
succession throughout from father to son as barons of the bishopric, and
nothing is recorded of thera
of a stirring nature almost
throughout their story. Baron
Alexander was summoned to
Parliament by Edward IIL,
having served in his Scottish
wars, where he held a com
raand in 133J, under Lord
Nevill. He died in 1361,
seised of many manors. Wil
liam, who was born in 1356,
was probably the builder of
the existing structure.
Baron WiUiara in 15 13 is
said to have fought at Flodden,
and his son Sir Thomas Hilton
joined Aske in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 with Lord D'Arcy and others,
but does not appear to have suffered for his participation in that rebellion.
Henry Hilton, who died in 1640, " by a will such as a madman only could
make," alienated the property and ruined his family. He left his entire estate
to the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London, and so reduced the Hilton
possessions to httle more than a name His brother Henry was a stout
Royalist, and served King Charles under the Marquess of Newcastle. He
was included among the malignants, and though his son obtained a re-grant
of the lands after the Restoration, the property was little more than a name,
when saddled with the encumbrances raised by Baron Henry.
The last baron was John, who died in 1739, having devised the estates to
his nephew. Sir Richard Musgrave of Hayton Castle. This owner took the
name of Hilton, but obtaining an Act of Parliament to enable him to dispose
of the estate, sold the manor of Hilton in 1750 to Mrs. Bowes, widow of Sir
George Bowes of Streatlam, from whom it was inherited by the Eari of

HYLTON

DURHAM 345
Strathmore Then it passed through several hands, until in 1863 the castle
and lands were purchased by Mr. W. Briggs of Sunderland, whose son.
Colonel Charles J. Briggs, is the present owner.
Sir Richard Hilton's grandson was Mr. Hylton Joliffe, M.P., created Lord
Hylton in 1866. Sir Richard soon after obtaining the property, spent a large
sura in Italianising the fabric, adding two huge wings to it, which were found
in 1869 to be in so decayed a state that they were removed, and the building
was then restored and greatly improved ; the windows being remodelled
from an ancient one which the S. wing had hidden. On the W. front are
a number of heraldic shields exhibiting the arms of various families allied to
the Hiltons, the Percys, Viponts, Luraleys, Feltons, Bowes', and others. In
the centre is the banner of France and England quartered ; that of France
bearing only three fleurs-de-lys instead of five, a change made late in the
reign of Henry V., and therefore fixing the date of the sculpture and perhaps
of the building. The ruins of the castle chapel, dedicated to St. Katherine,
lie to the N.E. of the castle. In it most of the Hilton barons were buried.
They had also a chantry within the castle.
Many legends hang over this ancient family : amongst others there is that
of "The Cauld Lad of Hilton," a brownie, or familiar sprite, whose gambols
for many years disturbed the household of Hylton. Sleepers used to be
awakened by violent noises in the kitchen ; plates and dishes were broken,
and pewter thrown about in confusion, when things had been left in good
order there. But if, as did happen often, the servants left things in disorder
downstairs, then the brownie arranged everything carefully in its proper
place ; so he was looked on as a benefactor by them. " One night," as the
English Fairy Tales so daintily tell, " they heard a noise, and peeping in,
saw the brownie swinging to and fro on the jack-chain, and saying :
' Woe's me ! woe's me !
The acorn's not yet
Fallen from the tree
That's to grow the wood
That's to make the cradle
That's to rock the bairn
That's to grow to the man
That's to lay me.
Woe's me ! woe's me ! '
Then they took pity on the poor brownie, and asked the nearest henwife
what they should do to send it away. ' That's easy enough,' said the henwife,
and told them that a brownie that's paid for its service, in aught that's not
perishable, goes away at once. So they made a cloak of Lincoln green, with a
VOL. II. 2 X

346 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
hood to it, and put it by the hearth and watched. They saw the brownie
come up, and, observing the hood and cloak, put them on, and frisk about,
dancing on one leg and saying —
' I've taken your cloak, I've taken your hood :
The Cauld Lad of Hilton will do nae mair good.'
And with that it vanished, and was never seen or heard of afterwards."
This of course is a folk-lore tale, common to other languages, and other
wise told in Grimm's " Elves and the Shoemaker ; " but at Hylton they connect
the sprite with the story of an unfortunate stable-boy, whom one of the lairds
killed, accidentally as some say, with a pitchfork, and then threw into a pond,
where his bones were found in the time of the last Hilton. Surtees tells
of the inquest in 1609 on one Roger Skelton, who was kUled by Robert
Hilton of Hylton accidentally with a scythe, when Hilton got off with
a free pardon.

LUMLEY (chief)
A MILE to the S. of Chester-le-Street, near the old Roman road to the
north, stands this seat of the Earls of Scarborough, on elevated ground
sloping down to the river Wear.
The Lumleys descend from a Saxon thane named Liulph, of high repute
in the time of the Confessor ; his son, or grandson, assumed the surname
of De Lumley from this place, and from him the property has come down
with the name, generally from father to son, in direct succession to the
present time.
The original manor-house or castle was built (temp. Edward I.) by Sir
Robert Lumley, knight, and was enlarged by his son Sir Marmaduke ; but in
16 Richard II. (1392) a royal licence was obtained by "Ralph de Lomley,
chivaler, quoddam castrum apud Lonilay de novo facere et construere," and
he had also one from Bishop Skirlaw, to repair and crenellate his castle. He
was summoned to Parliament in this reign, but joining in the insurrection of
Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, was slain in a skirmish at Cirencester, and
his estates were forfeited. His son Sir John, however, succeeded in obtaining
livery of all his lands, castles, and manors, and was restored in blood by the
Parliament in 141 1, as Baron Lumley. He served in the French wars of
Henry IV. and Henry V., and lost his life, with the Duke of Clarence, at
Beaug6 in 142 1.
His descendant John, Lord Lumley, in 28 Henry VIII. joined in the
popular religious movement called the Pilgrimage of Grace, but afterwards
shared in the king's clemency. His only son, George, who succeeded him.

DURHAM

347

being tried also for treason with Lord Darcy and Sir Thomas Percy, was
committed to the Tower, and was convicted and executed.
The son of this man, John, was restored in the blood, and created
Lord Lumley in 36 Henry VIII. ; he fought at Flodden, and was
chosen as one of the peers to sit in judgment on the unhappy Queen of
Scots. He is styled
by Camden " a per
son of entire virtue,
integrity, and inno
cence, and in his old
age, a complete pat
tern of true nobility."
Dying in 1609, he be
queathed Lumley and
all his lands to a dis
tant cousin, Richard
Lumley, elevated to
the peerage of Ireland
as Viscount Lumley
in 1628. He was a
faithful supporter of
Charles I., and held
this castle as a gar
rison for the king, for
whom he commanded
a force under Prince
Rupert, in the W. of
England, and at the
siege of Bristol. His
grandson Richard
came next into the
estates, being created
in 1 68 1 Baron Lum
ley, and by William
and Mary, Viscount,
borough. The castle forras a quadrangle with a large courtyard, 80 feet square ; in
the centre of the building and at each corner rises a projecting massive square
tower, the whole of the parapets being battlemented with turrets, octangular
in shape and machicolated, at each angle of the towers. The entrance is on
the W. side by a broad staircase and large platform, which admits to the great
Hall. This is 60 feet long by 30 feet, with a minstrels' gallery at one end.

LUMLEY

and further by them, in 1690, Earl of Scar-

348 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
The S. front is modern, and that on the N. is occupied by the offices. The E.
front retains its ancient character, with a noble projecting gatehouse, carrying
turrets and a machicoulis gallery. On its face are six stone shields of arms,
corresponding to the time of Richard 1 1., bearing the devices of Lumley, Grey,
Nevill, and others.
The original house of the family before the present castle was erected seems
to have been at a site about a mile distant, where are some traces of it. The
whole interior of Lumley Castle was subjected about 200 years ago to a coraplete
remodelling and renovation in an Italian style, whereby Us antique character has
quite disappeared.
RABY (chief)
THE superb fortress of the Nevills, Earls of Westmorland, "can boast,"
remarks the Duchess of Cleveland in her interesting Memoir, "of having
had a hearth-fire always alight since the days of Edward the Confessor." The
name is of course Danish, and tradition assigns to the site of it a palace of King
Canute, standing upon a rocky eminence about a mile from the village of Stain
drop. The Saxon Earl Uchtred was one of the very few l(H"ds of the soil whom
the Confessor permitted to continue in possession, and his family remained here
for five centuries. In the fourth generation from Uchtred, Robert Fitz-Maldred
married Isabel de Nevill, from whose mother Emma, the daughter and heiress of
Bertram de Buhner, lord of Brancepeth, she inherited that territory as well as
Sherift Hutton in Yorkshire. Emma de Bulmer had married Geoftrey de
Nevill, the descendant of GUbert, admiral of Duke William's fleet, who came
from Neuville in Normandy. Geoffrey, the son of Isabel and Robert, lord of
Raby, adopted his mother's name of Nevill, and thus commenced the male line
of a mighty and princely family, second to none in the kingdom. His son
Robert was made by Henry III. captain-general of the royal forces north of
Tweed, but he afterwards joined the popular side in the Barons' War. He had
a son of the same name, who marrying Mary, daughter of Ralph FitzRandolph,
added through his wife the manor and castle of Middleham to the other large
estates of the Nevills. His son Ralph de Nevill was summoned to Parlia
ment as a baron in 1294, and served in the Scots and French wars of Edward I.
Ralph died in 1331, and his son Ralph, the second baron, held high employment
under Edward III. in Scotland and France, and was one of the leaders at the
battle of Nevill's Cross ; he died in 1367. His son Sir John, whom, when a
child of five years, he had taken to witness the great fight near Durham, became
an illustrious warrior, and is said to have won during his military service no less
than eighty-three walled towns and fortresses. He also fiUed the post of admiral
of the royal fleet from the Thames northward, and he attended Richard II. to
Scotland with his own forces of 300 archers and 200 men-at-arms.

DURHAM

349

In 1378 he obtained from the Prince Bishop of the Palatinate, Hatfield, a
licence to creneUate his castle of Raby, and built the Nevill gateway, whereon
we see three shields bearing St. George's Cross between the arms of Nevill and
Latimer — his second wife being the heiress of the latter faraily ; each shield is
encircled by the garter, of which order Lord Nevill was made a knight in 1369.
Dying in 1388, he was buried like his father in Durham Cathedral ; his brother.
Sir Ralph, being slain at the battle of Otterburn {q,v) or Chevy Chase in the same
year. With his son, also Ralph, the fourth baron, the fortunes of the Nevills
reached their zenith. Holding high office under Richard 1 1., he was created Earl
of Westmorland, but he nevertheless became a strong supporter of Henry IV.,
whom he assisted in placing on the throne, receiving from that king for his
services a grant of the county and honour of Richmond for his life, and the high

office of Earl Marshal of England. He supported Henry IV. against the Percy
rebeUion, and did great service for him at the battle of Shrewsbury ; and in
1405, by artful treachery towards Archbishop Scrope and the Earl Marshal, he
brought their formidable insurrection to an end (see Pontefract, Yorks) in a
bloodless campaign {Henry IV,, Part ii. Act iv. Scene 2). In the next reign we
find him at Agincourt, being at that time Earl Marshal, with a following of his
own of five knights, thirty men-at-arms, and eighty archers. By his second mar
riage with Joan de Beaufort he was uncle to King Henry V., though Shakespeare
makes the king to call Westmorland his " cousin." By his two wives this earl
had twenty-three children ; nine by his first wife. Lady Margaret Stafford, and
the rest inherited the blood royal through their mother, the daughter of John
of Gaunt by Katharine Swynford. The youngest daughter of this large family
was Cicely, the fair " Rose of Raby," who married in early youth Richard
Plantagenet, Duke of York, by whom she became the mother of the two kings
Edward IV. and Richard III. (see Berkhamstead, Herts),

350 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
This great noble died in 1426, and was followed at Raby by his eldest son
Ralph. The elder son of the second marriage was Richard Nevill, created Earl
of Salisbury, who, with the rest of his kith, became a strenuous supporter
of the White Rose of York, through his youngest sister's marriage, though
so closely allied through his father to the house of Lancaster. He fought at
the first battle of St. Albans, and afterwards defeated Lord Audley at Blore
heath, and was a leader at Northampton fight in 1460 ; he was slain,
however, at Wakefield with his brother-in-law the Duke of York, as was
also his second son, and his head, like that of the duke, was mounted over
one of the gates of York. Salisbury's eldest son was Richard Nevill, the
stout Earl of Warwick, the King-maker, than whom few better known figures
exist in history.
Ralph, fifth lord of Raby and second earl, managed to live through the Wars
of the Roses, in spite of, perhaps because of, his close relationship to the chiefs
of both the contending factions, and died at Raby the year of the last battle,
which placed the crown on the brow of Henry, Earl of Richmond. There is
little to remark in the history of the succeeding three earls, who lived out
their days at Raby and Brancepeth.
Then came the end of the NevUls, in Charles, the sixth Earl of Westmor
land, who joined with the Earl of Northumberland in the insurrection of 1569
(13 Elizabeth), called the Rising of the North — a movement which resembled
the rebellion caUed the Pilgrimage of Grace during the reign of Henry VIII.
— the object of both being the restoration of the ancient faith of the country.
The account of the rising of 1569 is given in the Memoir of Barnard Castle,
where the two earls were unwise enough to delay until the queen's forces
arrived in the neighbourhood ; then the rebel party broke up, and the earls
sought safety over the Scottish border. The Earl of Westmorland was long
concealed by the Kerr family at Fernhurst Castle, Roxburgh, and, more fortu
nate than the Earl of Northumberland, contrived to escape to Flanders. His
vast property had, however, been confiscated; his wealth had fled, and his title
was gone ; so that in poverty he ended his days in 1584, after subsisting mean
while on a "miserable pittance" bestowed on him bythe King of Spain. He
left four daughters only, from whom Queen Elizabeth, while appropriating
their father's estate, withheld even a bare subsistence, leaving them literally
without bread.
The possessions of the Nevills under Earl Charles' attainder should have
devolved upon the see of Durham, but the queen, by an Act which she
obtained, caused them to vest in herself, and the whole, inclusive of Raby,
continued Crown property tiU James I. in 1613 granted them to his worthless
favourite Carr, Earl of Somerset ; on whose degradation on account of the
Overbury murder they were first made over to the citizens of London, and
afterwards were devised for the support of the Prince of Wales, under trustees

DURHAM 35

who sold the lands ultimately, with Raby and Barnard Castle, to Sir Henry
Vane, a distinguished statesman in the reign of James I., and Treasurer of the
Household. There is a story that Vane, wishing to underrate the value of his purchase
to the king, called Raby "a hillock of stones'' ; and that on a subsequent visit
to the place James, remembering what Vane had said, exclaimed : " Gude sakes
— ca' ye thot a huUock o' stanes ? By me faith, I hae nae sic anither bullock
in my realm." The story is ascribed also to Charles I.
Sir Henry's son, likewise so named, was a violent republican and Puritan,
and was in the time of the Parliament the principal mover of the Solemn League
and Covenant, and of the Self-denying Ordinance. By his evidence he pro
cured the condemnation of Stafford, and after the Restoration he was tried as
a regicide and was beheaded (1662) on Tower Hill. In 1645, a Royalist force
from Bolton Castle scaled the wall and surprised and took possessioii of Raby ;
but after about six weeks it was invested by a body of 300 men raised by
Sir George Vane, Sir Henry's second son (ancestor of the Londonderry
family), and the garrison forced to surrender. Again in 1648 the castle was
besieged by the Royalists, but no record exists of the fighting, except an
entry which appears in the parish register of Staindrop. "Aug. 27, 1648. — A
souldier slaine at the seidge of Raby Castle was buried in the church. Memo.
Many souldiers slaine before Raby castle, which were buried in the Parke,
and not registered." Charles I. was here twice.
Sir Henry was followed by his son Sir Christopher, created in 1698 Baron
Barnard. It was this owner who in 1714, in order to injure his eldest son, who
had displeased him and his virago wife (Lady Elizabeth Holies) by his marriage,
endeavoured to ruin Raby Castle. He caused the lead to be stripped off the
roofs, and the ironwork and glass and the flooring taken away and sold, employ
ing 200 workmen for the purpose. The old timber was cut down, the deer
killed and the park ploughed, and he was beginning to throw down the walls
when the heir obtained an injunction against his parents, who were forced by
the court to raake good all they had injured, under the eye of a Master who was
sent down to carry out the order. This unworthy lord died in 1723 ; and
Henry Vane, grandson of the last (raarried to the Lady Grace, daughter of
Charles Fitzroy, Duke of Cleveland, the son of Charles II. by Barbara
Villiers), succeeding in 1753, was created Viscount Barnard and Earl of
Darlington the next year. In 1827 his grandson was made Marquess of
Cleveland, and Duke in 1833.
Leland, who visUed the place before its forfeiture, says : " Raby is the largest
Castel of Logginges in al the North Countery, and is of a strong Building, but
not set other on Hil or very strong Ground. . . . The Haul and al the Houses
of Offices be large & stately, and the Great Chamber was exceeding large, but
now it is fals rofid and divided into 2 or 3 Partes. I saw ther a htle Chaumber

352

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

wherin was in Windowes of colerid Glasse al the Pedigree of Neville : but it
is now taken down."
The position thus spoken of by Leland was rendered a strong one by the
water defences ; a moat, now filled in on all but the S. side, surrounded the
castle, and was supplied by a small burn which, being dammed, formed an
artificial lake around it. The entrance is on the W. front in the Nevill Tower,

or inner gatehouse, built by Sir John Nevill in 1378, and bearing the three
stone shields of arras, the passage guarded by an outer and an inner portcullis.
Adjoining this is Joan's Tower, at the S.W. angle of the fortress, called after
Lady Joan of Beaufort, the mother of the King-maker ; in this are the family
apartments, and beyond it the S. front consists of the modern buildings of Inigo
Jones, and later fanciful additions of an octagon tower and a dining-room ;
to fit them in the old vaulted fourteenth-century rooms were sacrificed,
and a huge gap was made in the Bulmer Tower at the S.E. angle, the

DURHAM 353
Danish arrow-pointed structure of the original castle, which may be considered
as the Keep.
Next to this, on the E. front, is the great Chapel Tower, containing the
chapel and priest's room, with a guardroom above, ancl between it and the
next tower, called Mount Raskelf (from one of the Nevill manors), is the chapel
gateway with its two picturese;[ue turrets, in front of which stood the barbican,
destroyed by Lord Darlington in the last century, whereon was sculptured the
huge Nevill bull with the saltire banner, now removed to a modern entrance to
the home farm.
From Mount Raskelf at the N.E. corner a modern circular curtain leads round
to the remarkable Kitchen Tower on the N. front, built about 1370, with its three
iramense fireplaces, vaulted roof, and mural passages. At its S. wall remain the
stairs leading up to the Barons' Hall. Below is a great cellar with vaulted roof
supported by a massive central column, and from it descends a long staircase
leading to a subterranean passage to Staindrop Priory, but now walled up.
From hence an ancient curtain wall — pierced with a postern into the inner
coiirt — conducts the N. front to Clifford's Tower, at the N.W. angle, the
largest in the castle, having walls 10 feet thick, in which are mural passages
between the loopholes for the bowmen ; and thence by the two-storeyed vaulted
guardrooms (now the servants' hall) we pass by the W. watch-tower once
more to the great entrance with its two splayed turrets. Passing through,
we arrive at the central courtyard and at the entrance hall built by Lord
Darlington, who opened up a broad avenue through the building to the chapel
gateway. This hall, supported on lofty columns, contains the state staircase
to the new apartments, and to the ancient Barons' Hall above — "the great
historical room, where the 700 knights that held of the Nevills assembled once
a year, and where the council that decided upon the fatal Rising of the North
was held in 1569 " — built by Sir John Nevill in the fourteenth century, but
much injured and altered by modern architects.
The park is now reduced in size, but still contains 400 fallow and 100
red deer.
Since the death of the fourth Duke of Cleveland, Raby Castle has become
the property of Lord Barnard.

RAVENSWORTH (chief)
RAVENSWORTH, a seat of the Liddells since the fifth year of James I.,
stands about four mUes S. from Gateshead, on gently rising ground a
mile from the river Team. The present raansion was built in 1808 on the site
of an ancient castle, two towers of which remain. The narae is sometimes
written Raffensweath, and hence is thought to relate to a defeat of the Danes
VOL. II. 2 Y

354 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
here, in allusion to the Danish Standard of the Raven ; and there is no record
of any licence to crenellate, as in other residences of the bishops, which would
seem to show the antiquity of the settlement.
The manor was granted by Bishop Flambard to his nephew Richard, for
half a knight's fee, and in the twelfth year of Bishop Hatfield (i345-i377).
we read of a lady of Ravensworth. In 1370 the family of Lumley is mentioned
in connection with the place, and in 1384 Robert de Lumley is seised of
the manor of Ravensholm. This Lumley family became extinct in Isabel,
wife of Sir Henry Boynton, at the end of the fifteenth century, and their
only daughter Elizabeth married Sir Henry Gascoygn, whose descendant.
Sir William Gascoygn, 5 Jaines I. (1607), sold Ravensworth to Thomas LiddeU,
a Newcastle merchant. His son, also Thomas Liddell, defended Newcastle
against the Scots, and was made baronet in 1642. Sir Henry, the fourth
baronet, was created Baron Ravensworth in 1747, but at his death in 1784
this title became extinct, the baronetcy devolving on his nephew. Sir Henry
George, whose son was raised to the peerage as Baron Ravensworth in 1821,
and in 1874 the second baron was advanced to an earldom.
The ancient castle was built in the usual form of a quadrangle with a
tower at each corner, connected by curtain walls, and before the existing
mansion was erected in 1808, two of these old turrets remained, forming
a part of the offices, the other two, as now, projecting in front.

STOCKTON-ON TEES (non-existent)
THE bishops palatine had a castle at Stockton, wUh which the borough
was closely connected, erected in early times of the see. In 12 14,
King John visited Bishop Philip de Poictou here ; and in the fourteenth
century the castle was rebuilt by Bishop Kellew, and again renovated in 1578
by Bishop Barnes. Several of the bishops between 1241 and 1640 made use
of this fortress as a retreat or a refuge in times of danger. It was besieged
and captured by the Parliamentary troops in 1644, and in 1652 was dismantled
and destroyed. Nothing now remains of the castle except the names of
Castle Street and Moat Street, but until lately there was still a fragment of a
low massive tower at the end of the High Street.

STREATLAM (minor)
STREATLAM lies in the S. of the county, two miles N.E. of Barnard Castle,
and between that place and Raby, in a low situation surrounded by a fine
timbered park. The present mansion was built early in the eighteenth century,
and encases whatever remains of the ancient castle, erected here, as supposed.

DURHAM 355
by the Baliol family, to whom the lands belonged. Bernard Baliol gave
Streatlam and other lands in dowry with Agnes his niece, daughter and
sole heiress of Ralph de la Haye (Lord Percy), on her marriage with Sir
John Trayiie, who may have built this castle. The sole issue of the union
was a daughter, Alice, who married Sir Adara Bowes in the beginning of the
fourteenth century.
The Bowes fainily were a martial race ; Sir Adam's grandson. Sir William
Bowes, was created a banneret at the battle of Poictiers in 1346, and his son.
Sir Robert, was slain at the battle of Beauge with the Duke of Clarence in 1419.
The son of this man, knighted during the French wars at the battle of Verneuil
in 1424, was chamberlain to the Duke of Bedford in France. He sent home
a model for the reconstruction of Streatlam Castle, and the plan was carried out
on his return from the wars.
Another Bowes, Sir Ralph, received the honour of knighthood after Flodden
Field, and his brother Sir Robert was a Privy Councillor to Henry VIII. The
direct line ended in Sir George Bowes, the grandson of Ralph, who left three
daughters only, and the line was cairied on by his cousin. Sir Robert, who acted
as ambassador to Scotland. It was this Sir Robert's son. Sir George Bowes,
who withstood sp strenuously, and unsupported, the insurrection of the
Earis of Northumberland and Westmorland, called the Rising of the North, in
1569, in his defence of Barnard Castle (q.v), in recognition of which service
Queen Elizabeth made him Knight Marshal. The last of this valiant race was
George Bowes, whose daughter and heiress Mary-Eleanor married in 1767
John, 9th Earl of Strathmore, who took the name of Bowes on the strength
of his wife's property.
The story of this Lady Strathmore is a sad one. After the earl's death, when
she was but twenty-nine years old, and a "pretty, lively, and accomplished
lady," she bestowed her great wealth, her property, and herself, on a worthless
scoundrel from King's County, named Andrew Robinson Stoney. This fellow,
who had been a lieutenant in the army, and already by cruelty had done one
wife to death and dissipated a large fortune, contrived to inveigle the unfor
tunate countess to marry him, and adopting her name, proceeded to run riot
over her property. He spent her money, cut down her splendid old trees, sold
her horses, confiscated her plate, and outraged her feelings by leading openly
the wildest of lives. At last the broken-hearted woman managed to escape from
him, and commenced proceedings at law against him ; but, waylaying her,
Stoney effected her capture, and shutting her up in Streatlam Castle, recom
menced his cruel treatment. Here, however, the people of her estates inter
fered, and Stoney took to flight, carrying off the countess from the back of the
castle, lying across the horse's neck in front of him, and in this way he brought
her through deep snow to Darlington. Here, however, they were tracked
and overtaken, and the country people, knocking the villain off his horse

356 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
and nearly kUUng him, rescued the wife. She obtained a divorce, and Stoney
Bowes was shut up for some years in prison.
No traces remain of the two former castles, the earlier of which was cleared
away by Sir William Bowes in the fifteenth century when he reconstructed the
building, and this castle too, in its turn, was removed when the present one was
built at the beginning of this century. The shape of the original castle cannot
be known ; the existing one was built by Sir George Bowes on the old founda
tions, and it retains many of the old apartments. The situation is in a low
vale, surrounded by high hills, and enshrouded in forests. The moat which
encircled the original fortress can still be traced.
Leland's account says that " the Castle had 2 or 3 Towers and a faire Stable."

WITTON-LE-WEAR (minor)
THIS castle stands on the S. bank of the Wear, near Bishop Auckland. The
Crown held the lands until Henry II. granted them to Henry Pudsey,
nephew of Bishop Pudsey (1153-1196), who was a kinsman of King Stephen.
It is not known at what date the Eure or Ever family first , came here; they
were anciently derived frora the old lords of Warkworth and Clavering (temp.
Henry IL), and Ralph Eure is found seised of the manor of Witton in the
time of Bishop de Bury (1333-1348), it being held of the bishop in capite.
In 1410 Bishop Langley granted a licence to Sir Ralph Eure to fortify and
crenellate his castle of Witton, and "to entower the same" ; and this may
be taken therefore as the date of the main building. The family of Eure
ended in a female representative early in the reign of Henry VIL, but before
that time the manor and castle of the Eures, Barons of Witton, were sold, we
are told, to the Darcys, which family sold them in 1743 to William Cuthbert
for about ^^15,000.
The old castle, so long the home of the Eure family, was burnt down late
in the last century, while undergoing repairs, and the present house was
built upon its site, preserving what remained of the former structure,
including the keep.
These Eures seem to have been a martial family of consequence, and
were connected by marriage wUh many noble houses. One of them. Sir
Ralph, was killed at Towton Field, and another of the same name in a fight
in Northumberland. Sir William Eure was created Lord Eure in 1584 ;
he was a famous man during the Border warfare, and died in 1592. His
descendant was the Colonel William Eure who was slain at Marston Moor
on King Charles' side, and his son Thomas also fell in the Civil War. The
last Lord Eure, George, who was living in 1674, dying s.p. male, the family
became extinct.

DURHAM 357
Sir Williain Darcy held Witton Castle for the king, and was besieged in
it by Sir Arthur Hazlerigg of Auckland Castle {q.v). The place was taken
and its contents were sequestered, but no injury was done to the building by
the Parliament. A subsequent owner, however — James, Lord Darcy — in 1681
destroyed the place ; he took away the lead, timber, and chimney-pieces to
help in building a house at Sudbury, near Richmond, but this plan was never
carried out, and the spoil of the old castle of Witton was afterwards sold at
a lower price than the demolition had cost him.
It was originally a place of great strength ; rectangular in shape, it had
strong embattled curtain walls enclosing a large area, with projecting turrets
or bartizans, three circular and one square, at the four angles. At one end
and on the line of wall stands by itself a lofty square keep with a crenellated
parapet throughout ; it is two storeys only in height, with a staircase turret in
one corner giving access to the roof, and its windows are square and modern.
The entrance was in the centre of the N. wall through a gateway which is
defended by a projecting gallery.
This important and interesting castle is now the property and residence
of Henry Chaytor, Esq.

