Christchurch Castle
Encyclopedia
Christchurch, Dorset
Christchurch is a borough and town in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. The town adjoins Bournemouth in the west and the New Forest lies to the east. Historically in Hampshire, it joined Dorset with the reorganisation of local government in 1974 and is the most easterly borough in...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The earliest stonework has been dated to 1160 AD. It is a Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
motte and bailey castle. The castle's site is inside the old Saxon Burh
Burh
A Burh is an Old English name for a fortified town or other defended site, sometimes centred upon a hill fort though always intended as a place of permanent settlement, its origin was in military defence; "it represented only a stage, though a vitally important one, in the evolution of the...
dominating the River Avon's lowest crossing.
The Constable's House standing adjacent to the castle was added at around 1160 and is a rare and notable example of a Norman domestic dwelling. Today the bailey is home to a bowling green and gardens, and the ditch has been filled but parts of the keep and much of the constable's house still stand. The site is managed by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
.
Castle
The castle may stand on the site of an earlier wooden fort built in 924 AD when after Aethelwold captured the town ramparts in 901 AD, Edward the ElderEdward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
decided to fortify the town further with a wooden fort on a motte. After the Norman conquest in (1066) the castle's defences were strengthened with the addition of a ditch and bailey surrounded by a wooden pallisade. The wooden fort was eventually replaced with a stone keep. The purpose of the Norman castle was the security of the feudal lord, his family and retainers. The saxon defences had been against outside threats such as Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
raiders, the Norman fortress was more about subdueing the local populace. It was also a useful base for enforcing the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
Laws. The castle controlled the harbour and inland access via the Rivers Avon and Stour
River Stour, Dorset
The River Stour is a 60.5 mile long river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel. It is sometimes called the Dorset Stour to distinguish it from rivers of the same name...
. The earliest masonry has been dated to c.1160, there is documentary evidence of the castle existing in c.1130 Richard de Redvers
Richard de Redvers
Richard de Redvers was a Norman nobleman, from Reviers in Normandy, who may have been one of the companions of William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of England from 1066...
, cousin of Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
who died in 1107 was given the manor of Christchurch, he is often named has the castle's first builder, there is little documentary evidence of this and this castle may well have been on the site of the earlier Saxon castle. The castle was rebuilt by Baldwin de Redvers to resist King Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
during the civil war with the Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
in 1147. A great tower was built probably around 1300. The castle again saw action during the Civil War of 1642-51
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. The Parliamentarians were allowed to take control of the castle in 1644. The Royalists laid siege to it for 3 days, demolishing houses on the corner of Church Street and Castle Street in order to site their cannons. The Royalists were unable to take the castle and Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
fearing such a powerful stronghold, ordered it to be slighted
Slighting
A slighting is the deliberate destruction, partial or complete, of a fortification without opposition. During the English Civil War this was to render it unusable as a fort.-Middle Ages:...
in 1652.
The castle is now in ruins, a couple of the keep
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
walls remain and the remains of a rectangular moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
.
Constable's House
Nearby is a domestic Norman dwelling, known as the Constable's House, which was built within the original castle bailey in 1160. Much of the stonework survives, including a rare example of a Norman Chimney (one of only five in the country). The ground floor which has four slit windows was used as a storeroom. The upper floor accessed by steps outside and a internal staircase contained the main hall. As well as the chimney, another notable feature is the garderobeGarderobe
The term garderobe describes a place where clothes and other items are stored, and also a medieval toilet. In European public places, a garderobe denotes the cloakroom, wardrobe, alcove or an armoire. In Danish, Dutch, German and Spanish garderobe can mean a cloakroom. In Latvian it means checkroom...
tower which extends over the mill stream added in the early 13th century to provide sanitary arrangements.