Details

Bishopton Castle was built by Roger de Conyers in 1143, in the village of Bishopton

Bishopton, County Durham

Bishopton is a village in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated to the west of Stockton-on-Tees....

, near to the town of Darlington

Darlington

Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It lies on the small River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees, not far from the main river. It is the main population centre in the borough, with a population of 97,838 as of 2001...

. Constructed in a motte-and-bailey

Motte-and-bailey

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...

 design, the castle had two baileys, rather than the usual one, and originally had two large enclosures beyond the baileys. In the 12th century it was surrounded by a low artificial lake, fed by the brook to the west, and could only be accessed by causeways. De Conyers built the castle during a dispute with William Cumin

William Cumin

William Cumin was Regius Professor of Midwifery at the University of Glasgow between 1834 and 1840.He was the son of Patrick Cumin , Professor of Oriental Languages at the University of Glasgow, and his wife Rachael Baird...

, who laid claim to be the Bishop of Durham; de Conyers supported Cumin's rival, William of St. Barbara

William of St. Barbara

William of St. Barbara or William of Ste Barbe was a medieval Bishop of Durham.-Life:From William's name, it is presumed that he was a native of Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge in Calvados in Normandy. He was a canon of York Minster in 1128. He was Dean of York by December of 1138.William was elected to the...

. Historian Lise Hull believes that the licence to crenellate given to de Conyers for his castle may be the first recorded instance of this in England. In later years the castle became owned directly by the Bishop of Durham, a powerful regional landowner.

Biliography

• Brickstock, Richard. (2007) Castle: Fortress, Palace, College. Durham: Jeremy Mills Publishing. ISBN 9781905217243.
• Creighton, Oliver Hamilton. (2005) Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England. London: Equinox. ISBN 9781904768678.
• Hull, Lise E. (2006) Britain's Medieval Castles. Westport: Praeger. ISBN 9780275984144.
• Hull, Lise E. (2009) Understanding the Castle Ruins of England and Wales: How to Interpret the History and Meaning of Masonry and Earthworks. Jefferson, US: MacFarland. ISBN 9780786434572.
• Pettifer, Adrian. (2002) English Castles: a Guide by Counties. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 9780851157825.