WARKWORTH

IFlortbumbetlanb

ALNWICK (chief)
AFTER the Conquest, the lands and the existing castle at Alnwick, of
whatever sort it was, were bestowed upon Ivo de Vescy, a Norman
noble, who, dying without male issue, left them to his daughter
L Beatrice. She married Eustace Fitzjohn (temp. Henry I.), one of
the Justices Itinerant with Walter Espee, the leader of the English at the Battle
of the Standard (see Helmsley, Yorks).
In the reign of Rufus, in 1093, Malcolm Ceanmor, King of Scotland, in one
of his incursions into Northumberland, was met on the banks of the Aln by
a strong force under Morel, the sheriff of the county, the nephew of Robert de
Mowbray, and was defeated and slain, together with his son Edward.
The need of a strong fortress at this point, to restrain these murderous
Border raids, was naturally felt, and in 1140, or thereabout, Eustace Fitzjohn
set himself to erect the castle of which the splendid Norman arches of the
innerraost gateway, and some fragments of the outer curtain wall, still remain.
His son WiUiam took the narae of his mother's family, de Vescy ; he sup-
358

NORTHUMBERLAND 359
ported the cause of the Empress Maud against Stephen, and he delivered his
castle of Alnwick into the keeping of Maud's uncle. King David of Scotland.
He was afterwards killed in an expedition against the Welsh, when his son
Eustace de Vescy succeeded him. In his day in 1174 King Williain the Lion
invaded England, on one of his attempts to compel the restoration of the
earldom of Northumberland that had belonged to his ancestors, ancl his
savage and undisciplined soldiery spread through the country, burning and
destroying as they went. This aroused the indignation of the neighbour
ing barons in the north of England, and Ralph de Glanville, Bernard
Baliol (see Barnard Castle, Durham), Odinel de Umfraville of Prudhoe (q.v),
and others raised a force of 400 heavy armed horsemen, and hastened by a
fatiguing march to Newcastle to check the career of the Scots. Resting here
for the night (nth July), they pressed on early next morning towards Alnwick,
where the Scottish king was lying in fancied security ; but on their way they
were overtaken by a mist so dense, that fearing the proximity of the enemy,
and having lost their way, they thought of retreating, and would have done so
but for the intrepidity of Baliol, who urged on the march, and soon the sun,
lifting the mist, showed them the towers of Alnwick. They then came by
surprise on the king, who was attended by sixty horsemen only, all his force
having dispersed in pursuit of plunder. William boldly charged them, but
being unsupported, was speedily overpowered, unhorsed, and made prisoner.
The gallant band then, to secure their prize, wisely galloped off the field and
returned to Newcastle, whence the king was taken prisoner to Richmond, from
whence he was despatched to Falaise Castle in Normandy. The Scottish army,
blind with rage at the loss of their king, at once broke up from Alnwick and
turaultuously dispersed.
King John visited Alnwick on four different occasions. Eustace de Vescy
raarried a daughter of the King of Scotland, and in 1216 accompanied
Alexander 1 1., his brother-in-law, in an expedition against Barnard Castle
in Durham, and while riding round the fortress reconnoitring it, was slain by
a bolt from the walls, to the grief of the Scottish army, which at once left the
place. His son Williara succeeded, who was married to Agnes, daughter of
William Ferrers, Earl of Derby, by whom he had two sons, John, who sided
against Henry IIL, and was made prisoner at Evesham, and who died 1288,
and William, who died 1297, both without issue. Thus the family of de Vescy
came to an end, and the castle and manor of Alnwick became by royal licence
the possession of Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durhara, from whom the lands and
castle were purchased in 1309 by Sir Henry de Percy, ist lord of Alnwick, a
name so intimately connected with the history of this country, and with all
that is chivalrous and martial in it for so many centuries, that a short account
should be here given of the faraily which at this time acquired Alnwick.
Their ancestor, Williain de Percy, coming from the quiet little village of

36o CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Perci in Calvados, Normandy, had accompanied Duke William to England,
and his son and grandson succeeded to the lands bestowed upon him by the
Conqueror ; but the family of his grandson ended in a daughter and heiress,
Agnes de Percy, married to Joscelin, the brother of Adeliza de Louvaine, Queen
of England. Their son and successor, Henry, assumed the name of his mother's
family, and thus recommenced the family of Percy. He inarried Isabel de Brus,
obtaining with her the lordship of Skelton and its castle in Yorkshire. His son
WiUiam succeeded, and died 1245, when his son Henry de Percy came into the
estates, which included also the lordship of Petworth in Sussex. This Percy
marrying Eleanor, daughter of John, the great Earl de Warenne, was led by him
to espouse the side of Henry III. in the Barons' War, and he was taken prisoner
at Lewes. In the Chronicle of Dover he is spoken of as "unus de melioribus in
regno." He died 1272, leaving a son. Sir Henry de Percy, a warrior of distinction,
who was knighted by Edward I., and accompanied that king in his wars ; he
was, together with his grandsire John de Warenne, at the siege of Caerlaverock,
and at Berwick 22 Edward I., and, like his father, he took a wife in Sussex,
namely, Eleanor, daughter of the powerful noble Richard FitzAlan, Earl of
Arundel. He it was who in 1309 purchased Alnwick of Bishop Anthony
Bek, but he only enjoyed it for six years, dying in 1315. Up to this date little
perhaps had been done on the old fabric in the way of additions, but we are told
that his son and successor most excellently repaired the castle. At this period
were added or remodelled the barbican and the magnificent gatehouse with its
two octagonal towers, and also those called the Abbot's, the postern, the
Constable's, and the Friar's Towers, and the gatehouse between the outer and
middle bailey ; also one on the foundations of the present Record Tower, and all
the interraediate ones westward to the barbican. He also added the great hall
and the vaults below it, as the latter still exist. This Percy married a daughter
of Robert, Lord Clifford, and so we find the Clifford escutcheon carved on the
wall of the inner gatehouse. He served throughout the wars of Edward III.
in France and in Scotland, and with the Black Prince, fighting at Halidon Hill
and at Nevill's Cross, and is described as being a personage only second to the
king in importance. He died in 1352, when he was succeeded by the oldest
of his four sons, whose marriage with Mary Plantagenet, daughter of Henry,
Earl of Lancaster, shows that the Percys were esteemed worthy of alliance
with the blood-royal ; he fought at Cre9y, and died in 1368, after completing
the remodelling of Alnwick Castle. His eldest son, the father of " Hotspur,"
was in great favour at first with Richard 1 1., but transferred his allegiance to
Henry IV. on his claiming the crown. He was created Earl of Northumberland,
and married as his second wife Maud, the sister of Anthony, Lord Lucy, and
widow of Gilbert Umfraville, by whom he obtained the manors and castles of
Cockermouth and Langley, and whom he succeeded in those of Prudhoe.
Both he and his son Henry "Hotspur" revoUed against King Henry, the latter

NORTHUMBERLAND 361
being killed at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, and the earl at a skirmish on
Bramham Moor in 1407.
In 1405 Alnwick sustained a short siege, and was yielded t(j Henry IV. It
was defended by Sir Henry Percy of Athol, as he was called, the grandson of
the Earl of Northumberland, but on the fall of Berwick he surrendered.
Hotspur's son Henry, the heir, who through his mother inherited the blood
of the royal stock of the Mortimers, was an exile in Scotland till 141 6,
when Henry V. restored him to his fainily possessions, creating him Earl of
Northumberland. He repaired the castles of Alnwick and Warkworth, possibly
adding the keep of the latter. He was an active Lancastrian, ancl was killed at
the first battle of St Albans in 1455. His son Henry, the third earl, had a licence
to crenellate the town of Alnwick from Henry VI. , and built the Bondgate
Tower at Alnwick. He was slain on the bloody field of Towton in 1461, fighting
like his father for the Red Rose. The fourth earl was massacred by the mob
at Thirsk in 1489, when he was striving to collect Henry VI I.'s taxes. In his
time Alnwick was the centre of much fighting. In 1462, being held by the
Lancastrian William Tailbois, it was besieged by Lord Hastings and Sir Ralph
Grey and taken, but on Queen Margaret's landing shortly after at Bam
burgh, siege was again laid to Alnwick Castle, which from lack of provisions
was forced to surrender. The next year the Earl of Warwick retook it, but a
few months after it was treacherously yielded by its governor. Sir R. Grey, to
Lord Hungerford and a French force, and again, after the battle of the Linnels
at Hexham, it was given up to Warwick.
The Percys, as leaders of the northern barons, resided at Alnwick, and
entertained here King Edward II. in 131 1 and 1322, and also Edward III. in
1335 ; but the later earls lived much in Yorkshire and at Petworth, and on the
death of the seventh earl and the imprisonment of his brother the fainily ceased
to live at Alnwick, and the castle came to be neglected.
We have recounted seven lords of Alnwick who died violent deaths, and the
list increases : Thoraas, 7th Earl of Northuraberland, was beheaded at York
in 1572 for the Rising in the North, and the eighth earl died raysteriously in the
Tower of London : with the eleventh earl, Jocelyn, the male line of the Percys
— the most historic perhaps of all our English families — coraes to an end in 1670.
The last earl's daughter. Lady Elizabeth Percy, who was twice a wife and twice
a widow before she was sixteen, became (1682) the wife of Charles Seymour,
Duke of Somerset, to whom she brought her great wealth. Their daughter
Catherine married Sir William Wyndham, and conveye^to his fainily the estates
of Petworth, Egreraont, and Leconfield. In the next century, Algernon Seymour,
Duke of Somerset, left one child. Lady Elizabeth, who inherited Alnwick and
married Sir Hugh Smithson, created Earl Percy and Duke of Northumberland
in 1766, — the ancestor of the present noble owner of Alnwick Castle.
This magnificent fortress stands on high ground on the S. bank of the Aln
VOL. II. 2 z

362 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
River. The view is comparatively confined. The enclosure of the walls is of
irregular shape, in the form of two loops or links, wUh the great keep and its
approaches forming the junction between them. This keep consists of a cluster
of towers and walls set round a central court, having a superb gateway with
two highly ornate Norman arches, the work probably of Eustace Fitzjohn,
cir. 1 140. There is also a great deal of Norman masonry remaining in the
walls of the enceinte. Originally there was a deep dry ditch surrounding the
keep, which is spoken of in the Survey of 1587. The Norman gateway was
built into the later work of the middle of the fourteenth century, when also the
two lofty flanking towers were added.
The central " Prudhoe " Tower is modern, but adds much to the elevation
of the castle. There is a curious garrison well in this part, which may have
been buUt by the second Percy lord (1315), who did so much to the structure.
The great gatehouse and barbican are fine exaraples of the railitary architecture
of the fourteenth century. The latter gave access over a drawbridge across a
moat which originally encircled the building, besides the bridge operated on
from the gatehouse ; these were not in existence in 1556. This entrance is
the work of the second Lord Percy of Alnwick, who also built most of the
towers of the outer wall. After his time little raention is raade of the fabric
till 1538, when the first survey was made (given by Hartshorne in extenso), and
there was another in 1586, wherein the chapel is mentioned, removed in 1755.
In 1764 repairs were imperative, and Hugh, ist Duke of Northumberland, was
advised to remove the chapel, and the Exchequer Tower, and to "restore"
the fabric after the lamentable Strawberry-Hill Gothic taste which then prevailed.
The original arrangements of the interior were entirely destroyed at that time,
and in 1854, when a new building was carried out in the keep, it was found
necessary to pull down the old Hall, which was in a dangerous state : the marks
of the dais across the hall were then discovered, and over it a buffet or side
board for the display of cups and plate; also water drains, and the hooks for
suspending tapestries upon the walls were found in the old plaster (Hartshorne).
The hall was rebuilt in 1863, but the vaults below are original.

AY DON (minor)
THIS fortress stands on the N. side of Tyne, one and a half miles from
Corbridge, in a secluded wood ; on two sides the building is protected
by a deep ravine and on the others by a ditch. It was built in 1305 by
Robert de Reymes or Raymes, who then obtained a licence from Edward I.
to creneUate his house ("mansum suum de Eydon"). At the same date this
Robert also built under royal licence a similar tower at Shortflat, but
Aydoii exceeded it greatly in extent.

NORTHUMBERLAND 363
Robert de Raymes owned the manor, castle, and half the village of Aydon,
and his descendants retained some interest in it till the reign of Jaines 1.,
though the family of Carnaby became possessed of the castle in 1542, their
arms being cut on a stone mantelpiece in the castle. It was afterwards the
property of the CoUinsons, " but the last of that fainily was ruined by being
bond for a friend." Then Aydon was purchased by onejohn Douglas, from
whom it descended to the Blacketts of Matfen, and it is now the property of
Sir E. W. Blackett, Bart.
In the "Domestic ArchUecture " of Hudson Turner are admirable drawings
and details of Aydon, which in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was called
Aydon Hall, as being a Border house, in reality, carefully fortified. In plan
it was a many-sided enclosure of high walls, forming three courts attached to
a strong house of three storeys, gabled at the ends and battlemented through
out, standing on the edge of the ravine Some good rooms are on the upper
floor, one measuring about 30 feet by 20 feet ; there are four original fire
places with good chimneys, ancl some of the windows are square-headed, with
double lights.
BAMBOROUGH, formerly called BAMBURGH (chief)
NO spot in England, remote though this one be, is more intimately bound
up with the early memories of the country than Bamborough. A bold
plutonic rock of black basalt, a natural fortress overhanging the North Sea
was chosen by Ida, at the head of a powerful force of Angles, in 547, as his
camp, " which he surrounded with palisades and afterwards with a wall "
(Flores Hist,), It is not possible to prove the tradition that Agricola had been
there before him. Ida became king of that country called Bernicia, extending
from the Tyne to the Forth, which joined in the next century to Deira, and
reaching to the Humber, long formed, under the name of Northumbria (or
lands north of the Humber), the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon states,
whose king was then Ethelfrith, and their capital Bamburgh or Bebbanburgh,
so caUed from Bebba, Ethelfrith's queen. It covered no more ground than
the existing castle, but forraed in those wild times a camp of refuge, where
the Bernician kings and their Thegns might be secure from the inroads of
Scots and Danes. It was spoken of in 774 as " a raost strongly fortified city ; "
yet in 993 the Danes broke in and injured its defences, and again in 1015 they
took it by assault.
In the spring of 1095, Robert de Mowbray, the third Norraan Earl of
Northumberland, who had two years before killed Malcolm Ceanmore, the
Scottish king, and his son before Alnwick, took on himself to wantonly plunder
four Norwegian ships lying in sorae northern harbour. The merchants pre
ferred a complaint to the king, WUliam Rufus, who, glad perhaps of a cause

364 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
against this turbulent earl, sent positive orders to de Mowbray to restore
what he had taken ; but of this the earl took no notice, and on being
summoned to court to give an account of himself, stoutly refused to go.
This defiance was more than the Red King would endure, so, gathering a
strong force together, he put himself at its head and marched to the north
to chastise the earl, and put a stop to the conspiracy which he knew existed
there. Arrived at Newcastle, the fortress, which his brother Robert had built
to defend the Roman road to the north, soon fell into his hands, and he then
laid siege to the castle of Tynemouth, which was held by the earl's brother,
and which, after a delay of two months, he took, and at once pressed on to
attack de Mowbray in his citadel of Bamburgh, where the earl lay, accom
panied by his newly married wife, Matilda de I'Aigle The old fort, described
as "a city small but strong, and its steep height approached only by steps,"
had then been replaced by a Norman castle fortified by all the military
science of the age. Rufus found it impregnable, and contented himself with
forming close to its walls a strong earthwork, which he called Malvoisin, or '
the Bad Neighbour, as cover for a force placed there, to harass and watch
his foe, and then left the place for the south. De Mowbray, deceived by false
news that Newcastle wished to open its gates to him, escaped by sea to go
there, leaving in charge of Bamburgh his countess and his nephew Morel,
the knight who had slain King Malcolm in 1093 ; but arrived at Newcastle,
he found hiraself raistaken and the enemy in possession, and just managed
to throw hiraself into Tynemouth, where he was besieged, and, after a
defence of six days, overcome, wounded, and taken prisoner, awaiting the
king's disposal. The lady of Bamburgh continued the defence there, and reso
lutely refused to yield ; whereupon Rufus sent orders to parade her husband
before the walls of Bamburgh, with the threat that unless the castle was given
up his eyes should be torn out. Then the countess gave in, and the castle
was surrendered to the king, but the earl was sent prisoner to Windsor, and
condemned to perpetual captivity, which some say he endured for thirty years,
another account being that he became a monk at St. Albans and died there.
The poor bride, who had seen little of pleasure or quiet in her short married
life, after some time received a Papal dispensation to marry again, and she
became the wife of Nigel de Albini. Henry I. entrusted this castle to the
keeping of Eustace Fitzjohn, Lord of Alnwick.
Bamburgh resisted the attack of David, King of Scotland, when he invaded
the Marches in the interest of the Empress Maud, and the value of this
fortress to the English Crown is shown by the reservation of it in the grant of
the earldom of Northumberland to Earl Henry, David's son.
Henry II. was a great castle-builder, and in his time the keep was erected,
cir. 1164. King John, in his endless journeys, came here four or five times,
and Henry III. in 1221. The Constables of Bamburgh seem to have always

v..

"<i

nortitumb]':rland

365

held royal appointments. It was here that Edward I. vainly summoned John
Baliol to attend and do him homage for Scotland. Edward II. granted the
castle to Isabel de Beaumont, widow of John de Vescy of Alnwick, a favour
which she repaid by giving shelter there to Piers Gaveston. To Bamburgh
they took the young King of Scotland, David, son of the Bruce, when captured
at the battle of Nevill's Cross in October 1346, before sending hira to London.
He was only twenty-one years old, and had shown great courage at the battle,
being with difficulty taken prisoner, wounded as he was in face and leg; and he
was now in a pitiable state, since two barber-surgeons were sent for from York
to extract an arrow with which he had been wounded, and to heal hira " with
despatch," — services which they appear to have performed satisfactorily, since

lill

^«^*ii#l:^.^'-*"***-

ST. Oswald's gate.

3-

KEEP.

5-

KITCHEN.

smith's gate.

4-

THE king's hall.

6.

CHAPEL.

they received the sum of £(i for them, a sum equal to perhaps ;^I20 of our
money, — but it was five months before David could be moved to London. In
1336 Edward, proceeding to attack Berwick Castle, left his queen, Philippa, at
Bamburgh, when the Scots, under Archibald Douglas the Regent, attempted
to draw him off by besieging that fortress, but, stimulated by the presence
of their queen, the garrison made so strenuous a defence that they beat off
their assailants, and then Berwick fell. Edward spent ten days here in 1356,
when he was in treaty with Edward Baliol for the surrender of the Scottish
crown. Henry IV. gave the constableship of Bamburgh to Henry Hotspur,
for his assistance in effecting the dethronement of Richard II. , but after the
battle of ShrewsburyThis post was given to Hotspur's great enemy, the Earl
of Westmorland. In the wars of the Roses Bamburgh played an important
part. Being surrendered to Edward IV. after Towton, it was soon after

366 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
recovered by Queen Margaret, who (2 Edward IV.) gave it into the keeping
of the Duke of Somerset and Lord Roos, with a garrison of 300 men. Edward
coming north with an army of 10,000 men, then laid siege to the three castles
of Alnwick, Bamburgh, and Dunstanburgh, the conduct of the operations
being superintended by the Earl of Warwick, who, taking up his lodging at
Warkworth, rode thence daily to look after the conduct of these three sieges.
He commenced the attack on Bamburgh on the loth December, and the
garrison bravely defended the castle till Christinas Eve, when, in the face of
the great odds against them, they were forced to surrender. Meantime, the
queeii had managed to escape in a small ship, intending to go to France, but
her ever-pursuing evil fortune prevailing, a violent storm drove her to Berwick,
where she was glad to land, with the loss of the treasure she had on board the
vessel. After its fall Sir Ralph Grey was left in charge of the castle, but in
Lent, 1463, he betrayed it to the Lancastrian troops, with Queeii Margaret,
who entered Bamburgh with her ill-fated husband, Henry, only to quit it
again in April, when she sailed for Flanders. The king, thus left alone in the
castle, remained there for a whole year. The next year, after the disastrous
battle of Hexham, or the Linnels (May 1464), King Henry fled from Bywell
Castle, where he was staying, leaving behind his " bycocket," or coronetted
cap, and other effects, and returned to Bamburgh, which, however, he soon
quitted for the loyal district of the Lakes. Then Sir Ralph Grey, who had
fled at Hexhara before the battle, threw hiraself into Bamburgh, with many
other Lancastrian fugitives, and was followed shortly after by Warwick and
his brother Northumberland, who laid siege to the castle. Grey, on being
summoned, defied them, when he was warned that it was intended to take
the fortress, even if the siege lasted seven years, and that for every shot fired
from their guns a head should fall from a raember of the garrison. The
siege was then commenced, and heavy ordnance was opened on the castle,
doing great injury to it, and soinetimes sending their shot through Sir Ralph
Grey's quarters. At last, one of the towers being mined, in falling injured the
captain. Grey, so severely that he was takeii up for dead, when the defenders
lost heart and at once yielded. Sir Ralph, however, recovered, and being
carried to Edward at Doncaster, was executed.
In the sixteenth century, Bamburgh, like all the Border castles, was suffered
to fall into decay, and the survey (temp. Elizabeth) shows that it was ruinous.
Sir John Foster succeeded as captain, and was charged, 1584, with having by
his cupidity laid parts of it waste; yet in 1610 James I. bestowed it and the lord
ship upon Claudius Foster, the son of one of Sir John's illegitimate children.
The estates of the Fosters were sold in 1704 to meet their debts, and were
purchased by Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, who had married the beautiful
Dorothy Foster. The bishop dying without heirs in 1720, left the greater part
of this property to trustees for charitable purposes, and in 1757 the restoration

^

^

rv"

NORTHUMBERLAND 367
of Bamburgh Castle began under the auspices of Dr. Sharp, Archdeacon of
Northumberland, who carried out his own plans very zealously, ancl partly at
his own cost. He repaired the Norman keep, and lived in it with his faniily,
managing the various charitable designs of the founder, dispensing corn to the
poor and housing shipwrecked seamen.
The enceinte of the castle follows the bends of the cliff, enclosing nearly
five acres of ground, and from the entrance to the brink of the cliff, where the
wall stands 150 feet above the sea, is nearly I mile. There were three wards or
courts ; the W. or lower ward, and the E. or middle ward, have been at one
time covered with the buildings of the ancient town, and at the extreme W. end
was situated the Church of St. Peter. The original entrance was by a flight of
steps at the N.W. or lowest corner, where now are modern stairs. The great
quadrangular Norman keep was built (temp. Henry II.) after the foreign pattern
adopted at London, Dover, Newcastle, and other places ; it had originally only
two storeys, with galleries and staircases in the wall. A deep draw-well exists
in the keep ; it is 145 feet deep, cut through the hard rock, and the water,
" sweet and very pure," is said in the Chronicle to have existed in 774. There
has been much fanciful restoration, but happily some old work has escaped,
and on the W. is the wall of the Captain's Lodgings, where probably the shot
from the brazen gun penetrated Sir Ralph Grey's quarters. The gatehouse is
all changed. Dr. Sharp kept exact drawings of the old work as he found it,
and he gave these to an antiquary, one Edward King, but they cannot now be
traced. Under the Captain's Hall is a very fine vaulted chamber of the best
masonry in the castle ; it is now divided and used as a coal-cellar. Above this
were the kitchens. It is deplored by Mr. Bates in his " Border Holds of
Northumberland " that a grand old fortress of such historic interest as this,
which was successfully defended by Margaret I'Aigle, by Queen Philippa, and
by Queeii Margaret of Anjou, " sanctified for raore than a year by the solitary
agony of Henry VL," should now be "degraded into a ^^5 a year boarding-
school for thirty girls, with its keep let as a lodging-house during the summer
months," and he urges that the fabric should be made use of in ways consonant
with the wishes of Lord Crewe. This is right, and one is therefore glad to read
(AprU 30, 1894) that "the historic Castle of Bamburgh has just been purchased
from the trustees of Lord Crewe's Charity by Lord Armstrong, who has under
taken not to alter the historic character of the building, but to restore all the
parts that have fallen into decay in accordance with the original design. A
considerable portion of the castle will be devoted to an endowed Home for the
reception of impoverished persons of cultivated habits and acquirements." The
good work was at once set in hand, and ranges of buildings, commensurate
with the scheme and of a dignified character, are now rising upon the ancient
foundations.

368 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

BELLISTER (minor)
WITHIN a short distance to the E. of this castle, and opposite to it on
the S. bank of the South Tyne, in a beautiful situation near Haltwhistle,
stands Bellister Castle, the seat of a younger branch of the Blenkinsops. It is
a mde irregular structure, and a gloomy-looking one, built upon an artificial
mound, and surrounded by a broad moat. It belonged to a Thomas Blenkinsop
in the reign of Edward VL, and to George Blenkinsop temp. Elizabeth. The
manor came during this century into the possessioii of the Ellisons of Hebburn,
and this castle and estate to the Bacon family.

BELSAY (minor)
THIS ancient seat of the Middleton family dates from the reign of
Edward II. , cir. 1317, the modern mansion of Belsay Hall being the
residence of a descendant of the founder. Sir Arthur E. Middleton, Bart.
It lies about nine miles S.W. from Morpeth, and in the park is the old
castle, or rather peel tower, one of the largest in the country. The
Middleton family continued here through all the vicissitudes of the country,
till at the Restoration the proprietor was, in 1662, created a baronet, and was
high sheriff in 1666, from which time the succession to the present holder has
been unbroken.
The tower is described as a highly picturesque structure, buUt of a rich
yellow sandstone, and environed with fine timber. It is four storeys in height,
and raeasures at its base an area of 56 feet by 47 feet. The ground-floor is
vaulted, and the second floor contains a state apartment, 41 feet long and
21 feet wide, with a height of 17 feet. A newel stair in a square turret leads
to the roof, which is masked by a fine embattled parapet, projected on corbels
over the face of the wall, and having overhanging circular bartizans at the
angles. Additions were made to it temp. James I., one of which remains in a
steward's house, with the date 1614.

BLENKINSOP (minor)
IS a peel castle or Border fortress, 2| mUes from Haltwhistle, on the S. side
of the Tippalt, in a cold bare country. The number of these fortified houses
is very great, because every chief residence in these lawless regions had to be
protected against, not only the enemies of England across the Border, but
also from the raids and injuries of thieves and moss-troopers. This one is a
strong square tower with a vaulted basement, surrounded by a high wall at the

NORTHUMBERLAND 369
distance of four yards, and again by a deep ditch on the N. and W. sides, a brook
on the S. ancl a steep bank E. It appears to have been built out of the Roman
wall, from which it is not far removed, being, next to Thirl wai I, the most
westerly of the Northumbrian castles. It is in a ruinous state, but partly
inhabited, having a farm-house added to it. The family of Blenkinsop held
it in Henry III.'s reign : it w.is perhaps built about 1340 by a Ralph Blen-
kinsope de Boltby, Baron of Tynedale, and continued for centuries in that
family, going by marriage at last to the Coulsons of Jesmond, Jane, the
heiress of the Blenkinsops, who in the seventeenth century lived at Dryburn-
haugh, marrying in 1727 William Coulson. In Murray is given the tradition
that exists in this family of a black dog which appears as a warning before
the death of any member of it, and reappears in the house again at the moment
of dissolution.

BOTHAL {minor)
THE site no doubt of a very early fortress or "Bottle." This ancient seat
of the Ogle family stands on an eminence above the Wansbeck River,
on its N. bank, in a romantic situation, enveloped in woods, between Morpeth
and the sea. The lands here belonged to the Bertrams, one of whom, Robert
Bertram, served in the Welsh War of 1277, and his son was sheriff of the
county. Robert, fifth of his name, built the castle of Bothal 1343, under
licence to crenellate 17 Edward IIL, when twenty-one years of age. He
was knighted and received the thanks of Edward III. for his bravery at
Nevill's Cross ; dying in 1362, his only child Helen married Robert Ogle,
and as she had four husbands, it was not until 1405 that her son Sir Robert
Ogle came into possession of Bothal. This estate he entailed on his second
son John, who took his mother's name of Bertram, with remainder to his elder
brother Sir Robert Ogle, who the next day after their father's death in October
1409, came with a force and besieged Bothal Castle, and took it after four
days' fighting. Sir John Bertram died in 1449, and his male line failing with
his grandson, Bothal passed to the Ogles. Sir Robert Ogle had been created
Lord Ogle by Edward IV., 1461. The seventh Lord Ogle died 1601, s.p, male,
when the barony fell into abeyance between his two daughters, the younger
of whora, Catherine, marrying Charles Cavendish of Welbeck, Notts, was
mother of William Cavendish, the famous Marquis of Newcastle, King
Charles I.'s general. Again, on the death of the second Duke of Newcastle
in 1691, the title of Ogle again fell between his three daughters, the eldest
of whom, Margaret, married Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, and acquired
the property of Bothal, which has descended to her representative, the present
Duke of Portland.
A Decorated gatehouse, which is still inhabited, is the principal feature
VOL. n. 3 a

370 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
of this fortress, having two semi-octagon towers covering the entrance, with
portcullis groove under the archway. Above are sculptured a curious series
of shields giving the arms of Edward III. and the Black Prince, with those
of the warrior families of Wake, Aton, Greystock, Percy, Bertram, Conyers,
Darcy, and Felton. Around the courtyard were placed the great hall, parlour,
seven bed-chambers, chapel, kitchens, stables, and all the domestic offices.
Bates gives a drawing of the castle dated 1724, and Grose another of 1773,
since which time it has been kept in good order, and a great deal remains.
The outer wall runs round the edge of the cliff, and encloses half an acre.

BYWELL (minor)
STANDS on the N. side of the Tyne, about seven miles E. of the town of
Hexham, in the most picturesque part of the Tyne Valley. It was an
ancient barony of the Baliols and the Nevills, having attached to it a large
park, which in the middle of the sixteenth century was full of " redd deare."
The castle seems to have been the stronghold of a large barmkin, or walled
enclosure, built at the E. end of the town for the protection of the people
and their cattle from the raids of Tynedale robbers. Formerly it was a seat
of the Baliols held in capite by five knights' fees, from the time of the Red
King ; then in the reign of Richard II. it came to the Nevills, lords of Raby,
and afterwards Earls of Westmorland, who lost the property in 1571, when
it was purchased by the Fenwicks. This famUy held it till 1713, when an
heiress brought Bywell to another family of Fenwicks, of Stanton and Brink-
burn ; in 1802, the proprietor dying s,p,, bequeathed it to his widow, and the
estate was sold to Thomas Wentworth Beaumont for ^£145,000. It was to the
shelter of this castle that Henry VI. fled after the battle of the Linnels, or
Hexham (1464), but not feeling safe here, he escaped to Bamburgh, leaving
behind him at this castle his helmet and sword, with the war trappings of
his horse, and also a cap of state adorned with a double crown.
The building is actually a grand fifteenth-century gatehouse, with turrets,
battlements, and machicoulis (Parkei), whose walls are almost intact. It is
an oblong structure, measuring about 61 feet by 38 feet, standing close over
the steep bank of the river. There was a portcullis in the gateway, and the
old oak gate is still in its place. In the gateway passage are two doors facing
each other ; one leads to the vaults below, and the other, which is an ancient
one with an iron grating, opens to a staircase leading to a good chamber
above, having a garderobe in the corner, and good windows. A newel stair
leads to the upper room, nearly 50 feet long, with two fireplaces and Perpen
dicular windows. Above is the heavily battlemented roof, with four fine
turrets. A portion of the enceinte wall remains.

NORTHUMBERLAND 371

CALLALY (minor)
TFIIS place is two iniles W. from Whittingham, and was the residence of the
ancient family of the Claverings. The building includes at the W. end
an original Border tower of great antieiuity, that on the E. and the centre being
of a later date.
Callaly was the vill of William de Callaly, early in the reign of Henry III.,
and his son Gilbert granted it to Robert Fitz-Roger, Lord of Warkworth and
of Clavering in Essex. The fainily of Fitz-Roger descended from the Norman
De Burghs, ancestors of many noble families in England, and this Robert was
called to Parliament in 23 Edward I., and died 4 Edward II. At this time the
want of surnames was found to be of great inconvenience, and in the general
adoption of territorial naines. King Edward gave to John the son of this
Robert that of Clavering, from the name of the chief part of his estates.
He inherited the vast property left by his father, but left only a daughter, Eva,
who had four husbands, the second being Ralph, Lord Nevill of Raby. At
his death he left his lands in this county to the Crown, by whom they were
passed on to the Percys. The youngest brother of this John Clavering was
the ancestor of the Claverings of Callaly, which place remained their home
until of late years. It is now the property of Major Alexander H. Brown.

CARTINGTON (minor)
THE castle is two mUes N.W. of Rothbury, on the hUlside It was a detached
portion of the barony of Ditchburn, and was in early times held by the
owner of Embleton, whose lands after the death of Simon de Montfort were added
to the possessions of the Earls of Lancaster. Although the Cartington family
became tenants originally of the place about the year 1316, yet the tower is
first mentioned only in 1415. The last John Cartington (they were almost all
named John) died about 1494, when the place came to the Radcliffes, his
daughter and heiress Anne having become the wife of Edward, son of Sir
Thomas Radcliffe of Derwentwater. In November 1518, Queen Margaret, the
widow of James IV. of Scotland, who had married Archibald Douglas, Earl of
Angus, soon enough after Flodden, came to Cartington from Harbottle with
her newly-born daughter, Margaret Douglas, born at Harbottle a month
before, and remained here a week. This little child afterwards married the
Earl of Lennox, and was the mother of Darnley, and so grandmother to
James VI. and I. of England. In 1601 Cartington was settled on an elder
daughter, Elizabeth Radcliffe, married to Roger Widdrington, and their son
was in 1642 made a baronet by Charles I., — Sir Edward Widdrington of Carting-

372 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
ton. The Scottish army when it moved south entered and plundered this
castle, and after Marston Moor the owner, who had fought there on Charles's
side, was sequestrated, the castle being valued at ;£8ooo, and ordered to be
slighted. But in 1648 it was strong enough to make front against the Parlia
mentary troops and sustain a siege for a short while ; this was on the occasion
when the Royal troops, 1200 strong, under the command of Sir Richard
Tempest, commander of the forces of Durham, and Colonel Edward Grey, in
command of the forces in Northumberland, being encamped carelessly along
the Coquet, allowed themselves to be surprised in their beds by the Round
heads, when the greater part were made prisoners. From the Widdringtons,
Cartington passed by marriage to the Charltons, and again to one or two other
families, till at last, when in a woeful state of neglect, it was sold in 1883
to Sir William G. Armstrong of Cragside, now Lord Armstrong ; he rescued
the old stronghold from ruin, and rebuilt and restored the castle. There
are two good towers at the E. and W. extremities of the other buildings,
remains of the ancient structure ; the tower on the E. was originally four
storeys in height, having bartizans at the angles, and rising one storey above
the W. tower. The paved courtyard has been restored and some seventeenth-
century work removed.

CASTLE STONE-NICK (minor)
THIS is the name given to a fortified budding surrounded by a ditch which
stands about a quarter of a mile from the great bridge over Tweed
opposite to Coldstream. It is the only remaining portion of the stronghold
besieged and captured in the incursion of the French auxiliaries from
Scotland into England, which took place in 1549. It is described as a house
of considerable strength, and rauch booty was found in it. This happened
during the Protectorate of Somerset.

CHILLINGHAM (chief)
THE castle stands on rising ground in the midst of a wild and picturesque
park. Licence was granted 18 Edward III. (1344) to Thomas de Heton to
crenellate " mansum suum ac castrum sive fortalitium inde facere " at Chevelyng-
ham. The Hetons possessed it till the death of William de Heton s.p. male,
when the property passed to married female heirs. It is not known how and
when the Greys of Wark first obtained this castle. There is a splendid altar
tomb to Sir Ralph Grey, who died 1443, in the parish church, in a side chapel.
His son, the Lancastrian leader of the same name, who defended Bamburgh
Castle against the Earl of Warwick, and was beheaded after the final surrender

NORTHUMBERLAND 373
of that fortress in 1464, wisely had this property and castle conveyed to trustees,
and thus his widow Jacquetta was able to enjoy them after his death. After the
insurrection in defence of the old faith in i53f), called the Pilgrimage of Grace,
some of the king's supporters took lefiige here, whereupon Sir Ingram Percy
sent for heavy guns from Berwick to besiege the castle. In 1541 it was owned by
Ralph Grev, a minor, and in the custody of his stepfiither, and was then in fair
repair. The Greys remained lords of Chillingham until the death of Ford Grey,
Earl of Tankerville, in 1701, when the whole went to his only daughter and
heiress. Lady Ossulton, whose husband was created Earl of Tankerville, and his
family are still the possessors. On the N. side of the estuary of the River Seine,
not far from the town of Havre, is the county of Tanc;[uerville, which was granted
by Henrv V. to Sir John de Grey, a brother of the ancestor of these Greys of
Chillingham, for services rendered in the French war in 1419 ; it was lost by his
son Henry de Grey in i-)49, when the armies of France overran Normandy, in
the weaker days of Henry VI.
The chief remains of the mediaeval castle are the corner towers, two of which,
those on the S.E. and S.W. angles, belong to the middle of the fourteenth cen
tury, together with a dungeon in the N.W. tower, and are probably the work of
Thomas de Heton ; but the structures connecting these towers, that is, the N.
and S. fronts, are of much later construction. Inside is an arcade by Inigo
Jones, with a stone staircase leading to the dining-room. In the beautiful and
extensive park attached to the castle exists a famous breed of wild cattle, all
white, very shy and fierce, but of unknown origin.

CHIPCHASE (minor)
AN ancient and beautiful structure, nine miles N.W. from Hexham, situated
on a declivity on the E. bank of the North Tyne amid the finest scenery
of that river : it is in a state of good preservation. The original tower is a
rectangular building, about 52 feet long and 38 wide, by 50 feet in height.
Adjoining it on the S.E. is the old manor-house built in 1621 by Cuthbert
Heron; it is said to be the finest speciraen of Jacobean architecture in the
county. The entrance to the tower is through an archway next to the manor-
house, and over this entrance is a small room for working the portcullis, the
groove of which remains, and the framework of which is still in place, being
raade of oaken bars (Hartshorne). On the first floor there is a single dark,
gloomy apartment, but the second floor has a good pointed window with two
lights; a small oratory is contrived in the wall, adjoining the large room.
There were good rooms on the third floor, which is provided with mural
passages and a garderobe; a wheel stair leads to a square turret. The old
stone roof is very perfect. At each corner there is an embattled turret.

374 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
corbelled out over the face of each wall, and between thera was a heavy
parapet with bold machicoulis projecting 2 feet from face of walls.
Chipchase was a portion of the manor of Prudhoe, belonging to Odinel
de Umfraville in 18 Henry IL; and he had a small fort here. In the reign of
Edward I. it was possessed by Peter de Insula (De Lisle), and next by a branch
of the Herons of Ford. In Elizabeth's reign Chipchase belonged to Sir George
Heron, High Sheriff 13 Elizabeth, who was killed in a Border fray. He was
succeeded by his cousin Cuthbert Heron, whom Charles II. made a baronet
in 1662, perhaps because his brother was killed at Marston Moor. He built
the manor-house. His grandson sold the castle, which in 1732 became the
property of the Reeds. In the first quarter of the present century, owing to
losses by banking failures, the estate came to the hammer, and is now the
property of Mr. Hugh Taylor. There is a chapel in the park S. of the castle.

COCKLAW TOWER (^mnor)
THIS sinaU peel tower stands near the conflux of the Erring burn — coming
from the N.E. — with the North Tyne River, N. of Hexham, and withiii sight
of the Roman waU. It also has the name of West Errington Tower, and is
supposed to have been built by the Errington family in the fifteenth century.
Mr. Bates remarks, in regard to the rude and ancient appearance which some of
these fortalices bear, that " it is necessary to remember that towers of this class
were the work of the country people themselves, and consequently look con
siderably earlier than they really are."
There are two floors above the basement or ground floor, which is entered
by a low-pointed doorway on the S. front, the door of which was fastened in
the usual way by a wooden bar in sockets. At its right hand is a circular stair,
in the S.E. angle, leading to the upper stages and roof, and opposite to this in
the vaulted passage is a sraall dungeon, the sole admission to which. is by a hole
in the vaulting of it. At the end of the entrance passage of 10 feet is a fine
pointed doorway leading into the basement vault, the usual feature of Border
peels, measuring about 32 feet by 20J feet, into which the stock was accus
tomed to be driven for security ; a narrow loop or slit being given for light and
air. It has a masonry barrel roof.
The first floor has a fireplace, and two lights, and a loop, and on the E. wall
is a passage which led to an outside building, perhaps a chapel, now vanished.
The top floor has only two small windows and a fireplace. On the S.W. of
each floor is a small chamber apart, and on the first there is a mural passage
leading to a garderobe

NORTHUMBERLAND 375

COCKLE or cockley PARK TOWER {minor)
ON the road northward, four miles from Morpeth, is the ruin of a fine
fifteenth-century peel of the Ogles, Lords of Bothal, whose scutcheon is
borne on a large panel on the E. wall. A farm-house has been formed in the
centre with the N. end wall which remains, since it was the property of Lord
Oxford in 1724. The tradition is that the S. end was destroyed by fire several
centuries ago.
It is probable that the tower, which stands in a bleak position, with a very
extended prospect, was reared by Robert, ist Lord Ogle, who came into actual
possession of Bothal in 1465 ; it does not appear in the list of these fortalices in
the survey made in 1415. Hodgson shows that in 1543 Sir Robert, 5th Lord
Ogle, settled the building and lands upon his wife Jeyne, prior to which they
had been in the occupancy of his mother, Anne Ogle. Lord Robert was killed
at the battle of Ancrum Moor a few days after he had made the above disposi
tion " in case of being slain by the chance of war." Since then the place
has descended in the same way as Bothal to its present possessor, the Duke
of Portland. The length of the W. front is 54 feet, and that of the N. 30 feet, including
its projection at the E. end, which carries the staircase, — this N. end being
the only original part left. The entrance doorway is near the staircase, which
leads up to the first and second floors, and terminates in a small gable giving
to the battlements. These are carried on boldly projecting brackets, the
corners being rounded at the four angles, which seem to have thus formed
angle turrets. In the centre of the N. wall is a fine pointed fifteenth-century
window, the others being of later date.

COLDMARTIN TOWER (non-existent)
WAS a smaU peel situated on an eminence on the E. marches, opposite
to the Cheviots — about 27 feet square. In the inquest of 1584 it is thus
spoken of : " Cadmertowne, one tower of stone and lime, of Roger Fowberry's
of Fowberry, gent., — utterly decayed, notwithstanding it hath land belonging
to it able to keep two men and horse fit for service."
The remains consist of a fragment 9 feet high of the S.W. wall, 6 feet thick,
standing above Wooler Water.

376 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

CORBRIDGE (minor)
IN a corner of the market-place of this town is a massive peel tower of
Edward 1 1., 33 feet in height, which has been used sometiraes for a rectory
house and sometimes as a prison. The parapet is embattled, and forms square
projecting bartizans at the four corners. The walls are four feet thick, and there
is a garderobe outside carried on corbels. The interior is in perfect condition,
and exhibits completely the domestic arrangements peculiar to the period.

COUPLAND (minor)
THIS Border tower stands on the N. bank of the Glen stream, on the N.W.
of Wooler, to which barony the manor belonged, and which was held,
together with Akeld Manor, under the Muschamps, the grantees of Wooler from
Henry I., by the family of de Akeld. These de Akelds were here until late
in the reign of Edward IL, when they are lost sight ofi Previous to this, about
the middle of the thirteenth century, there appears in the district a family of
the name of Coupland, though not apparently holding any land in the manor
of Coupland. One of them, John de Copeland, was chosen as one of the twelve
English knights appointed in 1245 to settle disputes on the Border marches;
and it is possible that his namesake, who at the battle of Nevill's Cross in 1346
took prisoner David, King of Scotland, was also of this family ; for this deed
Sir John Copeland was made a knight banneret, and had ;^5oo a year settled
upon himself and his heirs.
The Prenderguests next appear as owners of the Akeld estates, perhaps by
an heiress, and after them, in the reign of Henry IV., the Greys are lords of
Akeld and Coupland, a fainily which continued to exercise signorial rights here,
and to own Coupland until the middle of the last century. Then, in 1734, the
Earl of Tankerville, representing the old Greys of Chillingham, sold Coupland
to Robert Paul of Tower Hill, London.
Other families also held lands in this lordship, amongst them the Forsters
of Bamburgh and the Halls of Otterburn. The first of these introduced the
family of Wallis as landowners here, and this family, originally written Whaleys
or Wallace, became later the chief proprietors after the Greys.
Leland speaks of no castle here, and in the survey of Border castles and
towers made in 1552 it is said "the towneshippe of Coupland hath yn it
neither fortresse or barmekyne ; '' therefore this tower must be of late date.
On a chimney-piece in the oldest part of the tower there is the date 1619, with
the initials G. W. and M. W., which probably represent George Wallis and his
wife, who are said to have erected or rebuilt the stronghold, al a time when

NORTHUMBERLAND 377
these Border lands were in a \'ery disturbed state, and protection for life and
property was necessitated. The oldest portion consists of a strong tower and
side turret containing eleven rooms, with a curious newel stair ; the walls being
6 and 7 feet thick (Paper by the Rev, Mattlicw Cnlley),
The Coupland Castle estate had come to the Ogles from the Wallises in
1713, and in 1806 passed to the family of Bates of Brunton, ancl in 1830
Matthew CuUey of Akeld (who had obtained those lands in 1765) succeeded
to the whole of this property in right of his mother, the sister and heir of
Thomas Bates. His son, the Rev. Matthew Culley of Akeld and Coupland,
is the present owner.
DALLE Y, OR DALA {non-existent)
THE site of this old fortress is about a mile S. of Tarset, on the
opposite side of Tyne, on the N. bank of Chirdon burn, and is said by
the tradition of the country to have a subterranean communication with
Tarset (q.v).
It is thought that this is the tower in Tynedale alluded to in a letter (still
extant) written in 1237 to Henry III. by Hugh de Bolebec, his "custos"
of Northumberland, complaining that a certain Scottish knight, David de
Lyndesey, was building a house in Tynedale (which was then held by the
King of Scotland) ; that it was already built up to the walks of the battlements
(allures), and was intended to be crenellated. This Lindsay, as Justiciary of
Lothian, was at the head of the Scottish Commission for determining the
marches at Carham; and in 1255 Henry III. confirmed to him and his heirs
the property in Chirdon given him by Margery, the sister of Alexander II.
Henry, therefore, did not take the sarae view as Bolebec.
There are vestiges of the walls of this fortalice, in sorae places standing
7 feet above the ground.

DILSTON (minor)
SOUTH of the Tyne, and E. of Hexham, stand, on the brink of a deep
ravine, through which runs the stream of the Devil's-water, the shattered
remains of the old castle which was once the horae of the Radcliffe family.
One John d'Eivill is said by Dugdale to have been a powerful personage
at the time of the Barons' War, in Henry III.'s reign. His fainily,
seated here from the days of Henry I., probably gave their name in a
corrupted form to the river and the locality. Robert de Dyvilston was
assessed for scutage 18 and 23 Henry IIL, and his grandson, Sir Thomas
de Dyvilston, was sheriff of the county in the ninth year of Edward I. His
VOL. II. 3 B

378 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
barony was inherited by his cousin, William de Tynedale, Lord of Langley,
a barony about ten miles distant westward. Thomas de Tynedale left a son,
Wilham, who succeeded to Dyvilston at his mother's death in 1317, and
whose grandson, Walter de Tynedale, dying during the reign of Richard 1 1.,
left two daughters. Both these ladies died without issue in 1416, whereon Sir
William Claxton, a grandson of Thomas de Tynedale's wife, succeeded to
DyvUston and to all the estates of the Barons of Tynedale. In the second
year of Richard IIL, Johanna, second daughter of Sir Robert Claxton, became
Lady of Dyvilston, being married to John Cartington of Cartington Tower,
whom she survived. By her will (A.D. 1521), Dyvilston was devised to her
grandson. Sir Cuthbert Radcliffe, knight, and his heirs male— by reason that
her daughter and heiress, Anne Cartington, had (before 1494) married Sir
Edward Radcliffe, knight-banneret, who was High Sheriff of Northumberland
in 17 Henry VII. Anne Cartington inherUed the Cartington, Whittonstell, and
Hawthorn estates ; and her husband's father. Sir Nicholas Radcliffe, had
succeeded to the possessions of the old lords of Derwentwater, Cumberland,
by his marriage with Margaret, daughter of the last of the Derwentwater
faraily (see Castle Crag, Cumberland). This Margaret had issue Sir Thomas,
who married Margaret, daughter of Sir Williain Parr of Kendal Castle (q.v),
the ancestor of the last queen of Henry VIIL, and Sir Edward Radchffe was
their third son ; he finally inherited all the property. He had two sons by his
marriage with Anne Cartington, Sir Cuthbert and Sir John — both knights — the
eldest succeeding him as Sir Cuthbert Radcliffe of Dilston, Sheriff of Cumber
land, 19 Henry VIII. Sir Cuthbert married in 1514 Margaret, daughter of
Henry, Lord CUfford, and, dying in 1545, was succeeded by his son. Sir
George Radcliffe of Dilston and Derwentwater.
Sir George's son and heir was Sir Francis, created baronet in 1619, who was
succeeded in 1622 by his son. Sir Edward. Being a distinguished Royalist,
ancl also a Catholic, Sir Edward suffered sequestration at the hands of the
Parliamentarians. He had married, clandestinely it is supposed, Elizabeth
Barton, heiress of Wheiiby, Yorkshire, and lived at Dilston, dying in 1663 at
the age of seventy-five To his already large property he had added the
estates of Alston, and of Langley with its castle, his heir being his only
surviving son. Sir Francis Radcliffe*
Sir Edward built an addition to the ancient tower and mansion of Dilston,
where he lived and died, and the whole was incorporated with the large
additions made by his son, the second Sir Francis, which for a century and
a half formed the abode of the family. These new buildings were on the
N. of the existing tower, and being chiefly of brick, fell into such decay that
in 1768 they were removed, leaving once more standing alone the older stone
tower, whose ruins we still see. An avenue of chestnuts led up to the large
* The rent-roll of Sir Francis at this time (1672) was £(>2(^Z-

NORTHUMBERLAND 379
gateway (now removed), and the approach road passed round the side of the
hill nearest the river, and to the W. of the mansion. The chapel still remains,
and is on the N. side, adjacent to the old gateway, built about 1616 by the
first Sir Francis.
In the third year of James II. , Sir Francis married his son Edward to the
Lady Charlotte, the youngest natural daughter of Charles II. by the Duchess
of Cleveland, then aged fourteen. This Edward was created in 1688 Earl of
Derwentwater, Baron Tynedale, and Viscount Radcliffe and Langley. He died
in 1696, aged seventy-two, and was succeeded by Edward, his son, the second
earl. He also left three daughters. Earl Edward, who ched 1705, had issue
James, his elder son and heir, bom 1689, and Charles, who was beheaded in
1745 ; also a daughter. Lady Mary. He and his countess separated in 1700.
James Radcliffe, the third earl, was brought up at St. Germains at the court
of James IL, in company with his young cousin, the royal prince, afterwards
called the " Pretender," whom he served with attachment and devotion to
the end. He first visited his estates in 1710, when twenty-one years old, going
first to Dilston and then to his Derwentwater property. He is described as a
gentle and lovable youth, of rather short stature, slender of person, and of a
handsome countenance, with light hair and grey eyes, being also of active
habits. He wrote his name Darwentwater, which is the old and correct
pronunciation. At DUston Earl James kept up a generous hospitality, and
was much beloved by rich and poor. In 171 2 he inarried Anne Maria, eldest
daughter of Sir James Webb, Bart., of Canford, Dorset, like himself a Catholic,
educated in France, where, at the court of St. Germains, he first made
her acquaintance. Some additions were at this time made to Dilston Castle
while the earl and his wife lived with the Webbs at Hatherhope, near
Fairford, Gloucestershire.
King James II. dying on September 16, 1701, the English at St. Germains
saluted his son as James IIL, but it was not until August 1715 that the Earl of
Mar raised the standard proclaiming this prince as James VIII. of Scotland.
It is not known if the Earl of Derwentwater was in the secret of this rising,
but, in their precautions against a rebellion, the Government issued warrants for
the apprehension of him and his brother Charles, so as to prevent their joining.
Being warned of this, the earl and his brother withdrew from Dilston and hid
themselves in the country during the whole of September. The earl seems
to have hesitated long before risking his life and large possessions in the
cause of the Pretender, and it is said to have been his lady who at length
goaded him on to action, reproaching him "for continuing to hide his head
in hovels from the light of day when the gentry were in arms for the cause
of their rightful sovereign, and, throwing down her fan before her lord, bade
him take it and give his sword to her." At all events he soon did espouse
the cause, heart and soul, and having arranged a meeting with his friends.

38o CASTLES OF ENGLAND
ordered every retainer in his castle to be ready to follow hira in the early morn
of October 6, 1715, when from his ancient halls
" Lord Derwentwater rode away
Well mounted on his dapple-grey,"
accompanied by his brother and " some friends and all his servants, mounted,
some on his coach-horses and others upon very good useful horses, and all
well armed." They crossed the Devil's-water at Nunsborough Ford, and rode
on to meet the raain party at the Waterfalls Hill, crossing the Tyne close to
Hexham, where their force was increased to almost sixty horse. After halting
near Errington's at Beaufront, they proceeded to the Coquet and the small town
of Rothbury. Continuing their ride through the night, they came on the
morning of the 7th to Warkworth Castle, where Lord Widdrington, another
Catholic peer, joined the party with others. By Lord Mar's arrangement,
Mr. Forster of Bamburgh Castle was elected leader, who, though a civilian
and a Protestant, forthwith with sound of trumpet proclaimed Jaraes III.
The party then moved to Alnwick, described as being at that time " an old.
dilapidated house of the Duke of Somerset," and thence to Morpeth, which
place had through the accession of Border volunteers grown to the strength
of 300 fighting men. From thence they intended to proceed to and enter
Newcastle, but the loyal folk of that town had closed their gates and manned
the walls, which still existed at that time, being reinforced by some Govern
ment troops under Lieutenant-General Carpenter. So Earl Derwentwater
and his party returned to Hexhara, and from thence, being joined by Lord
Kenmure and his followers, they retreated to Rothbury. Their next move
was northwards to Kelso, where Lord Mar's contingent was to unite. At
this place serious deliberation took place whether to continue the march
north to attack the force under Argyll, and so to secure Scotland, or whether
to invade England. The latter counsel prevailed, and the Pretender's forces
marched to Hawick and thence to Penrith, which place they entered, 1700
strong, on November 2nd. The militia forces had disbanded before their
advance, and General Forster at once proclaimed the prince as James IIL,
levying ^500 in his interest from the town. Next day the force marched to
Appleby, where they rested till the 5th, and frora thence went to Kendal, Lord
Derwentwater taking up his lodging in the "White Lion " in Strickland Gate.
On November 7th the force entered Lancaster in parade order, with
colours flying, and to the music of drums and pipes. First came 200 English
noblemen and their followers, all mounted ; next came the Highlanders ;
then 200 Lowlanders, followed by the Scottish horse. Here in Lancaster
Lord Derwentwater and his colleagues were the guests of Mr. Dalton at
Thurnham Hall, where they spent a day. On the 9th the whole party

NORTHUMBERLAND 381
raarched by way of Garstang to Preston, preceded by an advance-guard of
Northumbrian horse, the infantry arriving on the morning of the loth.
At Preston they were joined by 1200 half-armed followers of the Roman
Catholic gentry of the district, but it was evident that the county itself stood
aloof from the rising, ancl that the support calculated upon was not forth
coming. Meantime the Governraent troops were advancing on the invaders,
and ultimately took them by surprise, for General Wiiles, with five regiments
of foot and one of cavalry, inarched to Wigan, and thence, early on the 12th,
set out for Preston. The unexpected news of this advance seems to have
paralysed the prince's amateur general ; a council was held, ancl, brought to
bay as the invaders were, they proceeded to defend themselves in the centre
of the town by barricading the streets in three places, each barricade being
defended by two pieces of ordnance. But they omitted to secure the bridge
over the Ribble, and the hollow pass from it to the town, by doing which
they might have greatly checked the eneiny. As it was, the town was left
open on all sides to Wiiles, who, arriving at one o'clock, at once attacked the
barricades in two places. These were, however, gallantly defended, and after
a fight which continued until midnight. King George's troops withdrew,
having lost about 260 men ; a result which is said to have been greatly due
to the bravery and the example of Lord Derwentwater and his brother.
Next day the fortunes of war changed, for, Carpenter's troops having come
up, the town was invested on all sides, and it was evident that the Jacobite
cause was lost. The prevailing thought araong the Northern forces was to
cut their way out through the ranks of the eneiny. Forster, however, of his
own accord sent overtures for a truce to General Wiiles, and a capitulation
ensued, the besieged laying down their arras. Then the six insurgent lords,
Derwentwater, Nithsdale, Kenmure, Widdrington, Carnwath, and Nairn, were
arrested at the Mitre Tavern, and being sent with many other prisoners to
London, were lodged in the Tower. Altogether, some 1700 of the insurgent
force were captured at Preston, and were imprisoned at Chester and Lancaster
and in other jails, the rest making good their escape.
The utmost efforts were made to obtain remission of the capital punish
raent passed on the young Lord Derwentwater, but George II. was incapable
of generosity to a fallen foe, and his reply to a petition of the House of Lords
was an order, issued on the 23rd February, for the immediate execution of
Lords Derwentwater, Nithsdale, and Kenmure Lady Derwentwater, supported
by many other ladies of high rank, made repeated touching appeals for mercy
personally, but without any effect. When the news of Lord Nithsdale's escape
on the eve of his intended execution, by means of his brave and clever wife,
reached the king, he gave way to an excess of passion at having his vengeance
thus thwarted. Lord Derwentwater saw his wife for the last time twenty-four
hours before his death, which took place on the morning of February 24th.

382 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
At ten o'clock he was taken from the Tower to the scaffold on Tower Hill, and
there beheaded. The body was brought back to the Tower, but the earl's friends
contrived to get possession of it, and it was taken to Dagenham Park, near
Romford, to a house which the countess had rented. Finally it was removed
to Dilston after being embalmed. The countess survived her husband seven
years ; aged but thirty years, she died in 1723 at Louvain, where she was
buried. Her eldest son died from an accident, and was buried there also in
1731, before he reached his twenty-first year. Thereby the estates devolved
on Charles Radcliffe, the brother of Lord Derwentwater, who, being also
condemned to death in 1716, managed to escape from Newgate, and lived for
many years abroad. In November 1745 Charles and his son were by accident
captured on board a French privateer, being at first supposed to be the Pre
tender and his son ; when their true identity was recognised, Charles Radcliffe
was arraigned on the old conviction for high treason, recorded in 1716, and
being sentenced to death, was executed on this charge, now thirty years in
abeyance, on the Sth December 1746, aged fifty-three.
The vast estates of the Derwentwater family, inherited at the death of Earl
James's son in 173 1 by Charles Radcliffe, should, at the death of the latter, have
passed to his son James Bartholomew Radcliffe, but they had become vested
in the Crown after 1749, when the Government caused an Act to be passed,
vesting them absolutely in the hands of trustees for the benefit of Greenwich
Hospital, which institution enjoyed their possession until quite recently. The
confiscated lands included, besides the manor and demesne of Derwentwater,
the estates of Langley, Meldon, Wark, and raany others in Northumberland and
Hexhamshire, as well as the Cumberland property ; in all about 41,000 acres.
The rental returned in 1816 was ^43,487, besides what was brought in by the
mines, whose produce in 1823 was estimated at ^^23,000. Of late years these
princely inheritances of the Derwentwater family have been claimed by a crazy
person calling herself the heiress of the Radcliffes. She attempted to take
forcible possession of Dilston, encamping in gipsy fashion near the castle,
from whence she was with difficulty ejected by the agents of Greenwich
Hospital. Dilston Hall, as it stood in the days of Earl Jaines, is stated, in the exhaus
tive narrative of Mr. Gibson, to have been "a plain, extensive building, two
storeys in height, which occupied three sides of an oblong, rectangular figure,
enclosing a courtyard paved with dark-veined limestone in diamond-shaped
slabs, and entered by the great gateway, which was built in the reign of James I.
This gateway is still standing in another site. The longest range of building
occupied the northern side ; in the centre was a large entrance hall, approached
from the paved court by a few raised steps. The courtyard was bounded on
the western side by the old tower or castle, which still remains, and against the
W. front of which a range of building was added by Lord Derwentwater, but

NORTHUMBERLAND 383
never finished in the interior." There is a vault said to exist below the old
tower, and some subterranean passages with a chamber attached. As soon as
the Royal Commissioners obtained possession, the materials <jf Dilston were
valued. The house was dismantled ancl its contents sold and dispersed, while
the walls were demolished piecemeal for building purposes, only the more
ancient castle being left. This, the "old original" tower of the Dyvilstons,
was probably at first a strong Border peel, to which the newer mansion
was eventually attached.
The last reciuest of the ill-fated young earl, that he might be buried with
his ancestors, was refused, in view of the excitement prevailing in the North,
and it was supposed that the body had been interred in the churchyard of
St. Giles, Holborn. But, in fact, the coffin was removed, and carried secretly
by friends, resting by day, and travelling by night only, into Northumberland,
and was deposited with the reraains of his father in the chapel vault of
Dilston. In 1803 an unworthy curiosity to ascertain if the earl's head had been
buried with his body moved the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital to
open the interment, when the body was found well embalmed, and but little
decayed, the head lying beside it, with the mark of the axe clearly visible.
The coffin had been placed in a row with five others of his line, and below
was found a leaden box, in which the heart had been deposited.
It is noteworthy, in connection with Lord Derwentwater's meraory as
retained in his own country, that the aurora borealis, which appeared very
vividly on the night of his execution, is still known there by the name of
Lord Derwentwater's lights.
Dilston was purchased in 1874 from Greenwich Hospital by Mr. W. B.
Beauraont, when the remains in the crypt were removed. The old gateway,
once the entrance to Dilston Hall, now stands near the chapel, bearing its
date of 1616, with the inUials F. R. and J. R.

DUDDO (minor)
THIS was another Border tower in Norharashire, two iniles on the N. side
of the Till, standing on a precipitous crag of rock, 300 feet above sea-
level. Only the S. side of the tower remains, but it appears to have been a
square in form, measuring about 36 feet square, with a staircase turret. The
wall is rent frora bottom to top. Over the entrance is a round bartizan, well
corbelled out, but there is little to remark as to the architecture (Bates).
The manor was anciently held by the Stryvehngs or Stirhngs, and it
descended in 1391 to the Claverings. When James IV. invaded England in
support of Perkin Warbeck in 1496, he caused this fortress to be partly

384 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
thrown down ; but between 1541 and 1561 the remaining half of it was
repaired, and an enclosure or barmkin was built round it for the safe-guarding
of cattle. There is nothing remaining of the fifteenth-century tower of Williara
Clavering of Duddo, who was third son of Robert Clavering of Callaly, killed
in a skirmish with the Scots in 1586.

DUNSTANBURGH (chief)
THE castle is six railes N.E. of Alnwick, and two frora Embleton ; it stands
on the brow of a great basaltic headland of the same range as that of
Bamburgh, which here is displayed in black perpendicular columns, above
which the fortress frowns over the wild North Sea like Scarborough and
Bamburgh. Its narae shows that it was originally a " burh " of the Angles,
but nothing is known about its early history. The manor named Dunstan
was granted by Henry I. to a fainily whose founder, Liulf of Bamburgh,
and his son Odard, having been Sheriffs (vicecomites) of Northumberland,
retained in later times the tUle of "Viscount" as a family narae. John de
Viscount, the last of his race, dying in 1244, left a daughter, Rametta, his
sole heiress, whose husband, Hereward de Marisco, sold the barony in 1256
to Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. John de Vesci, lord of Alnwick,
fleeing from the slaughter at Evesham (1265), carried home one of the feet
from the earl's mutilated body, and deposited it, encased in a silver shoe,
as a relic in Alnwick Abbey. Henry III. seized this barony and granted
it to his younger son, Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, whose son,
Thomas Plantagenet, succeeding (1296) to the earldom, proceeded to build
at Dunstanburgh. He erected the gatehouse with towers 80 feet high, and
formed the moat, and we hear of coal being brought frora Newcastle for
burning the lime. In 9 Edward II. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, has a licence
to crenellate. He was a great builder, as his castles of Kenilworth and
Pontefract testify, and, as the king's cousin, was the greatest and most powerful
and opulent nobleman in the kingdom ; he headed the movement against Piers
Gaveston which ended in the beheading of the favourite near Warwick, for
which the king vowed vengeance on him. Lancaster was also suspected of
taking bribes from the Scots, because he abstained from assisting the king
in his expedition to Scotland in 1314, and is said to have jeered at his army
and himself as they passed Pontefract Castle on the return from Bannockburn.
Certain it is that in the subsequent invasion of England by a Scottish army,
his castle of Dunstanburgh was respected by them, and his property was
not molested. In 1322 it was to Dunstanburgh that the confederate Earls of
Lancaster and Hereford were retreating, in order to unite with their Scottish
contingent, when the fight of Boroughbridge took place, ending in the capture

NORTHUMBERLAND

385

and execution of Lancaster. Two years after, Edward restored Dunstanburgh
and the earldom to the late earl's younger brother, Henry, whose son, Henry
"Tort-col" or Wryneck, created Duke of Lancaster 1351, left three daughters,
the youngest of whom, Blanche, married John of Gaunt (his first wife), and
brought hira Dunstanburgh among other places, and the dukedom. Coining
to the castle, he made many additions to it, building a new gatehouse,
with a barbican and drawbridge, and a postern. When his son Henry
ascended the throne, Dunstanburgh became Crown property, and continued
a Lancastrian stronghold throughout the Wars of the Roses. After Towton
this castle, as well as
others in Northumber
land, was provisioned and
manned with an Eng
lish, French, and Scottish
garrison. In October 1462 Queeii
Margaret landed from the
Continent, and divided her
forces between Alnwick,

DUNSTANBURGH

Bamburgh, and Dun
stanburgh, whereupon the
king, Edward IV., marched
north with a large array
to attack them, the sieges
of all three being super
intended by the Earl of
Warwick (see Bamburgh).
The siege of Dunstan
burgh was committed to
the Earl of Worcester and
Sir Ralph Grey, while in
its garrison were Sir Richard Tunstall, Sir Philip Wentworth, Dr. Morton,
and 700 men. The place was forced to capitulate, honourably, at Christmas,
and was, together with Bamburgh, placed under the custody of Sir Ralph
Percy, on his swearing allegiance to King Edward ; this, however, did not
prevent him from yielding both places to the Lancastrians the ensuing spring.
After the rout at the Linnels (Hexham) in May 1464, Dunstanburgh was
taken by storm, and Us captain, John Gosse, was carried to York and beheaded,
when the great Earl of Warwick entered the fortress as a victor.
In 1538 the Royal Commission, consisting of Bellasis, Collingwood, and
Horsley, reported to Henry VIII. regarding this castle as "a very reuynus house,
and of smalle strengthe," but little could have been done to the fabric, since
VOL. II. 3 c

386 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
a report in Elizabeth's tirae is equally condemnatory. James I. gave U to
Sir William Grey of Wark, and it continued the property of his descendants
until the Earl of Tankerville sold it in 1869 to the trustees of Mr. Samuel Eyres
of Leeds. The original walls and towers built by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, must have
been of better materials and workmanship than the buildings of John of Gaunt,
for while they have withstood the climate and storms in their so exposed
situation, the latter have almost disappeared under the same conditions. The
outer walls, ranging on three sides of an oblong enclosure of about nine acres
extent, stand on the bank of a deep chasm or indentation of the rock on the
E. side, and along the edge of the cliff on the W., — the S. or landward face
having the great gatehouse and three mural towers, while the N. front faces
the ocean. The principal feature remaining is the gatehouse, which consists
of two huge semicircular towers, 80 feet in height, flanking a circular archway
under a building of two storeys ; the room over the passage having an opening
along the back wall for containing the portcullis, and side chambers in the front
wall for firing from cross-loops. The passage was at one time walled up to
convert the structure into a keep, when the entrance to the castle was through
a postern added by John of Gaunt, about 20 yards along the W. wall. The
inner ward, now a mass of ruin, perhaps contained the chapel. The Lilburn
Tower on the W. was built by a Constable of that name in 1325, and E. of the
gatehouse is the Constable's Tower, of two storeys, having in rear of it the ruins
of the hall, which we read was glazed in 1444. Farther on, at the S.E. angle,
stands the Egginclough Tower, on the very brink of the rocky chasm, now
called the Rumble Churn ; its S. wall has collapsed, and one side of it is
given up to a series of latrines or garderobes having an outside shaft, lately
fallen down.
EDLINGHAM (minor)
THE village lies six miles to the S.W. of Alnwick, and near it, at the head
of a narrow valley, are the ruins of a twelfth-century castle, of which
the tower remains, and contains carved stone in fireplaces and doorways of
some interest ; there is also a spiral staircase in the tower.
In the reign of Henry IL, John, son of Walden, held it under Earl Patrick;
and in the fourteenth century it belonged to Sir John Felton. In the end of
Henry VIL, the manor and castle were owned by Sir Roger Hastings, knight,
and temp. Henry VIIL, by Thomas Swinburn of Nafferton HaU. By the failure
of heirs male to his descendant, John Swinburne, in the reign of Charles I., his
daughter and heir, Margaret, brought Edlingham in marriage to Williara Swin
burne of Capheaton, thus uniting the two properties as weU as the families, and
the present owner is Sir John Swinburne of Capheaton, Bart,

NORTHUMBERLAND 387

E T A L (minor)
THE remains of this fortress stand on the E. side of the river Till, opposite
to the Field of Flodden, near the borders of Norhamshire, on gently rising
ground. This was the principal seat of the Manners fainily, who were persons of
distinction even in the reign of Henry II. At that time Robert de Manners held
Ethale for a half knight's fee under the barony of Muschamp, and his descendants
were there in the time of Henry III. In 1341, the date of the fortress. Sir
Robert Manners obtained a licence to crenellate his house of Etal. He was
Constable of the important castle of Norham, and must therefore have been a
personage of note ; he died in 1354, and was succeeded by his son, whose posterity
continued at Etal, from father to son, till towards the end of the fifteenth century.
In 1487 Sir George Manners succeeded to his mother's inheritance of the
barony of Ros, and of the baronies of Vaux, Triesbut, and Belvoir, and became
twelfth Lord de Roos, or Ros. His father had possibly deserted the small castle
of Etal for the larger halls of Belvoir, on his marriage with the heiress, Eleanor,
sister and coheir of Edmund, nth Lord Ros (see Belvoir, Leicestershire).
Thomas, 13th Lord Ros, was chosen for many honourable posts by
Henry VIIL, and was made a Knight of the Garter by him in the seventeenth
year of his reign ; and in the same year he was created Earl of Rutland.
The tenth Earl of Rutland was raised in 1703 to the dignity of Marquess of
Granby and Duke of Rutland.
In 1522, when the Borders were set in a state of defence, Etal, then the
property of Lord de Ros, was given a garrison of twenty men under John
CoUingwood. Then, in 1542, the Survey of Sir Robert Bowes says of Etal, that it was "for
lack of reparacons in very great decaye, and many necessary houses within the
same becom ruynous and fallen to the ground ; " but that it might be fit for a
garrison of 100 men or more in war time. The bridge of Etal had at that time
fallen down. And in the survey made in 1584 this castle is described as lying
in the same neglected state.
The fortress is square in form, enclosing a quarter of an acre ; at the S.E.
corner is a strong gatehouse, with the shield and crest of the Manners family
carved on it. Portcullis grooves exist at the outer doorway, but there was no
door at the side next the courtyard. The keep stands in the S.W. corner of the
quadrangle, measuring 30 feet by 17 feet ; it is four storeys in height, its lower
basement having been vaulted. A spiral staircase to the different stages was con
tained in the N. wall, and there are many mural recesses. Its mullioned windows,
with transoms, betray the date of the castle. The wall on the S. side is massive
and strong, and is 30 feet high, and a small tower is found in the S.E. corner.
Etal Castle is now the property of Mr. James Laing of Etal Manor.

388 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

FEATHERSTONE (minor)
ABOUT 2i iniles S. of Haltwhisde, on a grassy spot (haugh) on the S. side
of Tyne, in an open and fertile country, is this picturesque old castle,
originally a strong square peel tower with two watch-turrets, and surrounded
by a ditch ; the lower floor is vaulted in a chamber provided for the protection
of the cattle and flock. To this has been attached a modern castellated house
with a fine gallery.
It was the seat of the ancient family of Featherstonehaugh, who possessed
it in the reigns of Edward I., IL, and III. Sir Albany Featherstonehaugh was
High Sheriff, 2 Elizabeth, as his eldest son was thirty years after ; his second
son being appointed by James I. receiver of the king's revenues in Cumberland
ancl Westmorland. The son of this man, Timothy Featherstonehaugh, espoused
the side of King Charles and raised a troop of horse for him ; he was knighted
under Charles's banner, and fought bravely at the fatal field of Worcester
(September 3, 1651), where he was taken prisoner, and was afterwards be
headed at Bolton in Lancashire. His lineal descendant, Matthew Featherstone
haugh of Newcastle, afterwards obtained a re-grant of the castle and the estate,
but was unable to keep them, and the manor was sold to the Earl of Carlisle.
His descendant. Sir Matthew Featherstonehaugh, Bart., sold the rest and the
castle to the father of the Right Hon. Thoraas Wallace, in whose family the
place remains.
FORD (chief)
THE river Till meanders in the low lands below and E. of Branxton HiU,
which originally gave its name, in English mouths, to the battle of 1513,
afterwards known only by its Scottish title of Flodden Field, the Gilboa of
Scotland ; and the road beneath Branxton crosses the Till to the village of
Ford, above which, on the hill, stands the castle of the same name, on the
E. side of the river. In 1338 (12 Edward IIL), WUliam Heron had licence to
crenellate " the mansion of his manor," and this was in all probability the
date of the erection of Ford Castle by Sir William Heron, since in 1385,
when the Scots, under the Earls of Douglas, Fife, and March, broke into
England at the same time as the English host was wasting the Lowlands, they
took by assault Ford Castle and dismantled it, as they did also to Wark and
CornhiU. When, on 22nd August 1513, King James IV., previous to the
battle of Flodden, broke through the English Border at Coldstream and other
points, he was unable to leave these hostile fortresses in his rear, while pro
ceeding into the heart of Northumberland, and therefore directed part of his
host upon the castles of Norham and Wark, Etal and Ford, and took them.

NORTHUMBERLAND 389
This must have occupied some time, and meanwhile his army lay encamped
principally on the high ground about Flodden, the king himself taking up his
quarters in the Castle of Ford, a short distance in front. This place was
partly burnt by his soldiers, who, it is said, " threw down that stronghold, by
falling of the timbers thereof, whereby several of his men were injured." The
owner of Ford, Sir William Heron, was at the time a prisoner in Scotland,
but in the castle were his wife Elizabeth and her daughter ; and although
tradition has takeii great liberties with the reputation of the former lady,
nothing is recorded in history but that Lady Heron prayed the king to spare
her house, and that he agreed on condition that certain friends of his, prisoners
in England, the Laird of Johnstoun and Alexander Hume, should be given up
to him by September 5th ; that she went to Alnwick and met the Earl of
Surrey with his army advancing against the Scots, when the king's request
was agreed to, provided he guaranteed under his royal seal protection to the
castle ; then came challenges of battle and defiances between heralds and the
king, who replied by burning Ford Castle {Ridpath).
This is all that is known in history as to the proceedings before the battle at
Ford, the burning of whicii is confirraed by the report of the Border Survey
of 1541. The treatraent of Lady Heron and her property is certainly rauch
at variance with the story of "an affair of gallantry," which is probably an
entire fiction.
Sir WUliara Heron died 1535, leaving a grandchild six years old, his heiress
general, to inherit Ford. In 1549 Scottish invaders again entered England
under a French General D'Esse, with four field-guns ; they attacked Ford,
and again burnt the greater part of the place, but had to retire, leaving one of
the towers unreduced, which was defended by Thoraas Carr, a younger son
of the governor of Wark, and his brave conduct led the heiress of Ford to
bestow her hand on him. Soon afterwards the heirs male of the Heron
family made a serious disturbance, claiming the property, and blood was shed
in the quarrel, but in the end Carr regained the castle, which in 1584 was
in possession of a Williara Carr, " decayed by want of reparation of a long
continuance." These Carrs of Ford came to an end in 1685, and Ford went
by successive heiresses to the families of Blake and Delaval, and finally to the
Marquess of Waterford in 1822. Sir John H. Delaval in 1761 destroyed
the architectural beauty of Ford by sham Gothic additions of evil taste,
but the late owner, Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, repaired the mischief
and made this castle "one of the most beautiful houses in the N. of
England" (Bates).
The situation commands a fine view up the Till Valley to Wooler, bounded
by high hills. There are two ancient towers, one on the E., and one on the
W. flank, and these are nearly the only remains of the old castle. The top
roora in the tower which goes by the name of King James, who is said to have

390 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
slept there before Flodden, has a narrow staircase contrived in the thickness
of the wall, which was lately brought to light, and is now said to be connected
with the king's intrigue with Dame Heron. Hodgson (vol. ii. part 3, p. 191)
gives at length Sir Robert Bowes' Report of 1550 upon the state of the frontiers
(thirty-seven years after Flodden). He says it "was brounte by the laste Kinge
of Scots a lytle before he was slayne at Flodden Fielde — some parte thereof
hath bene rep'elled again sythence that tyme, but the great buyldinges and most
necessarye houses resteth ever sythens waste and in decaye."

HALTON (minor)
ABOUT four miles to the N. of Hexham the Roman Wall is crossed at
right angles by the Watling Street, or the continuation of this great
southern road from Yorkshire, made by Agricola through Durham county to
Corbridge-on-Tyne, and thence direct round the N. of lofty Carter Fell in the
Cheviots into Scotland to Jedburgh. Though in some places grass-grown
and lost, the road is here, as in many places, still the highway, retaining for
miles together the features of its original construction (Bruce). Withiii half
a mde E. of this crossing is the Wall Station of Hunnum, a sort of English
Pompeii, like many other places along this most interesting track ; and close
under the Roman carap, on the side of a ravine, and a stream which protected
the situation on the W., stand the remains of Halton Castle. Bates describes
it as " set in a quaint garden of old-fashioned flowers ; " and at a short distance
to the E. of it is a curious little chapel with an early round chancel arch ;
this perhaps marks the spot where Alfwold, King of Northumbria, was assassi
nated in 788.
In the middle of the twelfth century the place appears in the possession
of Waldief de Haulton, and it was held by his descendants till the death of
Sir John de Haulton in 1345, when Halton passed, through the marriage of
his daughter, to the Lowthers ; but in 1383 William de Carnaby (Yorkshire)
took possession of Halton, and his son Williain was alive and died there in
1453. After the Pilgrimage of Grace, Sir Thomas Percy sent his priest to
take possession of the dwelling of Sir Reynold Carnaby's grandfather at Halton,
" as Sir Reynold was fled and was against the Commons." Sir WUliam Carnaby
fought against the Parliament at Marston Moor in the Northumbrian regiment,
commanded by the Marquess of Newcastle ; his lands were seized and he fled
the country. The last Carnaby buried in Halton Chapel was William Carnaby,
who died 1698, the last perhaps of his race. Halton was bought in 1706
by John Douglas, a Newcastle lawyer, and in 1713 it went with a daughter
and heiress to Sir Edward Blackett, Bart., whose descendants hold it still.
Attached together are the original tower of 141 5 (if not older), and a

NORTHUMBERLAND 391
seventeenth-century house. The tower has one room on the first floor, and
two above, which until recently were unroofed. In the N.E. angle is a small
stair leading to the roof. Here the low circular corner turrets have been
boldly corbelled out, and the battlements are very good.

HARBOTTLE {minor)
THIS old fortress formed an outlying post to the N. of the wild and
dangerous country of Redesdale, on the verge of the Cheviot Hills.
It must have been of considerable utility to England from early times for
protection on the W. of the county among the dreary wastes whicii stretch
along the Marches of Scotland. The castle of Harbottle was built by King
Henry II. cir. 1159, on a high eminence standing over the Coquet. It lay within
about ten miles of the Border, and in the direct road of a Scottish army breaking
into Northumberland from Jedburgh. The land belonged to the Umfraville
fainily, who had settled in those parts so early as nine years after the Conquest,
when Robert de Umfraville, surnamed "cum barba," obtained a grant of the
Redesdale country and other large estates. In 1174 Odinel de Umfraville's men
had to defend it against an attack by King William the Lion, on which occasion
it was taken and partly destroyed. His grandson Richard, taking up arms
against King John, lost his estates, but recovered them again from Henry III.
in 1 221. He probably added greatly to the strength of the place, since in
1296 it withstood a desperate attack raade by the whole Scots array for two
days. After Bannockburn the Scots again besieged Harbottle and took and
destroyed it a second time. It belonged to Robert de Umfraville, 18 Edward 1 1.,
and to Gilbert de Umfraville at the close of the reign of Edward IIL, and
after the extinction of the male line of this family in 1436 it still continued the
property of their representatives.
In 1515, two years after the battle of Flodden, Queen Margaret, widow of
King James IV. and daughter of Henry VIL, having raarried Douglas, Earl
of Angus, retired to this fortress for the birth of her daughter, who afterwards
becarae the mother of Darnley, and consequently the grandmother of Jaines I.
of England. In the reign of Henry VIII. a complete survey was made of this
place, with an estimate of the cost of repairing the work. Again in 1546, when
it was still in bad repair. Sir Robert Bowes in his report recommended that
the king should take this fortress into his own hands, it being the key and
chief defence to one half of the Middle Marches, and the Crown obtained it
in exchange for the manor of Brailes in Warwickshire. It was evidently at
one time a place of very great strength, but has now a sadly ruinous appearance,
as most of the massive building has slipped, and huge portions lie half-way
down the hill-side, embedded in the ground. There was formerly an outer

392 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
bailey, with a deep ditch crossed by a drawbridge. The keep stood on an
insulated mound, and the masonry generally partakes of the character of
that of Prudhoe, and also of Northampton Castle, which was built about the
same time by Simon de Liz. The termination "bottle" shows the importance
of Harbottle before the Norman Conquest.

H A R N H U M (minor)
THIS was a small fortress, but situated in a position of great strength, on
an eminence protected on the N. and W. by a high range of rocks,
and a morass on the S. A lofty wall crossed the neck of ground uniting
the position with the heights, and there was an iron gate of great strength
at the entrance, said by Wallis to have been standing within the recollection
of people living at the end of the last century.
The place was held in 1272 by Bernard de Babington, of an ancient family
in England, which appears to have continued at Harnhura till the end of the
seventeenth century. In the reign of Charles 1 1., either the old tower or
the later mansion was inhabited by Colonel Philip Babington, the governor
of Berwick, who was married to Katherine, the widow of Colonel George
Fenwick of Brinkburn, and daughter of Sir Arthur Haselrigg, both faraous
characters in the Puritan Commonwealth. This lady was a celebrated beauty,
who having strong Covenanting tendencies, felt herself privileged to oppose
the re-entry, after the Restoration, of the regular clergy into their pulpits.
She caused the new vicar at Shortflat to be pulled out of his, and thereby
incurred episcopal excommunication, so that when she died in 1670 (aged
thirty-five only), burial in the church being refused, her husband had to
excavate a cave in the rock under the garden, where the body of the lovely
Kate lay until quite lately. A window-pane in the house had her name
written on it with a diamond, " K. Babington, June 9, 1670. How vain is
the help of man. Omnia Vanitas." This date was only two months before
her death.
The remains of the old fortalice are considerable in rear of the present
house. One of the ceilings is painted with a pedigree and arms of the
Babingtons, with the motto " Foy est tous," acquired by Sir John Babington
when serving in France under Henry V. The king sent him on some special
service with five other young knights, and on quitting the presence, young
Babington brandished his sword, using this expression, which was adopted
by the family.

NORTHUMBERLAND 393

HAUGHTON {minor)
THIS ancient stronghold, first mentioned in 1373, stands about 3 iniles E.
from Simonburn, in a most picturesque situation on the sloping S. bank
of Tyne, a little below Chipchase and Wark. From original charters in the
possession of Sir J. E. Swinburne, it is shown that Williain the Lion, King of
Scotland, granted in 1177 to Reginald Prath of Tynedale the one-third part of
Haluton, and that he re-granted the same lands between 1236 and 1245 to William
de Swyneburn : a grant which was confirmed in 1267 by Alexander IIL, coupled
with further gifts at the instance of Queen Margaret, whose treasurer he was.
Haughton Castle was in 141 5 the property of Sir John Widdrington, in
whose family it remained till its purchase by Robert Smith of Tecket in
1642. It now belongs to Mr. W. Donaldson Cruddas.
It has been a place of immense strength, and the fabric has still that
character ; the figure of the tower is an oblong rectangle, measuring 100 feet
by 44 feet, built on two parallel vaults, and crowned with five square turrets ;
that at the S.W. is 63 feet in height, and contains a staircase from the ground
to the top. Its S. front has the'most ornamental work, and on the N. side
are projecting garderobes ancl work on corbels.
There was an outer wall of defence, surrounding the castle at a distance
of about 60 yards, which was taken down early in this century by the owner to
build a farm-house The ruins of a chapel are in the field in front. There
is a large room left in its original state in the upper storey, and on a lower
floor is seen in one of the walls a fine Early English ornamental doorway. The
external walls have been built with relieving arches, which improve the effect
outwardly, and add to the strength of the building, the walls being generally
8 feet thick.
HEBBURN TOWER (minor)
THIS, a fine peel tower in the S.E. corner of Chillingham Park, is the ruin
of the home of the ancient fainily of Hebburn, which can be traced back
to one Nicholas de Hebburn in 1271 ; and owners of the same name held it
temp. Elizabeth, when, in 1588, there occurred here the settlement by arbi
tration of a blood-feud between the Hebburns and a faraily named Story for
the slaughter of one John Story. The family possessed the place till the end
of the last century, when their heiress married a clerical adventurer naraed
Brudenell, and it was soon after sold to the Earl of Tankerville (cir. 1770).
The tower is a large oblong block, a "bastle" or bastUle house, with a
vaulted basement and a dungeon. It is two storeys high above the entrance,
with gables at the E. and W. ends, and the windows are good.
VOL. II. 3 D

394 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

HEPPLE TOWER, or HEPPEDALE (minor)
THE lands here were united in a barony by King John in favour of the
heiress of the Heppedale family, who had married a favourUe, Ivo de
Tailbois, but later the barony was divided between these two families, and in
1331 Jane de Hepple brought her portion in marriage to the all-pervading
Ogle family. Hepple continued with the Ogles and their successors until the
third Duke of Portland sold it in 1803 to the father of Us present possessor.
Sir WaUer B. Riddell, Bart.
It lies on the N. side of the Coquet, about 5 miles W. of Rothbury, and
is a small peel tower, probably of the fourteenth century, of oblong shape,
26 feet long by 17 feet wide. It belonged to Sir Robert Ogle, who fought at
Nevill's Cross, 1346, and in Leland's time was, like so many other towers and
castles, in bad repair.
A high stone vault runs through the basement,, the entrance being by a
pointed doorway on the S. side, closed by a door with wooden bar, the
sockets of which remain. The entrance passage is defended from its roof by
a meurtriere opening. A circular staircase in a mural shaft on the W. side
leads to the upper stages. Late buildings have been erected against the old
tower, as at Whitton.
HETON (minor)
HETON, or Heaton Castle, stands upon high ground, 100 yards from the
Till on its W. bank, and about two miles from where that river falls
into the Tweed. The manor belonged temp. Edward I. to William de
Heton, but soon afterwards became the chief property of the Grey faraily.
In 1415 its owner was Sir Thomas Grey, who was executed at Southampton
for plotting against Henry V. When James IV. of Scotland was invading
England in 1496 in favour of Perkin Warbeck, this fortress stood in his way
and was "casten down," and at the time of his next invasion in 1513, before
Flodden, it was still in ruins. Sir Robert Bowes, in his Survey of the Marches,
reports regarding Heton that " a great part of the vaults and walls are yet
standing w'out any rouffes or flores, a great pyte" At this time it was
the property of the Greys of Chillingham, who, living at that castle, allowed
Heton to be neglected. In a survey temp. Elizabeth it is said to have been
formerly " a pleaseant and beautifull beuilding, with goodlie towers and turretts,
as yet remaininge," but the report says that the large room, which in the pre
ceding reign was considered fit to receive a hundred horses, was " now ruinsome
& all in decaie." Heton was a large and very strong rectangular enclosure with
four heavy battlemented towers at each corner, and buildings on the wall and

NORTHUMBERLAND 395
detached ones within the enclosure. It was considered fit to receive a garrison
of 300 horsemen. It had on the W. a large tower called the Lion's Tower.
Now it is almost entirely demolished, and its site occupied by farm buildings,
the chief remains of the ancient castle being a large stable 70 feet long, with
vaulted roof.

HOLY ISLAND (minor)
THIS stronghold was anciently called Landisfarne, and consisted of two
separate castles, both built since the Reformation. The older building
stands, facing the south, on a high rocky eminence of trap, which rises some
60 feet above the beach and is called Beblowe, which name it gave to the
fort itself. Raine places the date of this castle at 1539, at which period the
coasts of England were placed in a state of defence by Henry VIII. It is
mentioned in Sir Robert Bowes' Survey of 1550, with the recomraendation that
an outer wall with flanking bastions should be added, together with a wet ditch
towards the land. Another survey of the year 1560 reports on its efficiency.
The outer fort, supporting it on the W., was built in 1675. This is of irregular
form, following the shape of the rock on which it was built. The ruined walls
still remain of a sraall tower, 24 feet by 21 feet, with parts of an outer surrounding
wall and terrace, the whole only occupying a rood of ground. Architecturally
there is nothing worthy of remark concerning these buildings, to which access
is given by a winding path on the south side of the rock on which they stand.
In 1584, when certain Scottish nobles fled across the Tweed for protection,
an asylum was offered them in Holy Island ; but in later days that castle was
considered too important for strangers to be allowed in it, and a captain was
appointed with a garrison under hira. Occupied at first for King Charles, the
fort fell during the Civil Wars into the hands of the Parliament, and in the
beginning of 1646 the Commons sent a force thither, as it was considered "of
such consequence to the northern parts of the kingdora."
In the raonth of October 1715, at the time of Lord Mar's rising, the castle
was the subject of a daring capture perpetrated by one Launcelot Errington,
master of a ship then lying in the harbour. This man, with the aid of his
brother, succeeded in seizing the fortress for the Pretender, — obtaining entrance
at a moment when but two out of the garrison of fourteen were present.
Errington, by merely presenting a pistol at them, managed to secure and eject
these two men, and then signalled for help from his ship. The castle was,
however, soon retaken, and the Erringtons were sent to Berwick jail, from
whence they eventually escaped. Launcelot Errington, who was a zealous
Jacobite, afterwards kept an inn in Newcastle, and is said to have died of
grief after the battle of Culloden.
The castle is still used as a station for the Royal Artillery Coast Brigade.

396 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

HORTON NEXT THE-SEA (non-existent)
HERE was once a strong castle of high antiquity, standing near the road
from Newcastle to Blyth, cir. three miles from the coast. Temp. Henry III.
the lands belonged to a family who took their name from the place, but in
1293 one Guischard de Charron had a licence to crenellate his house of Horton.
His successors were the Monbouchers, and after them the Delaval fainily,
through a conveyance to them by Sir Edward Fitton, the lineal descendant
of the Monbouchers, temp. Elizabeth, to Sir Robert Delaval, who died seised
of Horton in 1606. In that fainily it passed regularly to its possessor when
Hodgson wrote (1832), Sir Jacob Astley of Seaton Delaval. He became in 1841
Baron Hastings, and his grandson, the present peer, now owns the estates.
The whole was razed to the ground, and even the foundations were taken
up in 1809 to build a farm-house close to the old site. The castle was defended
by a double moat and earthen rampart, which latter was levelled and the moat
filled up with it. Some thick walls of the building remain in the farm-house.

HOWTELL TOWER (minor)
STANDS in the open valley between the hill of Flodden and the Beaumont.
The lands were granted with many others to Robert de Ross, the Lord
of Wark, who married Isabella, daughter of William the Lion, King of Scot
land, and held the office of Chief Justice of the northern forests in England
from 21 to 28 Henry III. The tower was one of those thrown down by King
James IV. when he invaded England in the interests of Perkin Warbeck in 1496.
In 1541 it belonged to John Burrell, when the greater part of it was standing.
Now there is but little to be seen.
A part of the S. front, three storeys high, remains, in excellent masonry,
but the quoins have been abstracted. It was a small building, the interior of
the basement measuring but 17I- feet by i6|^ feet. There seem to have been
two doorways on the S. side, and in the N. wall are traces of a first-floor
window ; the floors were of timber (Bates).
The ruin is the property of Mr. Watson Askew-Robertson of PaUinsburn.

LANGLEY (minor)
THIS castle stands on sloping ground at the junction of two small streams
about i| miles S. of the Tyne, near Haydon Bridge, and is called "a
noble and tolerably perfect remain of feudal grandeur." The ancient barony
of Langley, 13,000 acres in extent, was the property of Adam de Tindal, who

NORTHUMBERLAND 397
died in 1191, and in 1195 his son Adam paid a half-year's rent {£12, 4s. 4d.),
on the barony towards the ransom of King C(cur de Lion.
In 1235 Langley was possessed by Nicholas de Boltby of Ravensthorp, near
Thirsk, who had inarried Philippa, the daughter of the ytjunger Adam de Tindal,
and succeeded to the entire barony of Langley; he formed a park there, and
received from Henry III. a grant of free warren. Dying in 1273, he was
followed by his son Adam de Boltby, who left Langley to his daughter Isabel,
the wife of Alan de Malton (from Moulton near Spalding), who had adopted
his mother's name of Lucy. Their son Sir Thomas de Lucy succeeded, and after
him his brother Anthony de Lucy, the latter being best known as a baron of
Parliament, and lord of Egremont and Cockermouth in Cumberland ; the fee
of which latter fortress he obtained 17 Edward IL, with its honour, having
previously for his services to the Crown been made governor of Carlisle and
Appleby. These appointments were in return for his clever capture in 1323
of Sir Andrew de Harcla, the traitor Earl of Carlisle (see Carlisle),
Anthony's son. Sir Thonias Lucy, was a valiant knight who in 1339 had
so distinguished himself as to receive from Edward III. a grant of forty
sacks of wool for his better support in Flanders. He it was who brought
relief so ably to the English garrison of Lochmaben in Dumfries in 1343
(in which year he succeeded to Langley), and in 1346 he sailed with King
Edward in his expedition to raise the siege of Aguillon, which led to the
glorious victory of Cre9y. After Cregy, when Edward sat down to reduce
Calais, fearing an invasion of the Scots at home, he sent Sir Thoraas de Lucy
with two other knights to conclude a treaty with King David, or, on failure,
to assist in the defence of the country. But when they arrived in the North
the war had already begun, and de Lucy took part in the great battle of
NevUl's Cross (17th October), where he held a command in the fourth division,
or the reserve. In their advance from the peel of Liddel and Lanercost to
Beaurepaire near Durham, the Scots army had passed Langley, and there is
a petition from Sir Thomas for compensation for damages caused to his
property by the invaders. It is probable that the unprotected state of the
place occasioned the founding of Langley Castle, in about 1350, with funds
acquired in the French war, and with what Lucy received for the Scottish
depredations. Sir Thomas died in 1365, and three years after his son Anthony died, leaving
an infant daughter Joan, when Langley passed to Maud, the daughter of Sir
Thomas, the wife of Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus. At his death she
married Henry Percy, ist Earl of Northuraberland, to whom she brought
the honour of Cockermouth, with Langley, in 1383. Maud de Lucy died in
1398, and the earl and his son, the Hotspur of history and of Shakespeare,
having acquired so great wealth, commenced to intrigue against King Henry IV.,
with a view to their own aggrandisement in the North.

398 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
After Hotspur had fallen at the battle of Shrewsbury, his father was called
on to give up his castles to the king, who, proceeding in force to Berwick, took
the castle there at once with his artillery, and then Alnwick, and Warkworth,
and other castles belonging to the Percy family.
In July 1405 Langley was surrendered to Henry IV. without showing any
fight, being taken over with Us arms, artillery, and victuals by Sir Robert
Umfraville in the king's name Nor did its garrison show greater courage
when summoned to surrender to the victorious Lord Montagu after the battle
of Hexham in May 1464.
Under the will of the ruined sixth Earl of Northumberland, Langley became
the property of King Henry VIII. It was, however, leased for a long term to
a branch of the ancient family of Carnaby. Edward VI. restored the estate to
the heir of the unfortunate Percys, but when, on the accession of Queen Mary,
Thomas Percy becarae seventh Earl of Northumberland, and obtained possession
of all the other lands of his house, it was forgotten to insert Langley, which he
owned already in the general entail.
Then, on this earl's attainder and execution, after the Rising in the, North
in 1569, instead of passing with the estates in tail to his brother the eighth earl,
the ancient barony of Langley was escheated by the Crown.
In Sir Robert Bowes' Survey of 1542, Langley is described as : "The walles
of an olde Castell, . . . late thinherytance of therle of Northumberland. All the
roofes and flores thereof be decayed, wasted, and gone, and nothyng remayning
but only the walls, . . . and it standes in a very convenyant place for the
defence of the Incourses of the Scottes of Lyddesdale and of the theves of
Tyndale, Gyllesland, and Bowcastell when they ryde to .steall or spoyle in the
byshoprycke of Durham."
Again in 1608 a Survey describes this "auncient stone Castell" as "utterly
ruined and decayed, and soe hath been tyme out of mynde."
The Carnabys parted with their leasehold interest in 1619 to the fortunate
adventurer John Murray, ist Earl of Annandale, who seems to have acquired
the whole barony in 1625. Sir Edward Radcliffe of Dilston purchased it in 1632,
and his son Sir Francis was created by Jaines II. Baron Tindal, Viscount Langley,
and Earl of Derwentwater. His son James, the second earl, was beheaded
on Tower HUl after the Jacobite rising, connected with Lord Mar's rebellion,
of 1715 (see Dilston) ; and on the death of his son, Langley was confiscated.
In 1749 the Radcliffe estates were settled on the Governors of Greenwich
Hospital, and Langley has been sold by the Lord of the Admiralty to Mr.
Cadwallader J. Bates.
The castle is a structure oblong in shape, with massive rectangular towers
at the four corners ; the walls are 4 feet thick, and had ashlar facing on both
sides. The interior space measures 82 feet by 25 feet. There was no original
vaulting, and the upper floors were carried on timber beams.

NORTHUMBERLAND 399
For a building in so good a state of preservation, the absence of any clue
to the ancient destination ot the various rooms is most remarkable. In this
respect Langley is quite the antithesis of Warkworth. The entrance was in a
block attached to the E. tower, on the N. side at the ground level, where the
sole defence was a portcullis, whence a large circular staircase gave access to the
different storeys, of whicii there were three, the corner turrets having four
successive rooms, each 14 feet square. The S.W. tower was given up to a
series of garderobes, four on each floor, of singular construction : as VioUet-le-
Dnc says : "d'une maniere tout-a-fiiit monuraentale." There were two fireplaces
on each floor of the main block, and the upper rooras of the corner towers
had each one, the chimneys being carried up in the thickness of the wall.
The elaborate tracings of the pointed windows is typical of the last half of
the fourteenth century, passing stage by stage from pure Decorated, through
traces of flamboyancy, up to forecasts of Perpendicular (Bates). Parker gives a
sketch and plan of the building. Hodgson reraarks that " Langley Castle seems
to bid a stern defiance to the attacks of time, as if determined once again to
resume its roof and hang out over its battleraents its blue flag and pillared
canopy of morning smoke, as emblems that joy and high-minded hospitality
have returned to reside in it."

LONG HORSLEY TOWER (minor)
THE number of these strong houses, or peel towers, is very great in this part
of the country, and is accounted for by the fact that in early and lawless
times every possession of importance had to be defended against not only the
enemies of the country — such as the Scots — but also against the attacks of
robbers and moss-troopers coming from the uplands. Among a selected number
of these peels. Long Horsley is one of the larger, lying about six miles to
the N.W. of Morpeth, and long the residence of an ancient fainily of the name,
the last of them being Sir Thomas Horsley, who received General Monk here,
with his force, in January 1660, and entertained him with much hospitality.
The peel is a rectangular building, about 42 feet by 30 feet, containing a vaulted
basement and two upper stages, a circular staircase leading from the ground
at the S.E. corner up to the battlements, and ending in a small turret, with
a bell. A gabled building seems to have been added on the E. face, towards
the end of the seventeenth century, and originally there were two entrances on
the E. and S. sides at the ground level.
The knightly family of Horsley early acquired an estate here, which de
scended by marriage to the Widdringtons and Riddells. The tower was pro
bably built by the Horsleys about the reign of Henry VII. Long Horsley was
a manor of the De Merlays, Barons of Morpeth (q.v), and of their descendants

400

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

the lords Greystock, and the Dacres and Howards. The castle now belongs to
Mr. John Gifford Riddell bi FeUon Park, but is under long lease to the Catholic
Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, as the residence of the clergy of the village ;
the present priest and occupier being the Rev. Matthew CuUey of Coupland
Castle (q.v).

MITFORD (minor)
TWO miles above Morpeth, situated amid the beautiful scenery of the
Wansbeck, where that river is joined by the Font, is the ancient village
of Mitford. Here the river raakes a sharp bend, enclosing on its right bank a
small tract of land, upon which we see three successive generations of house
building. First there is the ori
ginal mediaeval fortress, built
probably temp. Henry IL, cir.
1150-1170 ; second, the seven
teenth-century Tudor hall of
the Mitfords, built partly from
the ruins of the first, and itself
a wreck ; and third, the modern
mansion of the present family;
and with these there is the
Church of St. Andrew. Mit
ford appears to have been
erected into a barony by
Henry I., for William Ber
tram, a brother of Bernard
Baliol, the founder of Bar
nard Castle. Roger Bertram,
his great-grandson, having
espoused the cause of the
confederate barons in John's
time, that king sent an army
of Flemings to seize the
castle and burned the town ;
he visited it in 1216, staying
three days there. It had its
share, too, of the incursions
of the Scots, for in 1217 it was besieged for seven days by Alexander IL, who
despoiled and dismantled it. The Bertrams retained the property for eight
generations, until Agnes, the heiress of the family, in 1275 sold the estate
to Alexander de Baliol, from whom it passed to Adomer de Valence, Earl

MITFORD

NORTHUMBERLAND 401
of Pembroke. This noble was one of the favourites of Edward 1 1., and
sat at the trial of Thonias, Earl of Lancaster, at Pontefract ; he was killed
at a tournament on his third wedding day, and of his property Mitford was
assigned to his widow for her life. His heirs were John de Hastings, and
John Cumyn of Badenoch, whose sister Johanna married David de Strath-
bolgi. Earl of Athol, and with her other sister Elizabeth Cumyn shared their
father's property in Mitford. This David, Earl of Athol, was slain s.p, male,
leaving only two daughters, Elizabeth, who was married to Sir Thomas Percy,
and the other to his brother Ralph, but the entire property of Mitford and Athol
came to the son of Sir Thomas Percy, namely. Sir Henry Percy, lord of Athol.
He again left only daughters, by one of whom the half of Mitford came to
the faniily of Borough, and the other half to Sir Henry Grey, knight. Lord
Borough possessed this castle and manor temp. Henry VIIL, but they were
granted by Charles II. to Robert Mitford, a descendant of Sir John de
Mitford of Molesden, a knight of considerable note in the fourteenth century.
Three moles still figure in the arms of the Mitfords, to whom the castle
now belongs.
The ancient castle, built probably by Roger Bertram in the early part of
the reign of Henry 1 1., stands on an eminence of freestone rock, 70 feet
above the river, and is protected on the N.E. and W. by the Wansbeck, which
flows around, and S. by the small stream Font. The walls of the enceinte,
enclosing about an acre, are built along the edge of the cliff, being about
20 feet high, and much broken ; that on the N. is tolerably perfect. A cross
wall with a strong doorway parts off the inner ward, in which stands the
square Norman keep, built upon a raised portion of rock. Its N. front projects
in a sahent angle, the basement only remaining, divided into two vaulted
cellars. The entrance into the inner ward is commanded by the keep ; the
gatehouse is ruined. On the marshy ground also at the foot of the Castle
Hill there appears to have been a wet ditch, and in its prime this castle must
have been an important and strong fortress.

MORPETH (minor)
MORPETH CASTLE is well situated on a lofty ridge of land, with the
ground sloping away on all sides except on the W., where a deep ditch
formed its defence. The site measures 82 yards N. and S., and 33 from E. to W.
As early as 1095 there seeras to have been a small fortalice (niunitiuncula)
at Morpeth (Bates), and a castle is mentioned as existing in 11 38, which King
John demolished in 1215. In early Norman times WiUiam de Merlay, called
"the good lord," had the barony and honour of Morpeth, and he probably
built the first castle ; his property was held in succession by his descendants till
VOL. II. 3 E

402 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
the last owner, Roger de Merlay, died, in 1265, and Morpeth went to his
daughters, one of whom, Mary, was married to WiUiam, Lord Greystock. The
issue of all the other sisters dying out, Morpeth came to the family of Lord
Greystock, who died 17 Edward I. His son John died s.p., having settled the
estate upon Ralph Fitz William, a near relative, who assumed the title of Lord
Greystock, and the third in descent from him, William, was summoned to
Parliament 26 Edward III. (1352). This lord built the castle of Morpeth and that
of Greystock in Cumberland, and died in 1358, his family continuing here till the
death in 2 Henry VII. (i486) of Lord Ralph, whose granddaughter succeeded
him as Baroness Greystock. This heiress was carried off and married by
Thomas, Lord Dacre of Gilsland, from Brougham Castle (see Kirkoswald and
Greystoke, Cumberland), and through her the Dacres obtained Morpeth and
continued in possession till the death of George, Lord Dacre, s.p. and under
age, when his property came to his two sisters ; Ann, married to Philip, Earl of
Arundel, and Elizabeth to Lord William Howard, second son of Thomas, Duke
of Norfolk, the " Belted Will " of Border story (see Naworth). As the family
preferred to live at Naworth, it is possible that Morpeth thenceforth became
neglected. The great-grandson of Elizabeth and Lord WiUiam, Charles Howard,
was in 1661 created Baron Dacre of Gilsland, Viscount Howard of Morpeth,
and Earl of Carlisle.
Leland, writing after visiting this place about 1540, says : "Morpeth Castle
stondythe by Morpethe Towne. It is set on a highe Hill, and about the HiU is
moche Wood. The Towne & Castle belongeth to the Lord Dacors. It is
well mayntayned."
WUUam, Lord Greystock, built the tower between 1342 and 1359. It is said
to be the only instance of one built with a peaked roof, and is a square massive
structure, defended by machicoulis and angle turrets or bartizans. The original
Norman walls are now but broken fragments. The only circumstance con
nected with the history of the county regarding this fortress is its being occupied
in 1646 by the Scottish array for twenty days, at the end of which they were
turned out of \i by the great Montrose. It stUl belongs to the Earls of Carhsle.
Wallis wrote in 1769 : " Only an old tower of this castle is standing, wUh
part of two speculating turrets."

N.AFFERTON (minor)
THIS casde stands in the open country N. of the road frora Heddon on the
Wall to Corbridge, midway between Ovington and the Roman wall. It
was built by Philip de Ulecote, a man of no great origin, who was forester of
Northumberiand in the reign of John. He managed to get into the favour of
that king, and is said by Roger of Wendover to have been his "iniquitous

NORTHUMBERLAND 403
counciUor," obtaining from him the baronies of Matfen, Nafl'erton, and Lorbottle.
In 14 John he became sherilf of the county, when, presuming on his influence
with the Crown, he began to erect a castle, taking the materials from the Roman
wall in the vicinity. But Richard de Umfraville made complaint of the injury
this castle would be to his fortress of Prudhoe, ancl got the Crown to issue a writ
to Philip commanding him to desist. Hartshorne says that the building remains
ranch in the same state as it was left by the workmen when they were stopped,
6 Henry IIL, at which date the sheriff had orders to cast down the bretesches,
or outside defences of wood ; which, however, seems to show that the castle
had been nearly completed. There are the remains of a keep, 20 feet square,
and of two outer baUeys, placed on sloping ground.

NEW BEWICK (non-existent)
THIS was a tower or stronghold, built in 1509, about three miles S. of
Chillingham near the Till River, which was owned by the Priory of
Tynemouth. The Itinerary of Leland (1538) says: "At Bewyke ys a good
Tower of the Kinge's majestic inheritance, late belonging to the suppressed
monastery of Tynmouthe A parte thereof ys newly covered with leade and
thother parte ys not well covered nor in good reparacions. It is able in tyme
of warre to conteyne fyftye men in garryson, and yt is much requysyte that
the said tower were kept in convenyent repare for yt standeth in a fytte place
for the defence of the countrye thereaboutes."
In 1608 it was still standing, "a faire stronge tower," but much decayed.
Nothing remains at this time but the foundations, across which is carried
the high road, to form which this once royal stronghold was probably
destroved.

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE (chief)
THE iraportant Roman station of Pons ^lii stood here on an eminence
fortified by Agricola. It commanded the bridge built by the Emperor
Hadrian (whose family name was ^lius) in A.D. 118 across the Tyne, protecting
also at this point the Roman wall which passed here towards its termination
at Wall's End. The Chronicles state that Robert Courthose, having been sent
by his father, the Conqueror, in 1080 against King Malcolm of Scotland, built
on his return a castellum or small fortress upon the Tyne, in the vill now called
Novum Castrum, but then Monke Chestre Perhaps it was merely a wooden
and palisaded structure on a mound, of the usual Danish or Saxon character ;
but it was Robert's brother, the Red King, who placed here a strong raasonry
fortress, utilising, perhaps, stone from an ancient work. Ere this the old

404 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Roinan bridge had disappeared, and the place was called, according to
Huntingdon, Novum Castellum. Hardyng's account runs thus :
" He buylded then the Newcastell upon Tyne,
The Scottes for to gaynstande and to defende.
And duelte therein."
And the townspeople he made to buUd the town also, and "to waU it all
aboute." Stow places the date of this at A.D. 1090. Five years afterwards
the Earl of Northumberland, Robert Mowbray, being in possessioii of this
castle, formed a conspiracy with others to rid the land of the Red King (see
Bamborough). Rufus carae north with an all-England army, besieged and
took the earl's castle at Tynemouth, and then, turning to Newcastle, captured
that fortress also, and with it the best followers of the earl. After the imprison
ment of Mowbray his earldom was held by Rufus, and next by Henry I., but
on the accession of Stephen in 11 35 King David of Scotland, who pretended to
Northumbria jure uxoris, espoused the cause of Maud and took possession of
the castle upon the Tyne, by craft. Thither in 11 37 King Stephen came with
an army, and a temporary truce was made between them. After the second
invasion of England in the following year, when he had been defeated at the
Battle of the Standard, David made a more lasting treaty with Stephen, by
which Northumbria was ceded to Scotland, and, according to Wynton, after
this event " in New Castell then Kyng Dawy of Scotland dwelt than comownaly."
After the death of Stephen Henry II. in 1157 repudiated this treaty and seized
Northumberland, setting aside the claira of William the Lion.
The next record of the Newcastle fortress dates in 1168, when the present
keep was commenced by Conan, Earl of Brittany. It was finished in 1171,
and after that time the castle was so strong under the command of the valiant
chevalier Robert Fitz Richard, that WUliam the Lion on coming before U,
"wUh armed people and naked," during his invasion of 1174, was fain to leave
U alone, and to turn and besiege Carlisle instead. In the July of that same
year, however, the Scottish king was captured by Odinel de Umfraville and
other knights at Alnwick (see Alnwick), and brought prisoner to Newcastle
for a night on his way to Richmond and the South. Large sums continued
to be spent on the keep, according to the Pipe Rolls, untU 11 76, when a sum
equal to about ;^8o,ooo of our money had been expended on U. In the reign
of John further expenditure was incurred on a tower and ditches, and on
outworks between the castle and the river.
In 1237 King Alexander of Scotland met Henry III. at this castle, on which
occasion the English king had his chamber in the Old Tower, and also used the
"old haU and old kitchen," a new haU and chamber being in course of con
stmction for him. It was at this meeting that Alexander renounced his rights

NORTHUMBERLAND

405

in Northumberiand, Cumberland, and Westmorland. In 1292 John Baliol
did homage for his crown to Edward I. in the king's hall of the castle,
and in the succeeding reign this fortress was used for stores during Edward's
expedition into Scotland. Early, however, in the year 1334 the castle is
described as being in so very dilapidated a condition that not one gate of it
could be closed. Repairs
were executed, and we find
in 1341 Lord John Nevill
of Hornby captain of the
castle, and holding the Earl
Murray in custody therein.
Five years later John de
Coupland, the sheriff, kept
the Scotch king David
Bruce here in ward, he
having been takeii prisoner,
grievously wounded, at the
battle of Nevill's Cross in
1346. In 1388 Percy Hot
spur threw himself into the
castle to defend it from the
attack of Earl Douglas, who
found the place too strong
for him, and retired to
Otterburn, where followed
Chevy Chase, or the battle
of Otterburn. In 1400 Henry IV., pre
paring to invade Scotland
to enforce his absurd claim
of over -lordship, lay at
Newcastle from July 25th
to August 7th, and came
thither again on his return
from his futile expedition.
Later in this same reign, however, the building fell again into neglect, and
remained thus during the reign of Edward IV., so that at the end of the
fifteenth century the keep was used as the county gaol, and the king's hall
as the courthouse of assize ; and to these ends the building was appropriated
untU our own times.
In Elizabeth's day this Northern fortress was described as "an old and
ruinous castle," and its buildings were rented out to various persons. In

j^efe~S-'.

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE

4o6 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
1619 one Alexander Stevenson, a page of King James I., obtained a lease for
fifty years, having begged the castle of the king ; and under him and those
that followed him, the structure went further to neglect and disrepair. The
castle, nevertheless, bore a part in the siege of Newcastle in 1644, being
the last resort of the gallant defenders of the town, after the surrender
of which it also was ceded to the Parliament army. At the expiration of
Stevenson's lease in 1664, Lord Gerard obtained a grant of the castle for
ninety-nine years, but litigation ensued between him and the Corporation,
who obtained from James II. certain rights, which on the earl's death were
confirmed, possessioii of the castle being retained by the civic authorities
in 1701. In the year 1811 the original mound to the S.W. of the keep was levelled
and removed, and Castle Street was laid out. Eleven baronies, holding fifty-
six knights' fees for their lands by service at the castle of Newcastle, possessed
houses in the castle ward, distinct frora the towers on the walls. Until 1790
much remained of the outer walls, particularly in the south and west, as well
as an ancient south postern to the Old Half-Moon Battery. The site was well
planned for defence, being protected on two sides by a precipitous and scarped
hill, and by a moat or ditch at the junction of the neck with the raain ground.
The whole enclosure of walls was of the shape of a quadrant, the arc portion
lying towards the river, and the entrance by the Black Gate being at the apex
on the north. This sarae Black Gate, all Early English work, was built in 1247,
and, though it had becorae ruinous in Tudor times, still reraains the sole relic
of Henry III.'s extensive works. It is a huge oval structure, protected in
part by a barbican built in 1358, the vaulted passage through which is defended
by two portcullises, the outer groove being still visible. From this gate a
drawbridge over the moat gave access to the second gate, which stood in Black
Gate Street, having had on its east side a square tower called the Great Pit,
which was used as a prison, the basement having no lights, and being entered
only by a trap-door. Three sides of this tower have vanished, but that on the
east remains.
On the opposite side, and behind the second gate, stood another prison,
called the Heron Pit (Heron having been a sheriff from 1247 to 1257), and both
these structures were ruinous in the year 1334, when they received repairs.
The prison of Heron Pit was likewise in the dreadful lower storey of the tower,
and was entered by a trap-door. Part of its lower walls are in the cellars of
the "Two Bulls' Heads Inn."
Passing the second gate, the way led into the castle garth, a large triangular
space, with the ancient mound in its S.W. corner, and its S.E. angle formed
by a huge semicircular tower, called the Half-Moon, which was reinforced
on its face by several large projecting square turrets or buttresses, with
similar smaller ones between them. The whole structure rose high above the

NORTHUMBERLAND 407
rest of the walls, dominating the ground below and the bridge, and was called
the Tower. From the Roman remains found on this site, it would seem to be
the original position chosen ancl fortified by Agricola, and afterwards occupied
by the old castle of Monkchester. This tower was destroyed in 1787, ancl its
site utilised for the building of the new Moot Flail and County Courts, while
the front of it was encased with a row of houses.
Immediately at the northern abutment of the Flalf-Moon, Henry III. built
in 1237 '""i^ "New Hall and New Chamber." The former became the Great
or Moot Hall, being the same that witnessed the homage of Baliol in 1292, and
whicii was used centuries after for assizes, and at its S. end was the King's
Chamber, converted in later days into the Grand Jury Room. These interesting
structures were all pulled down in 1809, and the site occupied by the New
County Court.
The original entrance to the castle ward or bailey was in the centre of the
W. wall, through a circular arched gateway between two square towers. It had
in front low wooden palisades, called "The Barriers," and was built in 1178 ;
but after the erection of the Black Gate it became a postern merely, ancl was
finally destroyed in 181 1.* Here it was that in 1388 took place the encounters
between the Scottish force under Jaines, Earl Douglas, and the English who
held the fortress under the Percys. During one of the many feats of arms
performed here, the following incident is said to have occurred. Hotspur and
his brother Ralph were, as ever, foremost at the barriers, when the Douglas,
tilting against Sir Henry Percy, not only had the fortune to drive him out of
his saddle, but also to snatch from him his lance with its silken pennon.
Waving this aloft, the Douglas vowed he would plant it on his castle at Dalkeith.
" That shalt thou never accomplish," cried Percy, grieved at his loss. " Then
you must come," replied the Douglas, " and seek it to-night, for I shall plant
it in the ground before ray tent, and we will see if you will venture to take it
away." That night the Scots drew off and raarched to Otterburn, followed
next day by the English, and two nights after (August 19th) was fought the
fierce fight of Otterburn, or Chevy Chase, at which Percy was captured, and
the Douglas slain (see Otterburn).
From the W. or old gate of the castle, ran E. and W. the wall of the inner
ward, called the Cross Wall, whicii terminated at the Half-Moon. The W.
face of the curtain contained two other square towers, one being at the S.W.
corner, from whence extended the S. front round to the Half-Moon. On this
S. wall was another square tower, and the S. postern, over which was the
county gaoler's house. There was another postern on the E. face near the
second gate. The whole face to the N. and W. was defended by a ditch,
22 yards broad, which also extended on the eastern and partly on the southern
sides. Beyond this moat was an outer wall of defence.
* Jefferson's drawing of it, with the keep, is given in vol. iv. N. S. .4rch. Ailiana.

4o8 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
After the castle and its buildings were leased out, which had already
taken place, as we have seen, in the si-xteenth century, houses began to be
erected round about it. An old description in 1790 states that "the castle
yard is now crowded on all sides with shops," most of these being for the
sale of old clothes, and that the inhabitants were numbered by "many
hundreds.'' There remains to describe the old "Donjon" keep, which is stiU standing.
It is of late Norman style, and was built by Henry II. between the years 1172
and 1 177, at a cost of ;£892, i8s. 9d. It stands at about 30 feet frora the
centre of the W. wall of the castle enclosure, and is a building of four stages
and a basement. It is nearly square, three of its angles being carried up by
pilasters in square projecting turrets, ending in machicolations and battle
ments, with other strong pilasters in the intervals. The N. angle is a half
polygon of six faces. The keep is entered by a forebuilding on the E. side,
where is a stair giving access to the great hall on the third floor. Below
is the chapel, which had a separate entrance on the E. The chancel has at
its further end an oriole, and in the stage above is a highly ornate room,
formerly an oratory, to which access is given by a staircase passing half-way
up a small gateway tower. The lowest stage was the prison, and still holds
the rings to which prisoners were attached when the place was converted
into a gaol.
The roof vaultings spring from a centre column, which perhaps served as
a drain for the upper storeys. The second stage is now divided, and used as
a library ; it appears to have formed, with the third stage, the dwelling, and
is provided with fireplaces and garderobes. The third stage, till the building
of the new hall, formed the king's chamber, a newel stair communicating with
the floor below. A "well-room" was at the end of the hall, and mural
passages and closets extend around. The fourth stage was for the defence of
the castle, and has a mural gallery, with loops in the outer wall.
It was customary to display on the walls of the keep the heads and quarters
of traitors, as was certainly done at Carlisle Castle in the case of Andrew
Harcla, Earl of Carlisle, temp. Edward II.
In 1644, when the town of Newcastle was taken, its defenders sought refuge
in this keep, but they had to surrender it after three days.

NORHAM (minor)
IN Northumberland, the land of castles, there is no more interesting fortress
than "Norham's castled steep," wrapped as it is in the chivalrous story of the
Border, and the halo of Scott's undying song. No stouter stronghold than this
existed between Berwick and Carlisle. For twelve iniles along the Border from

NORTHUMBERLAND

409

Berwick to Coldstream, the lands belonged to the mighty and wealthy bishops
of Durham, Counts Palatine, and here early iu the twelfth century, upon a
rocky elevation on the S. side of Tweed, which at this place forms a large
bend, Ralph Flambard, Prince Bishop from 1099 to 11 28, reared Norham
Castle ; and Hugh Pudsey, the reputed nephew of Stephen, his successor in
St. Cuthbert's chair from 1153 to ii()5, with his immense wealth rebuilt the

work and added to it. In 1136, King David, invading England in the cause of
his niece, the Empress Maud, took the castle and held it until its restoration
under treaty to Stephen ; but two years after he took it again and dismantled
it. Henry II. laid his hands on both casUes of Durham and Norham, but after
wards restored them to the see of Durham for a fee of 2000 marks (or ;£i333,
13s. 4d., equal to about ^^35,000 of our time), but on terms that allowed it to fall
again to the Crown at the death of Bishop Pudsey in 1195. King John came to
Norham four times, orie of these being at the time he was preparing to invade
Scotland, and again when he was negotiating a treaty with William the Lion.
VOL. II. 3 F

4IO CASTLES OF ENGLAND
In 1215 he came and besieged the castle in revenge for the homage paid by
the Northumbrian barons to King Alexander, but after forty days was forced
to raise the siege and depart. The place was Crown property in the reigns of
Henry III. and Edward I., and the latter came here in 1291 to decide regarding
the claimants to the Scottish throne, and to advance his own claims. He
resided in Norham Castle, while the Scots' camp lay at Ladykirk, on the
opposite side of Tweed. This was the time of the warlike Bishop of Durham,
Anthony Bek, who attended Edward at the head of 140 knights, 1000 foot, and
500 horse — himself clad in complete armour — and with them proceeded as far
as Aberdeen. In 1318 the Scots attacked the castle again and raised two forts
against it, but without any effect ; however, four years after, they succeeded in
taking the fortress, but Edward II. coming in person, retook it after ten days'
fighting. At this time extensive repairs were carried out, and afterwards the
bishop recovered his property. It was in this reign that the gallant feat of
arms occurred at Norham related by Leland, and woven into Bishop Percy's
ballad of "The Hermit of Warkworth"; when Sir WUliam Marmion of
Scrivelsby came to this "dangerest place in England" to "fame" his golden-
crested helmet among the Scots of Berwick (see Note 9 of "Marmion"). Again
in 1327 there was a fire and sword raid, when the Scots laid siege to Norham,
and succeeded in taking it the next year ; but it was retaken at last in 1355.
The castle had its share in all the military occurrences going on at the
Border during the reigns of Henry IV., Henry V., and Henry VL, being
within sight of the battlements of Berwick when the former of these kings
was battering that castle with his guns in 1405. In 1435 the bishops began
the practice of letting the castle to some nobleman or knight of approved
merit, which saved them much cost in upkeep. Bishop Richard Fox, a
great prelate, and the strenuous supporter of Henry VIL, held the see of
Durham from 1494 till 1501, and as, in the words of Richard III. to the
Pope, the first duty of a Bishop of Durham was to protect the realm
against the Scots, he came to Norham at an early date to superintend, as
an engineer, various improvements there ; he deepened the outer ditch, and
uniting it with the stream on the E. side, dammed up the water and thus
formed a moat. Lord Bacon says that Fox " caused his castle of Norham
to be strongly fortified and furnished with all kinds of munUions, and
had manned it likewise with a very great number of tall soldiers;" and
that "he had caused the people to withdraw their cattle and goods into
fast places that were not of easy approach," when in 1497 King James IV.
coined his golden chain to provide funds for his raid into Northumberland
in favour of Perkin Warbeck. But the bishop, according to Polydore VergU,
held the castle of Norham against his attack for fifteen days, and the Earl
of Surrey, summoned by him in haste, coming to the rescue with a strong
force, James raised the siege and retired to his own country (Chisholm

NORTHUMBERLAND

411

Batten's "Life of Fox"). In 1513, King James on his way to Flodden Field
again laid siege to Norham, and for five days assaulted it in front with
his ariiUery in vain. Then, according to the Ballad of Flodden, the weak
point in the foriifications was pointed out to him by a traitor from the
garrison : the wall soon yielded, and the castle fell. King James hanged
the traitor, and passed on to Ford Castle. After the battle of Flodden,
Bishop Ruthall repaired and strengthened the castle, and when in 1530
another hostile visit was paid by the Scots, they were driven off by the valour
of Archdeacon Franklin, to
whom Henry VIIL assigned
a special coat of arms for his
services. In Elizabeth's reign
Norham, like all other nor
thern fortresses, was in bad
repair, and Sir George Bowes
made a report on the place :
then various works were
set in hand there — a storey
was taken oft" the keep,
and the outworks were
strengthened. At the death
m 1559 of Bishop Tunstall,
who had laid out large sums
on this castle, Norham was
finally and by law detached
from the see of Durham
and held thereafter by the
Crown. Elizabeth gave a lease
of it to Lord Hunsdon, which
his representatives, the Careys, norham
were induced to part with to
Home, Earl of Dunbar, in favour of whom Norham was converted into a
freehold. It was kept in a state of defence as late as 1583, but of course,
with the accession of Jaines VI. to the English throne, all use for Border castles
was at an end.
The Tweed forming the front defence of the castle, a deep ravine with a
small stream in it divides the platform on which it is placed from the rest of
the high ground on the E., and a broad ditch is continued from it round the S.
and S.W. of the fortress. There are on the S. the remains of earlier entrench
ments. The area of the castle works is 2680 square yards, and the inner ward
with the keep stands on the E. over the ravine and river, protected by an immense
wall N.E. and S.E. The keep, built by Hugh Pudsey (Bishop of Durham

412

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

1 1 53-1197), is a mere ruin, rectangular in shape and originally 90 feet in height ;
this is all Norman work, in which Decorated windows have been inserted ; in
the W. wall is a spiral stair leading to the roof, and terminating in a square
turret. A large part of the N. front has disappeared. The second floor was
originally the topmost and state floor, having two apartments entered from
the well stair ; then a third floor was added with timber joists, containing two
chambers. In the Decadent period there were many alterations made in the
western half of the keep — doors and windows were opened, and the well
stair formed — per
haps by Bishop Bek
— the whole building
being heightened at
the same time. The
broad outer wall
from the keep to the
N. side seems to
have been made by
filling up the hall
and chapel. This
was done some time
after the introduc
tion of artUlery, and
neariy all the face
of this v^^all is now
gone. From the S.W.
angle of the keep
the wall, here 30
norham feet high, e.xtends to
a large rectangular
bastion which projects from it so as to look down the S. ditch on both
sides ; and further W. was the gatehouse of the inner ward. The outer ward
stretched in a bold curve round the S. and S.W. sides of the keep to the N.,
and was enclosed by a wall 30 feet high, still partly remaining at E. and S.
On the N. the scarped rock constituted the chief defence, the wall there being
only a breastwork, while at its junction with the W. wall is the lower entrance,
the gatehouse of which is 40 feet long, and of Norraan work. From thence
southwards was a wall with mural towers and the great gateway of the castle,
all of which have vanished.

NORTHUMBERLAND 413

OGLE (non-existenl)
ABOUT IweKe miles N.W. of Newcastle, on a rounded hill or ridge from
^^ which the ground slopes away northward towards Blyth, is this castle,
probably built about 13 Edward III., when Sir Robert Ogle obtained, in
reward for his good services on the marches, a licence to crenellate his
" mansum " of Ogle.
To this castle at the hour of vespers on October 17, 1346, came John
Copeland and his eight companions with their captive. King David Bruce of
Scotland, riding from the field of battle at Nevill's Cross, where Copeland
had with difficulty effected his capture : the brave young king fought
desperately, though wounded by one arrow in his leg and another in the
face, and could scarcely be taken alive. Before yielding himself he had
struck out several of Copeland's teeth with his gauntlet. The battle joined at
nine in the morning, and was not decided until noon, when the party, to
make sure of their capture, started for Ogle ; a distance which Froissart
gives as fifteen miles, but which is more like twenty-five iniles, and hither
they managed to convey the king, wounded as he was, before nightfall. It
is somewhat difficult to see why Copeland should have come northward
instead of to the south, and Froissart says that Queen Philippa complained
of his carrying off the king without her leave, but he was made a knight-
banneret, and afterwards Constable of Berwick. From Ogle King David was
brought to Baraburgh, where he remained until sufficiently recovered to be
takeii to the Tower of London (q.v). During his long captivity he experienced
durance in many castles.
There exists an account of this castle, drawn up in 1664, whicii describes
it as " not large, yet it hath been a strong and handsome structure. Several
towers w^ere upon the wall, built in a half round outwardly, and in a square
within, surrounded with a double moat and drawbridge before the gate, seated
in as pleasant a soil as the country doth afford."
Hutchinson says that in 1776 very little remained of the old castle ; part of
a circular tower then existed, adjoining the E. end of the farm-house,
which stands on the castle site, the windows of it being small pointed Early
English. Between the two moats stood originally a stone wall, which was
levelled when the moats were filled in. Hodgson states that not a vestige of
the castle was remaining in 1827, except the W. end of the moat, and some
60 yards of the dividing wall. The present farm-house seems to have been
built towards the end of the seventeenth century.
The Ogles' pedigree begins in the middle of the twelfth century, and a
Sir Thomas de Oggell, knight, held Oggil about 1240. Robert Ogle, his de
scendant, performed good services under Edward IIL, perhaps in France, and

414 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
built the castle. He fought at Nevill's Cross, and received letters of thanks
for his services there. He died in 1368, holding an extensive property. Sir
Robert, the first Lord Ogle, espoused the Yorkist side, and was in favour with
Edward IV., from whom he obtained many grants of land, including the lord
ship of Redesdale, and also the castle of Harbottle, after the battle of
Towton. He fought at Hexham, and was at the siege of Bamburgh Castle,
dying in 1469. Cuthbert, the seventh and last Lord Ogle, died in 1597, seised
of Ogle and Bothal, and of the large property of his forefathers. In the insur
rection called the Rising of the North, in 1569, he was a strenuous opponent
of the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland. His eldest daughter, Jane,
was married to Edward Talbot, Sth Earl of Shrewsbury, but left no issue,
and her sister Catherine, the wife of Sir Thomas Cavendish, youngest brother
of the first Earl of Devonshire (of that family), carried on the Ogle line. Their
son was Sir WiUiam Cavendish, " the loyal Duke of Newcastle," who was
created successively Baron Ogle of Bothal, Viscount Mansfield, Baron
Cavendish of Bolsover, and Earl and Marquis of Newcastle in 1643, and
finally Earl of Ogle and Duke of Newcastle in 1664. He was the great
Royalist general in the Civil War, and was the soul of that cause in the
North.

OTTERBURN (minor)
THE present tower is a modern building, but it encloses the relics of the
ancient structure which saw the great fight between the Scots and the
English, 508 years ago, famous in poetry and history as Chevy Chase, or
the battle of Otterburn. It stands in Redesdale, on the Otter stream, about
twenty-eight miles from Newcastle, along the road which passes into Scotland
over the Cheviots by Carter Fell ; the position is a strong one, and the tower
was a fortress suited to the desolate and unsupported situation in which it
was built.
It was long the stronghold of the Halls, a doughty family in Redesdale
in the reign of Henry VIIL, and there is an inscription on the front with
the initials of one of them. From some acts of treachery they earned in
Tynedale the sobriquet of " the fans' hearted Ha's." John Hall, the head of
the family in 1715, joined in Lord Mar's rebellion, with Forster of Bamburgh
and Lord Derwentwater (see Dilston). He was taken at Preston, brought to
London, and hung at Tyburn for high treason, by George IL, in July 1716.
His estates were forfeited and sold, and, after many changes of masters, this
tower is now the property of Mr. Thomas James.
Froissart has given a close account of all the circumstances leading to
the battle of Otterburn and of the fight itself, which, indeed, is the only one
we have. He tells how after the loss by Sir Henry Percy of his pennon

NORTHUMBERLAND 415
at the barriers in Newcastle, as is related in the account of that fortress {q.v),
the Scots next morning, under Earl Douglas, broke up and took the road
homewards, and coming at the dawn of day to the tower of Ponteland,
belonging to Sir Aymer de Athol, they assaulted and captured U and its
lord, and then burnt it ; proceeding during the day to Otterburn, where they
encamped for the night. Their force consisted of 300 lances and 2000 foot
soldiers, and next day an assault was made against the tower of Otterburn,
which Froissart says was "a strong one and situated among marshes,"— too
strong for them in fact, for they were beaten off, and retired to their quarters,
having formed a sort of camp with huts made of trees and branches within
a strong entrenchment, placing their baggage with the camp followers in
their rear across the road to Newcastle, and driving their cattle into the
marsh lands.
To return to Newcastle. When Percy found that Douglas had started for
Scotland, and that his force was under 3000 strong, he at once determined
to follow, having a superior force of 600 spears, of knights and squires, and
upwards of 8000 infantry. So they left Newcastle after dinner, and took the
road leisurely for Otterburn, arriving at the Scottish camp just as that host,
tired out with its siege of the tower, were turning in to repose. By good
generalship the Scots were not, however, taken at a disadvantage, having
during the day learnt the ground, and every man his post, in the expectation
of this attack. Fortunately for them, the English arriving at the quarters
of the camp followers, mistook thera for those of the soldiers, and made a
fierce onslaught on them, which gave the knights time to arm, and for the
men to form under their respective leaders, the Earls of Douglas, Moray,
and March, who each had arranged their special posts, that were evidently
far removed from where the English now were.
Night had by this time well advanced, but a bright August moon in a
clear sky gave ample light for the fight, whicii now began in earnest. The
main body of the Scots, instead of moving direct against Percy, skirted the
hillside, according to a preconcerted plan, and fell on the English flank while
engaged with the troops drawn up to defend the carap. Then commenced
a close struggle, in which the English archers were of no avail. One side
shouted " Percy " and the other " Douglas," and a general melife took place,
in which the chiefs of either side fought hand to hand, the two rival
banners meeting in the crush. Earl Douglas dashed into the midst of his
enemies, laying about him with his battle-axe, but was borne to the ground
by three spears driven into his shoulder, his middle, and his thigh, and as
he fell he was struck on the head with an axe, and the fight passed over
him. In the dusky light his fall was not noticed by his men, who pressed
on with the Douglas banner to a slight eminence, where the whole Scots
force collected, and then attacked the English, already wearied with their

4i6 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
forced march, so vigorously, that they repulsed and drove them from the
field in spite of their superior numbers.
In the fight Sir Henry Percy, unhorsed, was made prisoner by Lord
Montgomery, and his brother Sir Ralph was desperately and mortally wounded.
Froissart, a contemporary, whose account is carefully written, says that the
English were pursued for five miles, losing, as prisoners and left dead on the
field, 1840 men, and more than 1000 being wounded ; while of the Scots about
100 were slain, and 200 taken prisoners.
The ground where the engagement took place is called the Battle Riggs,
and a cross was set up where Douglas fell, which is erroneously called
Percy's Cross.
The appellation of Chevy Chase must have attached from the traditional
boast of Earl Douglas, that the reason of his foray was to chase the deer
on the English Cheviots, and it is curious that it should remain still the
everyday schoolboy term for a running hunt.
Roger Widdrington, the head of the house, seems to have been slain at
this fight, from the following verse in the ballad of Chevy Chase —
" For Wetharryngton my harte is wo,
That ever he slayne shuld be ;
For when both hys leggis wear hewyne in to.
Yet he knyled and fought on hys kne."

PRESTON TOWER (minor)
ABOUT a mile S.E. from Ellingham, near the E. coast, is a relic of a
good specimen of the old Border keep ; it is spoken of in 141 5 as in
the possession of Robert Harbottle, who perhaps built it. He was much in
favour with Henry IV., and in 1408 was made sheriff of Northumberland, and
afterwards captain of Dunstanburgh. He managed to obtain rights over
pieces of land about Preston by leases, and married Isabel de Monboucher,
the widow of the lord of Chillingham. He died in 1419, and his son Robert,
1424, married Margerie, daughter of Sir Robert Ogle, whose lands of Newstead
were conveyed to him. The marriage contract contains an odd bargain,
that Sir Robert should maintain his daughter for two years, keeping her still
at home, and also support her husband and his servant (un vadlet) and
horses whenever he came there ; and the bride was to find her own attire.
He is Sir Robert in 1439, and sheriff of the county. In 1499 Sir Ralph
grants a lease of the tower, manor, and town of Preston to John Harbottle of
Falloden at an annual rent of £%, 13s. 4d., and the place has a new timber
roof found between them, thatched with "flaggs or strawe" Sir Ralph

NORTHUMBERLAND 417
married INIargaret, daughter of Sir Ralph Percy, who fell at Hedgeley
Moor, and their granddaughter, Eleanor Harbottle, became the wife of Sir
Thomas Percy, beheaded after the insurrection of the Pilgrimage of
Grace. She obtained Preston as coheir of her broiher, and w;is the
mother of Thomas, seventh Earl of Northumberland, on whose attainder
Preston feU to the Crown. In die Survey of 1570 it is said to be let to
Margaret Harbottle for ^4, 13s. 4d., ruid afterwards it passed into the fainily
of Armourer, and then to that of Craster : at present it belongs to Miss
Baker Cresswell.
It is a narrow oblong building with square towers at the four corners.
The S. front alone remains, wUh the S.E. and S.W. corner turrets and parts of
their side walls. It is entered by a doorway cut through the S. front in the
seventeenth century ; the turret rooms are vaulted and have fireplaces {Bates),

PRUDHOE (chief)
PRUDHOE was erected by Odinel de Umfraville during the first twenty
years of the reign of Henry II. The situation is well chosen, being at
a considerable height above the river Tyne, flowing on its N. face, while it
is defended on the other sides by ditches. It hes about seven iniles W.
of Newcastle. The founder of this fainily was called Robert cum barba,
who received after the Conquest a grant of the lordship of Redesdale
on the service "of defending it from enemies and wolves with that sword
which King WiUiam had by his side when he entered Northumberland,"
and in that district he possessed also the castle of Harbottle. Prudhoe Castle
raust have been built before 1174, since in that year it was attacked by
King William the Lion, whom it beat off after a three days' siege, to be
noticed later.
Robert's son was Odinel de Umfraville, who was succeeded by another
Odinel, who died in 1182 ; then, after three generations, carae Gilbert (1226-
1244), called by Matthew Paris "the defender of the North and flower of
chivalry." His son GUbert succeeded, and bore his maternal grandfather's
title of Earl of Angus ; he served Edward I. in all his wars, dying in 1303, and
was followed by his brother Robert, who died 18 Edward 1 1., 1325, leaving an
only son, Gilbert, as third Earl of Angus ; he married as second wife, Maud,
heiress of Thomas, Lord Lacy. On their deaths without issue, Prudhoe passed
under an entail to Henry Percy, ist Earl of Northuraberland, who had
married Angus's widow, and after his rebellion against Henry IV., it was not
recovered by the Percys till 1441. To return to Umfraville, the chronicler
relates that Odinel, in building his castle, laid the people of the neighbourhood
under sad exactions in order to complete it, which gives us an insight into the
VOL. II. 3 G

41 8 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
way in which the Norman barons obtained the requisite labour for their
castle-building. In his incursion of 1174, the Scottish king first took Harbottle-
and then Warkworth fell before him, when he next invested Prudhoe. This
castle was strong and was well defended, but Hoveden and three other
chroniclers relate that Odinel, fearing for the fate of Prudhoe, as the garrison
was weak, determined to seek assistance, and for that end managed to leave
the castle by night "mounted on a good brown bay horse." Spurring night
and day, he beat up his friends till he had gathered together 400 knights
and their followers with their shining helmets ; among them Ralph de Glan-
vile, Barnard Balliol of Barnard Castle, and several Yorkshire barons. The
laborious ride of this heavy armed cavalcade, and their march to Alnwick and
their return to Newcastle, is told in the account of Alnwick. They found that
the Scottish Lion had been repulsed at Prudhoe, and had gone back to attack
Alnwick, where they captured him. This expedition, occasioned by Umfraville
on behalf of Prudhoe, and leading to so important a result, was a great feat
of arms ; to perform a ride of 71 miles in heavy armour after the fatigue of a
long previous march, to charge the eneiny, and to wrest their king from
the midst of so powerful a force, and carry him off a prisoner with them,
shows the stuff of which men, and also horses, of that day were composed.
No harm was done by the Scots to Prudhoe Castle, but before leaving the
place they are said to have " destroyed the corn-fields, ravaged the gardens,
and even barked the apple-trees."
The castle walls, covering an area of about three acres, follow on the N.
the line of the slope 60 feet above the river, and are flanked towards the west
by two semicircular towers of fourteenth-century work. The entrance and
gatehouse on the S. side with its barrel vault are Norman ; the barbican
in front was probably built by Gilbert, 3rd Earl of Angus, in the middle of
the fourteenth century. On the first floor of the gatehouse was a chapel,
and as it was not large enough to contain the altar, a portion of its E. end
was built out on corbels to afford additional space, lighted by three small
lancet windows.
Within the walls are the outer and inner courts, divided by a dwelling-
house, rebuilt in the present century, the inner baUey containing a fine
lofty Norman keep, of oblong shape, buttressed by corner turrets of flat
relief, with the usual Norman apartments and divisions, a straight staircase in
the thickness of the W. wall, and another spiral one in the N.E. corner.'
It was in a ruinous state (temp. Elizabeth).

NORTHUMBERLAND 419

SEATON DELAVAL (iwn-exisieui)
A SHORT distance to the S.W. of the fire-eaten wreck of the modern
mansion of the Delaval fainily lies the site of their ancient fortiess, of
which nothing whatever remains except the beautiful little Norman chapel that
belonged to it, and even this has been partly destroyed
The now extinct family of Delaval was one of the most ancient in England ;
Hamon, second son of Guy de Laval of Maine, where their old castle still
exists, came over with Duke William, whose niece, Dionysia or Denise, his son
Guy married. Father and son shared largely in the spoils of the Saxons, and
their descendants kept the lands and manors granted to thera, as well as their
estates in France, until the reign of John, when they lost them by rebellion.
It is evident that they were established in Northumberland shortly after the
Conquest in the barony of Delaval, constituted by William himself, ancl held
by two knights' fees in capite, connected with the defence of the new castle ;
the first baron of whom there is record being Hubert de Laval or De la Val,
temp. Rufus. The generations of the Delavals run on with tolerable regularity
to sons or brothers till the death of Sir Henry (12 Richard IL), when the suc
cession was takeii up by his sister Alice, the wife of John de Whitchester, and
their son and grandson, which latter was in possession of Seaton cir. 1416.
At his death s,p,, his sister Elizabeth succeeded, being the wife of Sir John
Burchester, knight, and she dying (9 Edward IV.), settled the estate on a kins
man, Jaines Horsley. His mother was a Delaval of Newsham, and he came in
for all the estates, assuming the Delaval name His grandson is thus written of
in a Survey of the Borders : " Sir John Delaval of Seaton, may serve the king
with fifty men ; he keepeth a good house, and is a tme gentleman." He died in
1562, and his posterity continued at Seaton in regular succession, one being
knighted by Jaines I. in 1617, and at the Restoration the further honour of a
baronetcy was conferred on Sir Ralph, who was member for the county during
the entire reign of Charles II. Sir John, third and last baronet, died in 1729,
aged seventy-four, when his cousin. Admiral Dekaval, became proprietor of
Seaton, and being a wealthy man, proceeded to build here a stately palace from
the designs of Sir John Vanbrugh. This sumptuous edifice was destroyed by
a fire in 1822, and being partially repaired, gives still some idea of the grandeur
which excited so much admiration in past years.
The Chapel of Our Lady was attached to the old feudal fortress of Seaton,
and is a very interesting relic of perfect Norman style, with its short
columns and the zigzag mouldings of its semicircular arches ; it is still used
for service.
The Delaval baronetcy was revived in Sir John Hussey Delaval, who
was raised to the peerage in 1786 as Lord Delaval. He obtained Ford

420 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Castle from his brother, and almost entirely rebuilt the fabric, and at his
death in 1888, at the age of eighty, he left Ford to a lady whom he had
espoused three years before, and after her to his granddaughter. Lady Susan
Carpenter, the wife of Henry, second Marquess of Waterford, in whose fainily
it remains. The entaUed estates passed to his brother Edward, who died in 18 14,
the last of his name, when they went to his nephew. Sir Jacob Astley,
Bart., whose son claimed and obtained the ancient barony of Hastings,
and holds Seaton Delaval.

SEWINGSHIELDS (non-existent)
ON the N. side of Tyne, near the wall at Housesteads, is a place which
represents the Roman station of Borcovicus, and is full of interesting
remains. In the reign of Edward I. the lands belonged to Williain de Haulton,
and in 1362 Robert de Ogle died seised of Sewin-sheles. Again, in 1407, Sir
Robert Ogle, knight, gave this manor to William Thimilby, clerk, but is returned
as the owner still in 1434 ; after him no mention is made of an owner until
1568 and again in 1663, when the property is reckoned among the estates of the
Herons of Chipchase. In later years it was included in the possessions of the
Erringtons of High Wardon.
The Survey of 1542 speaks of this place as "an old castle or fortress of
Sewynge-sheales of James Heron of Chipchase, in great decay both in roof and
floors, and hath great bounds of good ground either for com or pasture ; both
the same house and ground lie waste and unplenished at this present." Perhaps
the reason of this neglect is to be found in the fact of the castle standing in
the track of the Liddisdale and Tynedale thieves and moss-troopers, so that its
inmates, like the pastoral folk dwelling hereabout, were never safe from moles
tation and violence.
Hodgson says that a square, low mass of ruins, overgrown with nettles,
is all that remains of the building, whicii was possibly never more than a
tower or peel. Its site is at the end of a long ridge, overlooked from the
S. by the basaltic cliffs along which the Roman wall is built. There are
traces of ditches about it, but as these are on the N. side of the wall,
they were probably made in later times as security against marauding parties
from the dales.
There is an ancient legend that beneath this tower is an enchanted cave
in whicii lie King Arthur and Queeii Guinevere and their court, all fast bound
in sleep until some deliverer shall blow the horn at the entrance to the cave,
and shall cut with a sword of stone the garter lying beside it. And the tradition
runs that a shepherd who once found his way in, saw the king and all of them

NORTHUMBERLAND 421
lying asleep. The garter he managed to cul, but neglecting to blow the
horn, the king awtike and cried out :
" O woe betide that evil day
On which this hapless wight was born,
\\'ho drew the sword, the garter cut.
But never blew the bugle-horn."
W^hereupon the intruder was so dazed with fright that he fled away, nor could
he ever again find the entrance to the magic cave. There are other legends
regarding Arthur and Guinevere associated with this locality, the reason of
which connection it would be interesting to trace.

SHORTFLAT TOWER (minor)
THIS edifice was built by Robert cle Raymes of Bolan by licence from
Edward I., dated 1305, and resembles in many of its features the tower
built by the same owner at Aydon. It is embattled, and the walls at the
ground level are seven feet thick. It belonged to a branch of the Fenwicks,
after the Raymes, but its subsequent possessors are unrecorded. The tower
is still inhabited, and is the property of Mr. E. J. Dent.

SIMONBURN (minor)

ABOUT half a mile N. from the church of this old town is the picturesque
^^ ruin of a stronghold of the Herons of Chipchase Castle, in the neigh
bourhood. It stands on a hill, below which flows a stream, called from it
Castle Burn, in a well-wooded locality. The account of this place as given
in the MS. quoted by Hodgson (vol. ii. part 3, p. 235, note) shows that it was
an important post for controlling the Tynedale district, its garrison acting with
others in the district and at Chipchase, and it was here that the "kepar" or
warden of Tynedale resided, with a force of fifty horsemen " allwaies a this
commandement." It says, " Symondburne ys a greatt and strongly buylded
toure standinge very defencyble upon the corner of an hyll, envyrowned
upon thre q'ters thereof w"^ a depe staye hyll almost inaccessyble, so that
a barmekyn wall of a meane height sett upon the toppe of that hyll were
defencyble enough." Another sixteenth-century Survey reports : " At Symond
burne ys a stronge toure of foure house height of thinherytaunce of John
Heron." Sir Charles Heron, Bart., sold the manor and demesnes to Robert Allgood,
whose heirs possessed Simonburn at the beginning of this century. Wallis,

422 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
who was curate of the parish and wrote his Antiquities here, declares the fabric
to have been pulled down by the country people in searching vainly, "like
King John at Corbridge," for reported hidden treasure. Part of the W. end
was rebuilt in 1766 in Wallis's time, "with two small turrets (i,e,, bartizans) at
the angles."

TARSET (minor)
THIS strong fortalice is situated on Tyne, four miles W. of Bellingham.
One of the Scottish barons called to give service to the king in the
Barons' War was John Comyn of Badenoch, Earl of Buchan, who received
in 52 Henry III. a licence to fortify and crenellate his building of "Tyrsete"
in Tynedale (1267). It was his son, the Red Comyn, who was a competitor for
the crown of Scotland, and who was stabbed by Robert Bruce in the Grey
Friars' Church of Dumfries. The Comyn property went in the female line in
19 Edward 1 1., when this lordship came to the Strathbolgys, Earls of Athol, and
Earl David, cir. 1375, left it and his other property to his daughters Elizabeth
and Philippa, who being committed to the wardship of Henry, Lord Percy, he
prudently married them to his two younger sons, when Tarset came by the elder
girl to Sir Thomas Percy, and became afterwards attached to the dukedom of
Northumberland. The castle was burnt in 1525 by Tynedale marauders "at a tyme when
Sir Rauffe Fenwyke lay with a certain garrison in the tower at Tarsett hall for
the reformac'on of certayne raysorders within the said countrye of Tyndall."
The old tower, standing in a commanding situation, was built of the finest
masonry, with walls 4 feet thick, and turrets at the corners, covering an acre of
ground with its buildings, and surrounded by a ditch ten yards broad and an
outer wall. It was destroyed at the beginning of this century for the sake of
its stones. The country story runs that there exists an underground passage cut between
this place and Dailey Castle — a mile asunder — below the bed of the river, and
that the noise is heard at midnight of carriages driving through this passage,
which may be seen to emerge at Dailey, drawn by headless horses.

THIRLWALL (minor)
THIS ruin stands on the N. side of the Roman wall (which in the Middle
Ages was itself called the Thirlwall), in that short space of flat land near
Haltwhistle where the two rivers South Tyne and Fithing approach each other.
Opposite to it, across the wall, is the interesting station of Magna, now called
Caercoran. The castle is a large, sombre-looking place, called by Hutchinson

NORTHUMBERLAND 423
"a horrid, gloomy dungeon ;" the whole of it was built with stones taken from
the wall, and in its tum the ruin has been robbed of its stone for other buildings.
The castle, wliich until 1297 was practically in Scotland, was for many
centuries the residence of an ancient Northumbrian faniily of the same name,
and was built probably early in the fourteenth century, after a visit there
of Edward I. in 1306. The first mention of it occurs in 1369, and in 1386
John de Thirlwall had it, his family having been established here already for
a century at least. This John had served with Edward III. in his expedition
to Paris in 1360, in Gascony with the Black Prince, and in Brittany with the
Duke of Lancaster in 1378. In 1415 it belonged to Roland de Thirlwall, and
in the Survey of the marches in 1542 its owner was Robert Thyrewall. The
castle was garrisoned by a Scottish force for the Parliament in 1645, but after
the Restoration, John Thirlwall, the head of the fainily, left it to live at
Newbiggin near Hexham. His granddaughter, the heiress of the fainily, married
in 1738 Matthew Swinburne of Capheaton, who sold the castle and manor of
Thirlwall to the 4th Earl of Carlisle, with whose descendants the property
has remained.
Not much is left of this the most westerly of Northumbrian fortresses ; part
of a rectangular oblong keep remains, with a tower on the E. in line with the
S. wall, the E. wall of the building having fallen down in 1831. In this wall
was the entrance, near its N. corner, where, in 1767, were still the remains of
an iron gate, and inside this is a staircase, contrived in the thickness of the wall,
leading into the first floor in the N.W. angle. In the basement is a small
dungeon, and the walls seem to be 9 feet thick. A hill stream, called the Tipalt,
flows past the castle on its way S. to the Tyne.

TOSSON TOWER (minor)
ON the S. of the Coquet, about a mile from the town of Rothbury, are the
remains of this building. In the middle of the fifteenth century it is
spoken of as belonging to the Lords Ogle, and at that time " not in good repa
racions." Mr. Bates says that the Ogles obtained lands here cir. 1330 by
marriage with a daughter of Sir Robert Hepple, but that the tower is of later
construction. It has been a small peel measuring only 25 feet by 18 feet,
having probably two stages above the basement. A stair was in the N.E. corner,
but little remains now of the fabric except part of the N. and E. fronts, from
which most of the ashlar facing has been abstracted.

424 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

T W I Z E L (non-e.xistent)
THIS old Border stronghold, standing on a rocky cliff on the E. of the
Till, is thus described by Leland : "At Twysle, nere unto the said ryver
of Twede, there ys standinge the walls of an old fortresse or castell rased and
caste downe by the King of Scoffs in a warre xl'i yeres and more since." This
destruction was done by James IV. of Scotland when he started to harry
Northumberland in support of Perkin Warbeck against Henry VIL, and the
occasion of its razing is the first notice we find of the castle. The lands were
held of the Mitford barons in 1272, and in 1329 they belonged to Sir William
Riddell ; on the failure of whose family they came to the Herons. Afterwards
the manor belonged to the ancient family of the Selbys (temp. Edward VI. and
Elizabeth), and at the beginning of the present century was owned by the Blakes,
also an old family of British extraction.
The early fortress was never rebuilt, and the ruins now seen are those of a
castle commenced to be built in 1770 and never finished.

TYNEMOUTH (minor)
THE situation of the Priory of Tynemouth, whose origin dates from the
seventh century, was a very exposed one, on a promontory on the north
bank of the Tyne, and its oft-repeated destruction by the Danes necessitated
the fortification of its precincts for protection both landward and from the sea.
Earl Tostig had a stronghold here shortly before the Norman Conquest,
probably a stockaded one of timber ; but between then and 1095 a strong
castle must have been erected, perhaps by the great Robert de Mowbray, since
in that latter year it sustained a violent siege for two months by the Red King.
No grant of the castle is found after this event, and it is probable that being
built on church ground, it vested in the prior and convent after falling to the
Crown by capture ; indeed, what was called a castle could have been little more
than the defences of the priory — that is, a wall and ditch, with ramparts and a
strong gatehouse. There never probably was a keep.
The next heard of the castle is in 1346, after the battle of Nevill's Cross,
when Sir Ralph Nevill of Raby, keeper of the marches, and no friend to the
Church, proposed to send all the Scottish prisoners for keeping to Tynemouth,
a suggestion which was strenuously opposed by the churchmen, and petitioned
against to the king. Again, in 1379, Richard II. made a grant to enable the
prior and monks to repair their fortifications, these being treated as a part of the
priory ; after which time there is scarcely any notice of the fortress till the reign
of Henry VIIL, after the suppression of the convent, when U is stated that the

NORTHUMBERLAND 425
defences had been strengthened by the Crown ; ancl in 1550 Tynemouth is
mentioned as one of the king's castles in the middle marches. In Elizabeth's
reign a garrison of six gunners and a master-gunner were kept in the castle,
a governor being always appointed. In 1584, Sir Henry Percy, 8th Earl of
Northumberland, and his sons held this appointment, with the castle, for life ;
but Elizabeth, mistrusting them, and believing that they were in collusion with
the Throgmorton plot concerning Mary Queen of Scots, sent and apprehended
Percy, removing him to the Tower, where he was kept till his supposed murder
in June 1585 (see Tozver of London). While this earl was castellan he received
the Earl of Bothwell as, a prisoner in 1563-64. Camden wrote : "Tynemouth
glories in a noble and strong castle, which, in the language of an old writer,
is made inaccessible on the E. and N. side by a rock over the ocean ; but on
the other sides, on account of its lofty situation, is easily defended."
In 1633 Charles I. rested at Tynemouth Castle on his way to visit Scotland,
accompanied by a gallant train of nobles and courtiers ; but when civil war
had become imminent in 1642, the Earl of Newcastle placed the castle in a
state of defence for the king, sending to it from Newcastle guns and stores,
and placing a new fort at the river's mouth.
Then, after the victory of Marston Moor, the Parliamentary forces came
(1644), and besieged and captured the fortress, where they obtained a great
store of arms and ammunition.
Two years after. Sir Arthur Haslerigg being governor, his deputy. Colonel
Lilburne, wUh a Scottish garrison, declared for the king, whereupon Haslerigg
sent a force to capture the place, and to put to the sword all they found under
arms. The castle was accordingly stormed and taken, and Lilburne's head
was struck off and placed on a pole.
In 1660 Haslerigg gave way to General Monk, and about this time various
repairs and works were undertaken on account of the war with Holland,
when, to lessen expenses, the lead and roofing and the buildings of the priory
were laid hands on and adapted.
Thenceforward, however, the castle was neglected, and it was not till 1783
that the buildings were again made serviceable for holding stores and a garrison,
and some of the present disfiguring constructions were put up.
The old castle gatehouse is the entry to the priory ruins ; it was a strong
one, provided with three gates, the second having a portcullis ; in front was
a dUch, with a drawbridge of entry. Little is left of the old works, the whole
place having been modernised into an ordinary barrack ; but beneath, in the
rock, are known to exist many chambers and passages, which afforded secret
access to the convent from the river and haven.

VOL. II.

426 CASTLES OF ENGLAND

WARK (minor)
THE parish of Carham occupies the extreme N.W. corner of the border of
Northumberland, and at a point two miles from this corner, where the
Tweed begins to form the march between England and Scotland, on a high
bank 60 feet ab6ve the river, stood the castle of Werk or Wark. Here, in the
time of Stephen, Walter Lespec of Helmsley (q.v., Yorkshire), the great leader
at the Battle of the Standard, founded the original fabric. This underwent a
siege by the Scots temp. David I., who invaded Northumberland in 1136, in
support of the Empress Maud, his niece, when this castle, defended by Lespec's
nephew, Jordan de Bussei, withstood him. David was supplied with all the
machines necessary for battering the fortress, and remained three weeks
before it : then he broke up, and leaving a sufficient force to mask it, marched
to the Tyne, devastating the country with great barbarity. Stephen brought an
army against him and crossed the Tweed, ravaging in his turn, whereupon the
Scots returned to their own side, and Stephen also retired south. Finding
the country again unprotected, David advanced into the counties of Durham
and Yorkshire, which having devastated, he laid siege to the castle of Norham
and took it. Then he returned again to Wark, but was compelled again to
retire with great loss, revenging himself by destroying the English grain crops.
The Battle of the Standard, however (22nd August 1138), drove him back to
his own dominions, but he returned soon to Wark, to conduct the siege in
person. All his attacks again failing, David sat down to reduce the place by
famine, and the garrison in their extremity received an order from Lespec
to yield up the fortress, which they gladly did, upon good terms. It was
found that they had no more provisions left than one live horse and one
salted. Then David caused the castle to be demolished ("funditus," i.e., to
the ground).
Stephen purchased the Scottish king's neutrality by ceding to him the border
counties of Northumberland and Cumberland, but when Henry II. succeeded
he resumed the royal demesnes thus alienated, and took possession of both
counties in 1 157, rebuUding Wark. This loss of territory rankled in the heart
of the succeeding king, William the Lion, who preferred claims which Henry
refused to recognise; whereon he invaded England in 1173, and appearing
before Wark, demanded its surrender. The captain, who was Robert de
StuteviUe, sheriff of the county, begged and obtained a respite of forty days,
in order to consult his king, Henry IL, who was in Normandy; but he spent
the time in strengthening his defences and preparing for a siege, and when
William, who had been carrying a campaign into Cumberland, once more
appeared, at Easter 1174, he found himself defied, and the castle so strong
that all his efforts to break in failed ; and in a frenzy of wrath he was at

NORTHUMBERLAND 427
last obliged to leave the place. He was taken prisoner soon after at
Alnwick (q.v).
After this Wark seems to have come, like Helmsley, to Robert de Roos
or Ross (?>.," Furstan," who married a daughter of WiUiam the Lion), by
disposition of Henry III. Edward 1. came here for three days, after receiving
at Norham the homage of Edward Baliol (1292), and that same winter the
owner of the castle, Robert de Roos, left Wark for Scotland, in order to follow
a Scottish lady, Christiana de Mowbray, with whom he had fallen in love, and
for whose sake he joined the Scots army ; whereon the English king took
possession of Wark, though afterwards he restored it to the brother of
De Roos.
In 1342 David II. led a raid into England as far as Newcastle, where, being
repulsed, he came to Durham, which place he took and treated barbarously ;
then, returning across the Border, his followers, with their train of rich spoils,
passed in view of Wark Castle, and this was more than the garrison could endure
passively. Edward III. had given the fortress in 1333 to William Montagu,
afterwards Earl of Salisbury (see Nottingham), whose nephew was at this time
in charge of the castle, with the countess, Katherine de Grandison, who was
esteemed one of the most beautiful women in England. Young Montagu,
with his men, fell on the rear of the Scots force as it passed the Tweed
and killing 200 of them, carried off into the castle 160 horses laden
with their English spoils. This so exasperated King David that he at once
laid close siege to the castle ; whereon the garrison, doubting their strength,
managed to send word to the King of England at Alnwick of their con
dition, begging his assistance. Edward at once started in person to their
relief, and at his approach the Scots retired over the Border. Great was the
joy of the garrison, and on Edward's coming into Wark Castle, their grati
tude, as expressed by the beautiful countess, awoke in hira an attachment
which, as related by Froissart, was the commencement of the romance
to which a few years after the famous Order of the Garter owed its
origin. The Earl of Salisbury's heir exchanged Wark for other lands, and in
2 Henry IV. it was in the possession of the Greys of Heaton, a family now
represented by Earl Tankerville of Chillingham, who is its present owner.
In 1419 the Scots took Wark, then in the custody of Robert Ogle, and
put its garrison to the sword ; but soon after an English force came there,
and some of them managed to creep up a large drain leading from the
river to the kitchen of the castle, and raade an entrance for their corarades,
who in turn massacred the Scots.
At the death of James II. before Roxburgh Castle, a party of Scots again
seized Wark, and so injured it that in 1519, when Henry VIII. caused
the defences of the Border to be put into repair. Us condition was found

428 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
ruinous, and considerable sums were devoted to its rebuilding, as a post
of importance ; since in conjunction with Norham and Berwick, which
fortresses could both be seen from the ramparts of Wark, it formed an
efficient guard for the North Border. At this time it was possessed by
Sir Edward Grey, from whom it came to his son Sir Ralph, whose son
Sir William was created Lord Grey of Wark by Jaines I. in 1624. Lady
Mary Grey, daughter and heir of Forde, Lord Grey and Earl of Tankerville,
in 1695 married Charles, 2nd Baron Ossulton, in whom the Tankerville title
was renewed.
From a drawing of Wark Castle temp. Elizabeth, it appears that the
enceinte was rectangular and oblong, surrounded by a high wall, the N. end
abutting on the river bank, with a strong tower at the N.E. corner, close to
which on the E. face was the great gatehouse, which has now entirely
disappeared. The enclosure was divided into the outer, or nether, and middle
wards by a wall, the line of which is now shown by a hedge. The middle
ward contained the Constable's lodgings and domestic offices, and there was
a postern in the W. face. The keep, which was octangular with a turret of
the same form, stood in the S.W. corner of an inner ward, protected by
another wall or palisade The structure is said to have been destroyed at
the time of the Union, and little remains but the raifiparts. Some foundations
of the corner tower may be traced in a garden over the river bank.

WARKWORTH (chief)
THE Coquet River, about a mile from where it loses its bright stream in
the dark waters of the North Sea, forms a bend round a peninsula of
somewhat elevated land, at the neck of which, overhanging the river on the
west, stands the castle of Warkworth. The walls are built in the trace of a
triangle, the keep at the N. end overlooking the town being the apex, while the
entrance and its towers and curtains form the base at the S., from each end of
whicii the two straight side walls, with their flanking towers, run up to the keep.
The whole area enclosed is an acre and a half.
The lands of Warkworth, as far back as the eighth century, were the pro
perty of the Church of Lindisfarne, or the Holy Island of St. Cuthbert, and it
is possible that owing to the visits of the ruthless Northmen to this coast, or
perhaps far anterior to these, the position on the peninsula was early selected
for a defensible post, since we find the existing keep built upon an artificial
mound which probably existed before the Norman Conquest. No mention
occurs of this castle tiU the reign of Henry IL, when one Roger Fitz-Richard, a
valiant knight and Constable of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, became master of Wark
worth, holding in capite from the Crown : this was in 1158, when the oldest por-

NORTHUMBh'.RLAND 429
tions of the castle may have been erected. Fitz-Richard was grandson of
Eustace Fitz-John, Lord of Alnwick, and his grandson Robert obtained confirma
tion of the grant from King John, but had to pay 300 marks for it ; and the king
received as much more for giving him permission to marry. The castle and lands
were held for five generations, from father to son, without the possession of any
surname by this faniily, until 1299 (28 Edward I.) ; but when John Fitz-Robert
was summoned to Parliament he assumed the name of his estate in Essex,
namely, Clavering, the king, it is said, objecting to the iteration of " Fitz." Fie
died in 1332 without male issue, and his northern estates passed to the Percys
under an existing settlement.
Warkworth remained with this family until the forfeiture of Henry, 4th lord
and ist Earl of Northumberland, in 1403. This great noble was the most
remarkable man of his age ; inheriting a mighty name from his father and grand
father, he was one of the chief men of Richard II.'s court, being Marshal and
Constable of England, Guardian of the Welsh Marches, Governor of Calais, and
Lord of the Isle of Man ; but he deserted that king when Bolingbroke aspired
to the throne, and was the first to support him on his landing at Ravenspur.
The attachment, however, was brief, and both the earl and his son Hotspur,
estranged by Henry's meanness and impecuniosity, before the lapse of two
years were in rebellion against him. The earl kept away from Shrewsbury,
where his son was slain, but afterwards made cause with Archbishop Scrope and
Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, in their plot against Henry. When the king
came northwards with an army (1405) Northumberland fled to Berwick, and
thence into Scotland, and in 1407 was killed in an engagement at Bramham
Moor in Yorkshire. The king took Berwick after a siege, and then proceeded
to make himself master of the Percy castles. Prudhoe fell at once, and Henry
proceeded to Warkworth, where its captain declared he would hold the castle
for the earl, but on cannon being brought to bear on the walls, the same effect
was produced as had moved the garrison of Berwick, and after the seventh
shot the castle was yielded up. Henry gave Warkworth to his third son John,
afterwards Duke of Bedford, together with Prudhoe, Alnwick, and Langley ;
they were restored to the grandson of the first earl, Henry, son of Hotspur,
together with the dignities of the house, by Henry V., in 1416. Warkworth
was well garrisoned for Lancaster after the battle of Towton in 1461 ; then
Edward IV. granted it to his brother George, Duke of Clarence, but on his
rebellion resumed possession in 1470. Shakespeare places three of the scenes
in Henry IV. at this castle, and with all propriety, since Warkworth was
the favourite abode of those who possessed it, and two of the Percy lords
died there.
Henry, 9th EarLpf Northumberland, was confined in the Tower of London
for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot, and died therein ; and during these
troubles Warkworth was dismantled, both lead and timber from it being sold.

43°

CASTLES OF ENGLAND

The ruin was completed by the widow of Jocelyn, the eleventh earl, who gave
away the materials of the castle.
A large part of the outer walls is of the twelfth century, but the keep was
built at the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century upon
the ancient mound. This is a structure of unusual form — a square central block,
with large projecting towers on each face, which give a sort of cruciform shape
to it (good details of it are given by Parker). It is of the Perpendicular period
(1435-1440), and is described in the minute survey of 1538 as "a marvellous
proper dongeon of viiij towyres all joined in one house together." The masonry
is admirable throughout,
and the fact that it is
possible to assign on
internal evidence the
exact original use of
nearly every apartment
in this complicated pile,
enables us to realise the
exigencies and the dis
comforts of mediaeval
life. Surmounting the
top is a lofty watch-
tower, commanding wide
prospects over sea and
land. The Lion Tower
was built or remodelled
by Henry, 4th Earl of
Northumberland (1471-
1489), as shown by the
badges over the door. On
the W. or river side were the principal apartments of the older castle, the hall,
the kitchen, and the chapel ; and on the E. side are two mural towers in their
original state, as also are the postern, and some other portions. The gatehouse
is grand and severe ; the entrance deeply recessed between two half-octagon
buttressed towers, with deep machicolations over. There are no original
windows, and no traces now exist of the drawbridge across the ditch which
remained in 1567. The S.W. tower is called Crayfargus in the Survey, built pro
bably in 1200 ; its W. side has fallen. Much interest must attach to this part of
the castle, since it was probably here that the two first Percy lords lived and
died. Of late years repairs have been effected ; a portion has been re-roofed,
and renovations have been carried out, but without much impairing the features
of the old fabric.

WARKWORTH

A. FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH.
c. lion's tower.
u. STAIRCASE TURRET.
n. STEPS TO KEEP.
r. KEEP.

L,. POSTERN.
il. OVENS.
I. KITCHEN.
K. CHIEF ENTRANCE.
W. WELL.

NORTHUMBERLAND

431

WHITTON TOWER (minor)
THIS ancient hold stands on the S. side of the Coquet, opposite to
Rothbury, and is built on the slope of the hill, so that its N. wall is
founded some 20 feet below the level of the S. wall. It seems to have been
the parsonage of Rothbury, built by some warlike priest of that parish in
the fourteenth century, being entered in the list of county strongholds in
1413 as the possession of the rector of the town. Additions made by rectors
in the last century were since extended into "a modern Tudor mansion," the
ancient tower forming the corner of the double range.
The baseraent chamber, with its vaulted roof, is entered by two pointed
doors and a passage between, the roof being a barrel vault of stone ; and
in the floor of it is the well.
A newel stair in the S.E. angle i.
leads to the upper floor frora
the first stage, the only means
of communication between
this and the basement having
been by a man-hole in the
vaulted floor. The dwelling-
room of this first stage is
now lighted by a large S.
window. The second stage has been
divided into bedrooms, and there is a large window recess which held
formerly a small oratory, and has a piscina. Here was the dwelling of the
mediaeval rectors. Above is found little to remark ; there is a plain modern
parapet, with raised crenellations at the three outer angles.

WHITTON TOWER

WIDDRINGTON {non-existent)
THE original castle was the seat of one of the most ancient and worthy
families in the North, and stood on an eminence near the sea, about
nine miles N.E. of Morpeth.
The Widdringtons are believed to have existed here since the time of
Henry IL, and they held the manor in the first year of Edward IIL, in whose
reign one of them. Sir Roger, was High Sheriff of the county, as were his
son and others of his descendants in successive reigns. The bravery of one

432 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
of the family, temp. Richard IL, is recorded in the ballads on the battle of
Otterburn (see Otterburn),
Gerard de Widdrington obtained a licence from King Edward I. to
crenellate his house, which is doubtless the date of the building that has
passed away. Sir John Widdrington was sheriff in the reigns of Henry VIIL,
Edward VI. , and Elizabeth ; and the widow of Sir Henry married Sir Robert
Carey, Lord Warden of the Middle Marches, afterwards created Earl of
Monmouth, who lived here, and carried the news of Queen Elizabeth's death
to James VI. at Edinburgh. This castle was thereafter chosen by James as
a resting-place on his progress south to assume the English crown. He
spent part of the day at a deer hunt, which his soul loved, and stayed the
night here. Sir WiUiam represented the county in Parliament in Charles I.'s
time, and was among the first to raise troops at his own expense to defend
the king, who created him Baron Widdrington of Blankney in 1643. After
Marston Moor he retired abroad with his friend and general, the Marquis of
Newcastle and others, and his estate was sequestrated by Parliament. He
was slain by a Parliamentary troop, which surprised a force which he had
joined on its way to Worcester Field. Lord Clarendon bears witness to
his worth and services, and says he was " one of the goodliest persons of
that age, being near the head higher than most tall men, and a gentleman
of the best and most ancient extraction of the county."
As a good family supporter of the Stuarts, his grandson William, fourth lord,
joined the Earl of Mar's rising in 1715 against King George, with Lord Derwent
water, his brother being aide-de-camp to " General " Forster. Lord Widdrington
being taken at Preston, was pardoned, but his estates were confiscated and
sold first to a building company, and then to Sir George Revel, whose daughter
brought the estate in marriage to Sir George Warren. This castle meantime
fell into decay, and towards the end of the last century was destroyed by
Sir George Warren, who built a grand pseudo-Gothic edifice, which was
speedily consumed by fire, and a second building raised in its place was
also burned in 1862 ; a single octagon tower being all that was left of it. The
ancient building of the Widdringtons was a massive pile, and, as shown in the
drawing of 1728 by S. and N. Buck, consisted of the original square tower,
like that of Belsay, with doubly machicolated bartizans overhanging each of
its angles, supported by a smaller tower at the side, and connected with this
by the entrance portion of the house ; there being outer wings on each flank
for the offices, and a stone wall defending a square area in front.

NORTHUMBERLAND 433

W I L L I M O T 1^: S W I C K (minor)
THIS ancient seat of the Ridley fainily is in a fine position on the right
bank of the Tyne, midway between Haltwhistle and Bardon Mill. Bruce
(Roman Wall) gives it as the birthplace of Nicholas Ridley, the Oxford Martyr.
That prelate, however, was first-cousin of the owner of this stronghold, to whom
his last letter was written, his father being Christopher, third son of Nicholas
Ridley of Willimoteswick, and he was born at the neighbouring house of
Unthank, which still retains the " Bishop's Room." There was a family of this
name temp. Henry 1 1., and in 1279 the place is held by Nicholas cle Rydeley.
In 1484 Nicholas Ridley was one of the commissioners for completing the truce
with Scotland, and was probably grandfather of the bishop. In 1620 the heir
had run through the property ; he was inarried to a daughter of Sir Richard
Musgrave of Norton, and before the Civil War this place had been sold to the
Nevills of Chevet, Yorkshire, who sold it to the Blacketts, and it is now the
property of Sir Edward Blackett of Matfen. Dr. Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of
London, the prelate and martyr of Mary's reign, was born at the beginning of
the sixteenth century. In 1545 he was joined by Cranmer in rejecting the doctrine
of transubstantiation, and he made an enemy of the Princess Mary during her
brother's reign ; he then espoused the Protestant cause of Lady Jane Grey, and
was at once committed to the Tower, whence he was conveyed to Oxford, and
there condemned to death for heresy. On October 15, 1555, he "suffered the
cruellest death with the greatest courage," in company with Bishop Latimer.
At Willimoteswick there is a courtyard entered through a late gatehouse in
the N.E. angle ; on the left the yard is formed by a range of old stables and
byres, with the manor-house on the S. front, and at the E. end is a very early
buUding standing between two narrow towers. The entrance in the gatehouse
has two doorways, one to the basement chamber, and the other to the battle
ments. The first floor is low, and there are two rooms on the second floor.
The old manor-house has been much altered and injured ; it has still a great
fireplace and a Gothic doorway. Bates says that the two towers taper upwards,
and are relics of the defensive architecture of Northumberland.

WOOLER (minor)
ON a round hill are the remains of a tower belonging, with the manor,
to the very ancient family of Muschamps, which has long been extinct.
The barony was given by Henry I. to Robert de Muschamp, and included
a wide tract of country — Belford, Etal, Ford, Brankston, Fenton, Elswick,
and others were members of it, and were held in capite by the service of
VOL. II. 3 I

434 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
four knights' fees. The Robert de Muschamp temp. Henry III. was counted
the mightiest baron in the north of England, but the fortress of Wooler must
even then have been an old one, as in 1254 it is returned as of no value. The
son of this baron, also Robert, left three daughters, coheirs, whereby the great
estate was divided up, and Wooler must have come in some way later to the
Percys, since in 41 Edward III. Joan, the widow of Earl Henry, has it in
dower. Afterwards it passed through the families of Hevell, Scrope, Darcy,
and Percy again, from the last of whom it came to the Greys of Chillingham :
it is now the property of Lord Tankerville
The fortalice must have been rebuilt after the time of Henry III. and again
fallen to decay, since the Survey of 1541 speaks of it as a little tower of which
one half had fallen down for want of repairs, that very year, and recommends
its immediate repair, as being " a mervelous convenyent place for the defence
of the countrye thereaboute," as it lay in the usual track of the Scots raiders
when invading the realm. It was stdl decayed in 1584. There is but litde left
now of the walls, which were very thick and strong, and apparently as old as
the Muschamps' time.

BERWICK-ON-TWEED (non-existent)
THIS town of ancient Bernicia, of importance since the time of Agricola,
stands on the north of the Tweed, on a high promontory of land. The
river flowed originaUy on two sides of the town, around which a broad water-
defence was formed, surrounding it completely, while the castle stood on
a lofty hill in the N.W., overlooking the town, about 400 yards from the
Border bridge. At the beginning of the twelfth century Berwick belonged to
Scotland, and was not a place of consequence, Bamborough being so near.
It possessed, however, some sort of fortress from the time of the Saxons, who
fortified the hill with a ditch and ramparts, these being added to by the Danes,
and doubtless also by the Normans, although no record exists on the subject.
When William the Lion was taken prisoner at Alnwick, in order to regain his
freedom he gave up Berwick to Henry 1 1., to whom the Norman castle is
due. For, although Henry was a destroyer of the smaller castles of his
barons, he built several of our finest fortresses, such as the keeps of Newcastle
and Dover, this one at Berwick being intended to command the bridge be
tween England and Scotland. The importance of Berwick was seen as soon
as Henry had recovered the northern provinces from Malcolm, the young

NORTHUMBERLAND

435

King of Scots, for then the Tweed became the boundary between the two
peoples. In 1177 Geoffrey cle Nevill of Raby was made keeper of the castle
of Berwick; and in 1204 we find King John, who coveted Berwick Castle,
throwing up, as a step towards its acquisition, a fortification opposite to it
at Tweedmouth, but this work was twice hindered by William the Lion, who
finally razed it to the ground. In 12 14 the barons of Northumberland and
Yorkshire had recourse, for protection against their furious king, to Alexander,
the young King of Scotland, who had recently succeeded his mighty fiUhcr,

BORDER WALL, BERWICK-ON-TWEED

and to create a diversion, the castle of Norham was besieged. This attempt,
though a failure, had the effect of drawing the English king northward at once,
ira accensus, destroying and burning the barons' houses and towns, amongst
which were Morpeth, Alnwick, Metford, Wark, and Roxburgh, after which he
retired before the forces of Alexander II. The town and castle of Berwick
were, however, taken, and great cruelties perpetrated on the unhappy towns
people. This town, too, was burnt, the king himself setting fire with his own
hand to the house in whicii he had lodged.
In 1291, and again in the following year, Edward I., after his royal progress
into Scotland, held a great council of the English and Scottish laity and clerics
in the chapel of Berwick Castle, in order to settle the rival claims of Bruce and

436 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Baliol to the Scottish throne. The disputed succession was settled at the last
meeting on November 20, 1292, when, in presence of a vast assemblage in the
hall of the castle, John Baliol was declared "the illustrious King of Scotland."
In 1296, while marching against the Scots who had thrown off their aUegiance
to him. King Edward came again to Berwick and encamped by Halidon Hill
(a mile to the N.W.), whence he proceeded to assault and take the town, which
was almost undefended, slaughtering the inhabitants and fighting men to the
number of 8000. The castle was surrendered, and the king slept in it the same
night. He remained here fifteen days, meantime improving the defences by
causing a ditch to be cut across from the sea to the Tweed, 80 feet broad and
40 feet deep, the traces of which can still be made out. Edward received the
submission of John Baliol at Brechin, and after invading the country as far
north as Elgin in Moray, returned to Berwick, where he held an English
parliament. He then retired south, leaving John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey,
Guardian of Scotland. In 1297 the army under Sir William Wallace retook
the town of Berwick, but the castle was too strong to be reduced, being further
relieved by Earl Warenne in the following year. The next year Edward came
again to Berwick on his way to carry war into Scotland, and spent Christmas
in the castle. Of this king's unfeeling cruelty in his testy old age, we have
instances when he sought to wreak vengeance on women as well as on men,
for the queen of Robert Bruce was imprisoned by him, and the Countess of
Buchan, who in the absence of her brother, the Earl of Fife, had performed
his hereditary office and placed the crown of Scotland on the head of Bruce,
was condemned by Edward to be shut up in a wooden cage in one of the
towers of Berwick Castle, there to be exhibited as a reproach to all passers-by, — ¦
a sentence which was actually carried out.
King Edward II. entered Scotland in 1310 with a large army, and coming
to Berwick, stayed there with Queen Isabella through the winter, and during
the greater part of the year 1311. Here also he collected together his army
in 1314 on the march to Bannockburn, when his force mustered 40,000 horse
and 52,000 archers, and to Berwick he again returned after that crushing
defeat. Berwick was betrayed in 13 18 to the Scots army, which after a siege
of six days took the castle : King Robert Bruce then came and took up his
residence therein, holding his court also in the castle. On quitting Berwick,
the Bruce left it in the keeping of his son-in-law, young Sir Walter Stewart,
who the next year defended the town in the severest siege it had ever
experienced. For the English army under King Edward himself besieged
both town and castle with all the warlike appliances of the age, and only
retreated at last when, on the Earl of Lancaster leaving the camp and retiring
with all his men, Edward raised the siege and concluded a truce with the
Scottish king. In 1332, the truce which had been made in 1328 between
England and Scotland on the marriage of "Makepeace" Joan, youngest

NORTHUMBERLAND 437
daughter of the murdered Edward IL, with David, son and heir of Robert
Bruce, was broken by the English nobles, who prevailed on their young king,
Edward III., to take up arms against his brother-in-law, for the Scottish king
had refused either to pay homage or to deliver up Berwick. A great expedition
was undertaken, and in April 1333 Edward 111. appeared with a vast host at
Tweedmouth, overlooking Berwick. The strength of this latter place seemed
so great, that a formal investment of both castle and town was entered upon,
in order to reduce the place by famine Edward remained a month before
Berwick, when he left the siege and proceeded to Edinburgh, and as far
as Scone and Dundee, ravaging the country, and finally returning to
Berwick. The following episode connected with this siege of Berwick is
related by the historians Boece and Buchanan, on the Scottish side. Two
sons of Sir Alexander Seton, commanding in the town, had been taken
prisoners by the English in a skirmish, and were retained as hostages on
the strength of a truce entered into by the opposing forces, which stipulated
that, if not relieved by the Scots army during the truce, both town and
castle should be surrendered to the English. The Scots army, however,
under Douglas, passed by to besiege Bamborough, where Queen Philippa
was dwelling for safety, and the prescribed time expired without Berwick
being either relieved or given up. Thereupon Edward, it is related, caused
the two sons of Seton, as hostages, to be hung on a gallows erected on the
opposite side of the river Tweed, in sight of the garrison ancl of the " agonised
father." The place of execution is still called " Hang-a-dyke Nook," and two
skulls are there shown as testimony of the deed. But in favour of King
Edw^ard it is affirmed that Seton was not governor of Berwick at that time,
nor were his sons hostages ; nevertheless it is possible that Edward did hang
two prisoners to enforce the surrender of the place The capitulation, in
fact, was signed on the 15th or i6th of July, Sir William Keith, and Dunbar,
Earl of March, being governors of the town and castle respectively. Two
days after this event (July i8th) Lord Douglas and his large army crossed the
Tweed and gave battle to Edward, who took up a position on Halidon Hill,
which lies a mile to the N.W of Berwick. The Scottish army was utterly
defeated, and numbers of their nobles were slain ; the town and castle of
Berwick were ceded to Edward, who rested his army there for twelve days,
returning thence to England. The English king now assisted Edward Baliol
to recover the throne of his father, on condition of his remaining a vassal of
the British crown, receiving Bahol's homage and fealty as such in Henry III.'s
hall of the fortress of Newcastle. Baliol was then granted the castle, town,
and county of Berwick, together with Edinburgh, Dumfries, and other terri
tory, to the great resentment of the Scots. In 1335 King Edward came with
an army to assist his vassal Baliol at Berwick, whither he had retired, and
he next year further granted him a subsidy of five marks per day towards

438 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
his expenses. Edward was again at Berwick for a few days in 1337, and in
1341 passed through on his way to invade Scotland with an army of 40,000
foot and 6000 lances, to assist at the siege of Stirling. After the truce which
then followed he returned to Berwick to spend Easter, and held a magnificent
tournament in the castle courtyard, at which two Scottish knights and one Eng
lishman, Sir James Twyford, were kiUed. Again, in February 1343, Edward IIL,
returning from France, summoned all his forces to meet him at Berwick in
order to take vengeance on the Scots for their infringements of the truce.
In 1346 occurred the battle of Nevill's Cross, resulting in the captivity of the
Scottish king, and followed by another truce which lasted until 1355.
At the termination of this period, which had been more than once disturbed
by attempts at recapture, and by reprisals, in which many men were slain,
the Scots formed a plan for the recovery of Berwick. That year (1355), the
Earls of Angus and March, collecting a number of ships, well manned and
armed, came to the mouth of the Tweed on a dark night, and disembarked
a strong force on the N. side of the river ; then approaching the town they
scaled the walls and overpowered the English garrison in it, killing the
governor. Sir Alexander Ogle, and two other knights. The defenders then
took refuge in the castle, which the Scots in vain atterapted to capture.
It is a proof of the vast importance attached at this time to the possession of
Berwick that King Edward, who was in France, on learning its loss, returned
to England with all speed, and resting only three days in London, came on
to Newcastle, where he had summoned the whole force of the county to meet
him, and arrived before Berwick on January 14, 1356, his navy, according
to his invariable tactics, meeting him in the Tweed. Edward at once threw
himself into the castle, which still held out, whereon, the Scottish story says,
the garrison abandoned the town, and returned into their own country, after
destroying the walls. English history, however, relates that the king prepared
to undermine the town walls with the aid of skilful Forest-of-Dean miners,
under Sir Walter Munny, while his army was to assault it on the far side, and
that seeing resistance hopeless, the townsfolk yielded the place.
In 1378, when both Edward III. and King David were dead, and during
the continuance of a truce, seven filibustering Scottish Borderers, under
one Alexander Ramsay, surprised and actually captured Berwick Castle ;
coming at night, they managed to cross the ditch, which was dry, and to
scale the wall with a ladder, thus entering the castle without opposition.
Then they went to the quarters of the governor. Sir Robert Boynton, and
began to batter the door of his room with axes. Boynton awaking, thought
this an attack by his own men, with whom he had lately quarrelled, and
opening a window looking on the dUch, made a fatal leap out, breaking his
neck. The sleeping guard, few in number, were then overpowered by the
Scots, but not before their cries had warned the townspeople of what had

NORTHUMBERLAND

439

occurred, and they at once cut off the communication between the t(nvn
and castle, and sent a messenger to Alnwick to apprise Earl Percy of what
had happened. He, as Warden of the Marches, without delay called up
a large force from Newcastle, with the Lords Nevill, Lucy, Bellasis, Stafford,
and others to meet hira at Berwick, whither he inarched at once with his
own men. Meanwhile the crew within, now increased to forty-eight in
number, defended the fortress, and returned a defiant answer to the summons
of Percy, who at the head of a force of 7000 archers and 3000 men-at-arms
attacked the castle both by
mining and by assault. This
siege was prolonged for eight
days without any result, but
on the ninth the English '
troops, with ladders at dif
ferent points, entered and took
the place, putting to the
sword all whom they found.
At this siege we hear of the
gallant behaviour of the earl's
son Henry, known afterwards
as Harry Hotspur, then a
mere lad (Froissart, i. 529).
Again, in 1384, this bone
of contention between the
two kingdoms changed hands,
being betrayed to the Scots
for a bribe by the deputy of
Earl Percy, who was himself
charged with treason ; but,
being at the time on the
Northern Marches, he at once
proceeded to retake Berwick
for the king, and, partly aided by a bribe of 2000 marks, succeeded in recover
ing possession of the castle, and was reinstated by Richard.
Then followed the change of kings, the revolt of Northumberland and
his son, and the death of Hotspur at the battle of Shrewsbury (1403), after
which defeat Percy with his friends took shelter within Berwick Castle, and
there awaited the rising in Yorkshire of Scrope and the Earl Marshal with
the Archbishop of York. When this had been cleverly, if treacherously,
quelled by Nevill, Earl of Westmorland (see Brancepeth and Raby, Durham),
King Henry, gathering a large army of 37,000 men, at Newcastle, marched
forthwith against Earl Percy, who, unable to resist such a force, fled into

BERWICK-ON-TWEED

440 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
Scotland, taking with him the son of Hotspur (afterwards the second earl),
and leaving the defence of Berwick to Sir William Greystock.
When Henry IV. appeared before Berwick town on July 9, 1405, at the
head of this army, the walls of the place were in a very bad state, crumbling
to pieces at some points for a length of 200 to 300 yards, and at other places
being in actual ruin. We learn that the castle had so fallen into the power
of the town that, if opposed to each other, the castle could not hurt the
town, though the town might greatly injure the castle. The town wall was
at this time nearly two miles (3105 yards) in circumference, being 3 feet
4 inches in thickness. On the S.W. side it was connected with Tweedmouth
by a timber bridge, the river forming a defence on this side. There were no
towers on this division of the waUs, but on the N. and E. rose at intervals
of 120 yards small towers, the outer walls of which were 4 feet 8 inches thick,
strengthened with timber and counter-forts. The towers of the wall, 14 feet to
60 feet in height, were known as the Percy, the Broadstair Head, the Murderer,
the Middle Tower, the Red Tower, the Conduit, Windmill, Blackwatch House,
Plommer's Towers, and others. To the E., on the sea side and the Ness, there
were other bulwarks and earthworks among the pools and moats on the low-
lying lands. On the W., about 50 yards from the Percy Tower, stood the keep
or dungeon of the castle, which had been strengthened by Edward I. a hundred
years previously. It was approached from the town by a drawbridge, and was
surrounded by a wall with towers hke those of the town. From the S.W.
angle, a wall 94 yards long — called the White Wall — ran down to the Tweed,
ending in a tower at the river's brink. At the N.W. corner was a moat with a
postern strengthened by a barmkin, or apron of stone.
Henry IV. had no great difficulty in entering the town, and he at once
passed through it to attack the castle. Then, as stated by some writers
(including Speed), heavy guns or cannon were for the first time used in
England, and the effect of this trial of artillery against the Castle of Berwick
was the belief in men's minds that no wall could withstand the fire of
such guns.
This fire was directed against the S. front of the castle wall, until a breach
was effected 40 yards in width near an iron gate known as " the postern entry
behind the court." At last a stone shot was sent through an iron grating
into the Constable Tower, killing a man who was mounting the stair. Then
the garrison, demoralised no doubt by the novel force employed, lost heart
and surrendered the fortress, whereupon the royal troops took possession, and
many of the defenders were hung by them at their entry.*
The next record of Berwick is when, after their terrible defeat at Towton
* Henry IV., at tlie siege of Berwick Castle, "caused a peece of Artillerie to be planted against one of
the Towers, and at the first shot overthrowing part thereof, they within were put in such feare that they
simplie yeelded themselves" [HolinsJied, i. 530).

NORTHUMBERLAND 441
in April 1461, Henry VI. and his queen and son, with several nobles, fled thither
on their way to take refuge in Scotland ; and then it was that, with a view to
attaching that kingdom to the interest of the Red Rose, King Henry surrendered
Berwick to the King of Scots, after it had been held by England, with a few
interruptions, for 128 years.
King Jaines III. executed many repairs in the castle, and furnished it with
artillery, appointing a garrison of 500 men between it and the town.
In July 1482 Edward IV. sent Richard, Duke of Glo'ster, with the Earl of
Northumberland and the Duke of Albany, into Scotland with an army 22,500
strong. The force was marshalled at Alnwick, and marched to Edinburgh,
where, in the absence of King James, a truce was concluded with England, of
which the chief article was the restitution of Berwick Castle and town to the
English Crown, and on August 24th Lord Hales, the governor, who had
hitherto bravely defended the place, finally surrendered it to the English.
In 1502 the Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry VIL, came to Berwick,
on the way to her nuptials with Jaines IV., and was received in the castle
during two days, her escort, according to Leland, being formed of from 1800
to 2000 knights ; in a truce between the two kings at this time Berwick is
recognised as a neutral point between the two realms.
A new fort built in 1552 was for the defence of the town, but the
work seems to have been cleared away in 1559, when alterations were made,
the defences in this part of the country set in order, and the fortifications
strengthened. In 1603 King James, who had passed through Berwick on his way to take
possessioii of the English throne, and had visited the castle, reduced the
garrisons of Berwick and Carlisle, no need existing for a state of war to be
kept up thenceforward on the borders of the two united kingdoms.
Strype tells us that the castle of Berwick was in complete repair in the
reign of Elizabeth, that it had " mounts, rapiers, flankers, well replenished
with great ordnance, and fair houses therein ; the walls ancl gates made
beautiful with pictures of stone, the work curious and delicate" But during
the reign of Charles I. it seems to have been sold to the Earl of Suffolk,
and from him to have been afterwards purchased by the Town Corporation
for ;£320, at which time the place is reported as " much dilapidated " ; and
naturally so, for the Parliament in Cromwell's time had, in the usual way,
stripped and sold the lead and the timber, and had built the church of Berwick
with materials from the castle. In the tirae of Charles II. the remains were
sold for ;:^ioo.
Dr. Fuller's history (1799) says, as to the place in his time, that few of
its buildings then remained : " Scattered fragments of them, and confused
heaps of stone are everywhere to be seen." At the northern extremity of the
town, some 400 yards from the castle, he speaks of the ancient Bell Tower, a
VOL. II. 3 K

442 CASTLES OF ENGLAND
pentagonal work, four storeys high, in which a bell was rung to give notice of an
enemy's approach, giving as many strokes as there appeared ships or horsemen.
Being placed on high ground, it commanded a wide range of sea and land,
and there was a covered way from it to the castle by the town ditch. This
old relic fortunately still remains on its hill.
The final destruction was wrought in 1845, when the works of the railway
from Berwick to Edinburgh, and of Stephenson's Border Bridge, were carried
out. The ground for the station and the termination of this great bridge was
chosen on the summit of the Castle Hill ; and then all the ancient buildings
which interfered with the levelling and the formation of the castle courtyard
into a railway station were destroyed, ihe walls being thrown into the ditch.
The little that was left we still see near the station, and on the slope to the river
and by the river bank.
An early map, which Sheldon gives, shows the castle standing on its hill at
the W. of the town, separated from it by King Edward's great ditch which carried
the river water into the broad moat surrounding the W., N., and E. sides of
the town ; a deep central moat also divided this area and formed the outer
defence on the W. of the line of irregular fortifications which environed
Berwick, between which and the castle lay a flat piece of land called
Castle Gate.
The castle is represented with a long curtain wall on its W. side, a very solid
and bulky work, the other defences being formed by many semicircular mural
flanking towers and bastions connected by short curtains. No keep is shown,
and though we know that the ground inside was occupied by "fayre houses,"
it is singular that we possess so few particulars regarding the construction
and details of one of the most important castles in the kingdom.

5nbey

Abergavenny, ii. 74.
Acton Burnell, ii. 123.
Afton (Aston), ii. 21.
Alberbury, ii. 125.
Aldford, ii. 162.
Aldworth, i. 169.
Allington, i. i.
Almeley, ii. 94.
Alnwick, ii. 358.
Alton, i. 389.
Amberley, i. 60.
Ampthill, i. 135.
Ansley, i. 344.
Apley, ii. 125.
Appleby, ii. 280.
Ardley, i. 166.
Armathwaite, ii. 295.
Arnside Tower, ii. 281.
Arundel, i. 61.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch, i. 409.
Ashperton, ii. 95.
Askerton, ii. 296.
Aslackby, i. 425.
Astley, i. 344.
Aston (Afton), ii. 21.
Auckland (Bishop's), ii. 334.
Aydon, ii. 362.
Baginton, i. 345.
Bamborough, ii. 363.
Bampton in the Bush, Oxon, i. 149.
Bampton, Devon, ii. 21.
Banbury, i, 150.
Barden Tower, ii. 207.
Barford St. Michael, i. i56.
Barnard, ii-. 335.
Barnstaple, ii. 22.
Barnwell St. Andrews, i. 319.
Basing House, i. 191.
Bayford, i. 5.
Baynard's, Middlesex, i. 102.
Baynard's (Cottingham), Yor/t, ii. 218.
Beaumys (Beams), i. 170.
Beckley, i. 166.
Bedale, ii. 208.
Bedford, i. 136.
Beer Ferrers, ii. 22.

Beeston, ii. 163.
Bel Desert (Henley), i. 351.
Bellister, ii. 368.
Belsay, ii. 368.
Belvoir, i. 410.
Benington, i. 126.
Berkeley, i. 368.
Berkhamstead, i. 127.
Berry Pomeroy, ii. 23.
Berwick-on-Tweed, ii. 434.
Betham vide Bytham.
Beverstone, i. 372.
Bewcastle (Bueth), ii. 296.
Bishops' or Lydbury, ii. 126.
Bishops' Stortford, i, 131.
Bishop's Waltham, i. 197.
Blakeworth, i. 308.
Blenkinsop, ii. 368.
Bletchingley, i. 91.
Bletchworth, i. 92.
Bletsoe, i. 138.
Blyth, i. 447.
Boarstall Tower, i. 143.
Bodiam, i. 64.
bolebec (Whitechurch), i. 144.
Bolingbroke, i. 426.
Bolsover, i. 461.
Bolton, ii. 208.
Boscastle, ii. i.
Bothal, ii. 369.
Bourn, i. 428.
Bow and Arrow (Rufus Castle), i. 239.
Bowes, ii. 211.
Brackley, i. i56.
Bramber, i. 66.
Brampton Brian, ii. 95.
Brancepeth, ii. 339.
Branksea (Brownsea), i. 239.
Bredwardine, ii. 97.
Bridgnorth (Brugge, Bruges), ii. 127.
Bridgwater, ii. 45.
Brightwell, i. 170.
Brimpsfield, i. 373.
Brimstage (Brunstath), ii, 166.
Brinklow, i. 346.
Bristol, ii. 47.
Bromwich, i. 347.

444

INDEX

Broncroft, ii. 129.
Bronsil, ii. 97.
Brough, ii. 282.
Brougham, ii. 283.
Brougham Hall, ii. 285.
Broughton, i. 152.
Brownsea (Branksea), i. 239,
Brunstath (Brimstage), ii. 166.
Buckden Palace, i. 314.
Buckingham,!. 145.
Bukenham, i. 288.
Buley, ii. 285.
Bungay, i. 272.
Burgh, i. 274.
Burne, i. 309.
Burwell, i. 309.
Bury, ii. 182.
Bytham, Lincoln, i. 429.
Bytham (Betham), Westmorland, ii. 285.
Bywell, ii. 370.
Cainhoe (Clophill), i. 139.
Caister, i, 289.
Caldicot, ii. 76.
Caldshore (Calshot), i. 198.
Callaly, ii. 371.
Calne, i. 219,
Calshot (Caldshore), i. 198.
Caludon, i. 346.
Camber (Winchelsea), i. 68.
Cambridge, i, 310.
Camps Castle, i. 312.
Canterbury, i. 6.
Cardinham, ii. 2.
Carisbrooke, i. ig8.
Carlisle, ii. 297.
Carlton, i. 432.
Carn Brea, ii. 2.
Cartington, ii. 371.
Castle Acre, i. 293.
Castle Cary, ii. 51.
Castle Combe, i. 219.
Castle Crag, ii. 302.
Castle Donington, i. 412.
Castle Eaton (Cricklade), i. 222.
Castle Eden, ii. 286.
Castle Rising, i. 296.
Castlesteads, ii. 303.
Castle-Stone-nick, ii. 372.
Castlethorpe (Hanslope), i. 146.
Castleton, ii. 211.
Catterlen Hall, ii. 303,
Caus, ii 130.
Caverswall, i. 390.
Cawood Palace, ii. 212
Chartley, i. 391.
Chepstow, ii. 79.
Chester, ii. 167.
Chesterton, i. 393.
Chichester, i. 69.
Chidiock, i. 240.
Chilhara, i. 8.
Chillingham, ii. 372.

Chipchase, ii. 373.
Chipping Norton, i. 167.
Chipping Warden, i. 167.
Christchurch, i. 202.
Chulmleigh, ii. 25.
Clare, i. 275.
Clarendon Palace, i. 222.
Claxton, i. 308.
Clifford, ii. 98.
Clitheroe, ii. 183.
Clifton-on-Ure, ii. 213.
Clophill (Cainhoe), i. 139.
Clun, ii. 131.
Cockermouth, ii. 304.
Cocklaw Tower, ii. 374.
Cockle Park Tower, ii. 375.
Codnor, i. 464.
Colbridge, i. 9.
Colchester, i. 256.
Colcombe, ii. 25.
Coldmartin Tower, ii. 375.
Coleshill, i. 348.
Compton, ii. 26.
Compton Winyate, i. 348.
Congerhill, i. 139.
Coningsborough, ii. 213.
Connington, i. 314.
Cooling (Cowling), i. 9.
Corbridge, ii. 376.
Corby, ii. 308.
Corfe, i. 241.
Cotherstone, ii. 217.
Cottingham (Baynard's), Yorks, ii. 21S
Coupland, ii. 376.
Cowes, i. 204.
Crayke, ii. 219.
Cricklade (Castle Eaton), i. 222.
Croft, ii. 100.
Crowhurst, i. 69.
Cublington, ii. loi,
Cuckney, i. 447.
Culworth, i. 167.
Cusopi ii. IOI.
Dacre, ii. 308.
Dailey, ii. 377.
Dalston, ii. 310,
Dalton, ii. 184.
Danby, ii. 220.
Dartmouth, ii. 27.
Deal, i. 13.
Deddington, i. 154.
Devizes, i. 223.
Dilston, ii. 377.
Dinham, ii. 81.
Doddington, ii. i6g.
Dodleston, ii. 170.
Donnington, i. 171.
Dorchester, i. 246.
Dorston, ii. loi.
Dover, i. 14.
Drawdykes, ii. 311.
Drumburgh, ii. 311.

INDEX

445

Duddo, ii. 3S3.
Dudley, i. 394.
Duffield, i. 466.
Dunham Massy, ii. 171.
Dunstanburgh, ii, 384,
Dunster, ii. 54.
Dunwalloght, ii. 312
Durham, ii. 341.
Dursley, i. 374.
Eardisley, ii loi.
Earl Shilton, i 413,
Eaton Bray, i, 139.
Eaton Socon, i, 139.
Eaton Tregoz, ii. 102.
Eccleshall, i. 397.
Eccleswall, ii. 102.
Edlingham, ii. 386.
Egremont, ii. 312.
EUesmere, ii. 134.
Ellingham, ii. 102.
Elmham, i. 300.
Elmley, i 382.
Elton Hall, i. 315.
Enmore, ii. 57
Essendine, i. 420.
Etal, ii. 387.
Evenly, i. 167.
Ewhurst, i. 70.
Ewias Harold, ii. 102
Exeter, ii. 29
Eye, i. 276.
Eynsford, i. 21.
Faringdon, i. 174.
Farleigh (Hungerford), ii. 57.
Farieton, ii. 185.
Farnham, i. 93.
Featherstone, ii. 388.
Fillongley, i. 348.
Ford, and Flodden Field, ii. 388.
Fort Charles (Salcombe), ii. 31.
Fotheringhay, i. 320.
Fouldry, ii. 185.
Fowey, ii. 3.
Framlingham, i. 277,
Frodsham, ii. 172.
Frome, ii. 103.
Fulbroke, i. 349.
Gidleigh, ii. 32.
Gilling, ii. 221.
Gillingham, i. 23.
Gleaston, ii. 187.
Gloucester, i. 374.
Goddard's Castle (Thurnham), i. 46.
Goodrich, ii. 103.
Grantham, i. 432.
Greasley (Griseley), i. 448.
Great Hautboys, i. 308.
^GFeencastle, ii"82.
Greenhalgh, ii. 188.
Gresham, i. 301.

Gresley, i, 468,
Cjrt-y's ( 'ourt, i. 155.
(ireystoke, ii. 31.].
Grimsthorpe, i. 433,
Groby, i. 413.
Grosmont (Grismont), ii. 82.
Grove Mill, i 167.
Guildford, i. 94.
Guisborough, ii. 222,
Hadleigh, i. 260,
Halton, Cheshire, ii, 173.
Flalton, Norlhiimlici'lan-I, ii. 390.
Hanwell, i. 158.
Hanslope (Castlethorpe), i. 146.
Harbottle, ii. 391.
Harby Brow, ii. 315.
Harewood, ii. 222.
Harnhum, ii. 392.
Harlsey, ii, 223,
Hartfield, i, 70.
Hartlebury, i, 383,
Hartley, ii, 286,
Hastings, i, 71.
Hartshill, i. 350.
Haughley, i. 282.
Haughton, ii. 393
Hay, ii. 315.
Hayle, ii, 3.
Hayton, i. 449,
Hazlesack Tower, ii. 287.
Hebburn Tower, ii. 393.
Hedingham, i. 267.
Helmsley, ii. 224.
Helston, ii. 3.
Hemyock, ii. 32.
Henley, Worcester, i, 384,
Henley (Bel Desert), Wartvick, i. 351.
Hepple Tower, ii. 394.
Hereford, ii. 107.
Hertford, i. 131.
Heton, ii. 394.
Hever, i. 21.
Highhead, ii. 316.
Hinckley, i. 413.
Hoghton Tower, ii. 189.
Holgate, ii, 134.
Holmes, i. 375.
Holt, i. 384.
Holy Island, ii. 395.
Hopton, ii. 135.
Hornby, Lancashire, ii. igo.
Hornby, York, ii. 227,
Horseley (Horston), i, .569,
Horsford, i. 301.
Horton, ii. 396.
Houghton-le-Spring, ii. 343.
Howgill, ii. 287.
Howtell, ii. 396.
Hull, ii. 227.
Huntingdon, i. 316.
Huntington, ii. log.
Hurst, i. 204.

446

INDEX

Hurstmonceux, i. 73.
Hussey Tower, i. 434.
Hutton John, ii. 317.
Hylton, ii, 343.
Ince, ii. 4.
Ipswich, i. 282.
Irthington, ii. 317.
Irton, ii. 318.
Kendal, ii. 288.
Kenilworth, i. 352.
Kilpeck, ii. no.
Kilton, ii. 228.
Kimbolton, i, 317.
Kinderton, ii. 175.
Kingsland, ii. 103.
King's Sutton, i. 167.
Kington, ii. 103.
Kinnersley, ii. in.
Kirby Muxloe, i. 414.
Kirkby Malzeard, ii. 229.
Kirkby Ravenswath, ii. 229.
Kirkoswald, ii. 318.
Knaresborough, ii. 230.
Knepp, i. 78.
Knockyn, ii. 137.
Kyme (Richmond Tower), i. 434
Lancaster, ii. 194.
Landguard Fort, i. 265.
Langley, ii. 396.
Lammerside, ii. 291.
Lathom House, ii. 196.
Launceston, ii. 4.
Lavendon, i. 146.
Leconfield, ii. 232.
Leeds, Yorks, ii 233.
Leeds (Ledes), Kent, i. 24.
Leicester, i. 415.
Lewes, i. 79.
Leybourne, i. 29.
Liddell, ii. 320.
Lilbourne, i. 327.
Lincoln, i. 434.
Linstock, ii. 321.
Liverpool, ii. 198.
Liverpool Tower, ii. 199.
Liskeard, ii. 7.
Llangibby, ii. 83.
Llanvair, ii. 83.
London (Tower of), i. 104.
Long Horsley Tower, ii. 399.
Longtown, ii. in.
Ludgershall, i. 226.
Ludlow, ii. 137,
Lulworth, i. 247.
Lumley, ii. 346.
Luton (Someries), i. 140.
Lydington, i. 421.
Lydford, ii. 33,
Lympne (Stutfall), i. 30.

Lyng, i. 308.
Lyonshall, ii. 112.
Macclesfield, ii. 176.
Mackworth, i. 470.
Madresfield Court, i. 385.
Malmesbury, i. 228.
Malpas, ii. 176.
Malton, ii. 234.
Manchester, ii. 200.
Markenfield, ii. 235.
Marlborough, i. 229.
Maxstoke, i. 357.
Melbourne, i. 471.
Melton Mowbray, i. 417.
Merdon, i. 205.
Mere, i. 230.
Mettingham, i. 283.
Middle Castle, ii. 144.
Middleham, ii. 236.
Middleton, Norfolk, i. 302.
Middleton Stoney, i. 167.
Millom, ii. 321.
Mills (Risinghoe), i. 141.
Mitford, ii. 400.
Mixbury, i. 168.
Moccas, ii. 113.
Monmouth, ii. 84,
Montacute, ii. 62.
Montfichet, i. 104.
Moreton Corbet, ii. 145.
Morpeth, ii. 401.
Mortimer's Castle, ii. 113.
Mountsorrel, i. 418.
Mulgrave, ii. 238.
Muncaster, ii. 322.
Nafferton, ii. 402.
Naworth, ii. 323.
Nether Stowey, ii. 64.
Netley, i. 206.
Newark-on-Trent, i. 449.
New Bewick, ii. 403.
Newbiggin, ii. 291.
Newbury, i. 175.
Newcastle,- Northnmherland, ii, 403.
Newcastle, Monmouth, ii. 84.
Newcastle-under-Lyne, Stafford, i. ;
Newport, ii. 84.
Newport Pagnell, i, 147.
Norham, ii. 408.
Northborough, i. 328.
Northallerton, ii. 238.
Northampton, i. 330.
Northwich, ii. 177.
Norwich, i. 304.
Nottingham, i. 454.
Nunney, ii. 65.
Oakham, i. 422.
Odell, i, 141,
Odiham, i. 206.
Ogle, ii. 413.

INDEX

447

Okehampton, ii. 35.
Oldcastle, ii. 177.
Old Sarum, i. 230.
Old Stourton House, i. 233.
Oiigar, i. 265.
Orford, i. 284.
Oswestry, ii. 145.
Otterburn, ii. 414.
Ovvston, i, 438,
Oxburgh Flail, i, 307,
Oxford, i, 159,
Peak, i. 473
Pembridge, ii. 113
Pencoed, ii. 86.
Pendennis, ii. 7.
Pendragon, ii. 291.
Pengersic, ii, 10,
Penhow, ii. 86.
Penrith, ii. 327
Penwortham, ii. 200.
Penzard, ii. 115.
Pevensey, i. 81.
Pickering, ii. 239.
Pleshy, i. 266.
Plymouth Citadel, ii 37.
Plympton Earl (St. Maurice), ii. 38.
Pontefract, ii. 240.
Porchester, i. 209.
Portland, i. 247.
Powderham, ii. 39.
Preston Tower, ii. 416.
Princes Risborough, i. 147.
Prudhoe, ii. 417.
Pulford, ii. 178.
Quatford, ii. 149,
Queenborough, i. 30.
Raby, ii. 348.
Radcliffe Tower, ii. 201
Raglan, ii. 86.
Ravensworth, ii. 353.
Reading, i. 176.
Redcastle, ii. 149.
Reigate, i. 98,
Restormel, ii, n.
Richard's Castle, ii. 115.
Richmond Tower (Kyme), Lincoln, i. 434
Richmond, York, ii. 246.
Richmont, ii. 67.
Ripley, ii. 248.
Risinghoe (Castle Mills), i. 141.
Rochester, i. 32.
Rockingham, i. 334.
Rose, ii. 329.
Rowton, ii. 150.
Rufus Castle (Bow and Arrow), i, 239
Rugby, i, 361.
Rye House, i. 133.
Saffron Walden, i. 268.
St. Maurice (Plympton Earl), ii. 38

St. Mawes, ii, iz.
St, Michael's Mount, ii, 13,
Salcombe (Fort Charles), ii, 31 ,
Salgrave, i, 168.
Saltwood, i, 35,
Sandal, ii. 250,
Sandgate, i 38.
Sandown, i. 38.
Sandsfoot, i. 248.
Sandwich, i. 40.
Scaleby, ii. 331.
Scarborough, ii, 252.
Scotney, i, 85.
Sculton, i 308.
Seaton, ii. 331.
Seaton Delaval, ii. 419.
Sedgwick, i. 88.
Segenhoe, i. 142.
Segrave, i. 418.
Sewingshields, ii. 420.
Shaftesbury, i. 249.
Sheffield, ii. 256.
Sherborne, i. 249.
Sheriff-Hutton, ii. 259.
Shipbrook, ii. 179.
Shirburn, i. 163.
Shortflat Tower, ii. 421.
Shotlack, ii. 179.
Shotwick, ii. 180.
Shrawardine, ii. 151.
Shrewsbury, ii. 152.
Shurland, i. 42.
Sigston, ii. 2fi.
Simonburn, ii. 421.
Sizergh, ii. 292.
Sissinghurst, i. 43.
Skelton, ii. 262.
Skenfrith, ii. 90.
Skipsea, ii. 263
Skipton, ii. 263.
Sleaford, i. 439.
Slingsby, ii. 265.
Snape, ii. 266.
Snodhill, ii. 117.
Someries (Luton), i 140
Somerton, Lincoln, i. 440.
Somerton, Oxon, i. 165.
Southampton, i. 212.
South Kyme, i. 442.
Southsea, i. 213.
Spofforth, ii. 267.
Stafford, i. 399.
Stamford, i. 338.
Stapleton, ii. 117.
St. Briavel's, i. 375.
Sterborough, i 100.
Stockport, ii. i8i.
Stockton-on-Tees, ii. 354,
Stokecourcy, ii. 68.
Stokesay, ii. 154.
Stourton, i. 401.
Streatlam, ii. 354.
Striguil, ii. gi.

448

INDEX

St. Ruan Lanihorne, ii. 15.
Studley, i. 361.
Stutfall, or Lympne, i. 30.
Sudeley, i. 376.
Sutton Valence, i. 45.
Swerford, i. 168.
Tamworth, i. 402.
Tanfield, ii. 268.
Tarset, ii. 422.
Tattershall, i. 443.
Taunton, ii 69.
Temple Bruers, i 446.
Thirlwall, ii 422.
Thirsk, ii. 269.
Thornbury, i 380.
Thorpe Arnold, i. 4ig.
Thorpe Waterville, i. 340,
Thurland, ii. 203.
Thurnham (Goddard's Castle)
Tickhill, ii. 269.
Tilbury Fort, i 270.
Tintagel, ii. 16.
Tiverton, ii. 40.
Tonbridge, i. 47.
Tong, Kent, i 52.
Tong, Salop, ii. 158.
Topcliffe, ii. 271.
Torrington, ii. 42.
Tosson Tower, ii. 423.
Totnes, ii. 42.
Tower of London, i. 104,
Tower on the Moor, i. 446.
Tregony, ii. 18.
Trejago, ii. i8.
Trematon, ii, 19,
Triermain, ii, 332.
Troggy, ii. gi.
Trowbridge, i. 234.
Truro, ii. 20.
Turton Tower, ii. 205.
Tutbury, i 404.
Twizel, ii. 424.
Tynemouth, ii. 424.
Ullersford, ii 181.
Upnor, i. 53
Upsall, ii. 272.
Usk, ii. 92.
Verdley, i. 89.
Wallingford, i. 176.
Walmer, i. 55.

46.

Walton, Suffolk, i. 286.
Walton in Gordano, Somerset, ii. 73.
Wardour, i. 235.
Wareham, i. 252.
Wark, ii. 426.
Warkworth, ii. 42S.
Warwick, i. 361.
Watlington, i. 168.
Wattlesbury, ii. 159.
Welton (Wiverton), i. 459.
Weoley, i. 386.
Weobley, ii. 118.
Westenhanger (Ostenhanger), i. 57.
West Mailing (St. Leonard's Tower), i. 44.
Weston Turville, i. 148.
Wharton, ii. 292.
Whitecastle, ii. 92.
Whitechurch (Bolebec), Bucks, i. 144.
Whitechurch, Salop, ii. 160.
Whittington, ii. 160.
Whitton Tower, ii. 431.
Whitwick, i. 419.
Whorlton, ii. 273.
Widdrington, ii. 431.
Wigmore, ii. 118.
Willimoteswick, ii. 433.
Wilton, Hereford, ii. 121.
Wilton, York, ii. 274.
Winchelsea (Camber), i. 68.
Winchester, i. 214.
Windsor, i. 180.
Wingfield, i 286.
Wisbeach, i. 312.
Witton-le-Wear, ii 356.
Wiverton (Welton), i. 45g.
Wolsty, ii. 333.
Wolverton, i. 148.
Wolvesey, i. 217.
Woodcroft House, i. 341.
Woodsford, i. 255.
Woodward, i. 218.
Wooler, ii. 433.
Worcester, i. 386.
Worksop, i. 460.
Wormegay, i. 308.
Wraysholme, ii. 206.
Wressel, ii. 275.
Yanwath Hall, ii. 2g3.
Yarmouth, Isle of 'Wight, i. 218.
Yarmouth, Norfolk, i. 308.
Yielden, i. 142.
York, ii. 277.
Ypres Tower (Rye), i, 90.

Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
London & Edinburgh