Whittington Castle
Encyclopedia
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
in northern Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, 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...
, owned and managed by the Whittington Castle Preservation Fund. The castle was originally 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...
castle, but this was replaced in the 13th century by one with buildings around a courtyard whose exterior wall was the curtain wall
Curtain wall (fortification)
A curtain wall is a defensive wall between two bastions of a castle or fortress.In earlier designs of castle the curtain walls were often built to a considerable height and were fronted by a ditch or moat to make assault difficult....
of the inner bailey. As a castle of the Welsh Marches
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches is a term which, in modern usage, denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods...
, it was built on the border of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and 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...
very close to the historic fort of Old Oswestry
Old Oswestry
thumb|250px|right|Old Oswestry hill fortOld Oswestry is a large and impressive early Iron Age hill fort in the Welsh Marches near Oswestry in north west Shropshire....
.
The Whittington Castle is unique in that it is the only castle in the UK which is owned and managed by a community of local residents. Today, it is a popular castle for tourism for its physical attraction. Whittington castle resides on a 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) property in the village of Whittington
Whittington, Shropshire
Whittington is a village in north west Shropshire, England.The civil parish of Whittington has a population of 2,490 as of the 2001 census. The village of Whittington is in the centre of the parish, and two smaller villages, Hindford to the north-east and Babbinswood to the south, are also within...
, in the district of North Shropshire, in the county of Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
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...
. It abuts Castle Road.
In 2003, a historical and archaeological investigation by Peter Brown and Peter King identified that the outer bailey of the castle had been two elaborate gardens and surrounded by water in the 14th century. This discovery was significant in that it proved the advanced state (as compared to those of the French or Flemish) of English gardening habits. The "lavish" garden was installed by one of the FitzWarin family
Baron FitzWarin
The title Baron FitzWarin was a hereditary peerage created by Writ of summons for Fulk V FitzWarine in 1295. His family had been great lords for nearly a century, at least since his grandfather Fulk III had recovered Whittington Castle in 1205. This castle was their main residence and its...
. The viewing mound in the centre may be the oldest of its type yet discovered in England.
History
Whittington lies on the English side of Offa's DykeOffa's Dyke
Offa's Dyke is a massive linear earthwork, roughly followed by some of the current border between England and Wales. In places, it is up to wide and high. In the 8th century it formed some kind of delineation between the Anglian kingdom of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys...
, which in this area was the Norman boundary between 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...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The castle of Whittington may have begun as a Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
, although there is no evidence for this. The site was fortified as a castle for William Peverel
William Peverel
William Peverell , was a Norman knight, and is shown in 'The Battle Abbey Roll' to have fought at the Battle of Hastings.-Biography:...
, in 1138, in support of 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...
, the daughter 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...
against 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...
, nephew of King Henry I, and claimant to the throne during The Anarchy
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
. In the late 1140s, the lordship of Whittington
Whittington, Shropshire
Whittington is a village in north west Shropshire, England.The civil parish of Whittington has a population of 2,490 as of the 2001 census. The village of Whittington is in the centre of the parish, and two smaller villages, Hindford to the north-east and Babbinswood to the south, are also within...
, like Oswestry
Oswestry
Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....
and Overton
Overton
-People:* Constantine Overton* David M. Overton* Doug Overton* Edward Overton, Jr. , United States representative from Pennsylvania* Elli Overton* Frank Overton* Guy Overton* Hall Overton* Iain Overton...
ceased to be part of England and became part of in the Kingdom of Powys and then became Welsh marcher lordship.
In 1165 Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
conferred the castle on Roger de Powis, to whom he gave funds for its repair in about 1173. Roger was followed by his son Meurig (or Maurice), he was followed by his son Werennoc. A rival claim from Fulk III Fitzwarine
Fulk FitzWarin
Fulk FitzWarin was an English nobleman turned outlaw from Whittington Castle in Shropshire. The historical Fulk, or Fulk III FitzWarin, was a Marcher Lord who rebelled against King John from 1200 to 1203 over his familial right to the estate of Whittington...
(who apparently claimed it under the Peverils) was not recognised until 1204, leading him to rebel against King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
. However, he was pardoned for this and the castle and lordship of Whittington, though not Overton Castle at Overton-on-Dee
Overton-on-Dee
Overton-on-Dee is a small rural town and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales....
, Flintshire
Flintshire (historic)
Flintshire , also known as the County of Flint, is one of thirteen historic counties, a vice-county and a former administrative county, which mostly lies on the north east coast of Wales....
(now in Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
). The castle then descended in the FitzWarin family
Baron FitzWarin
The title Baron FitzWarin was a hereditary peerage created by Writ of summons for Fulk V FitzWarine in 1295. His family had been great lords for nearly a century, at least since his grandfather Fulk III had recovered Whittington Castle in 1205. This castle was their main residence and its...
, all called Fulk, until the death of Fulk XI in 1420.
The castle was captured and destroyed by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth of Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
in 1223. It was returned under the peace treaty, and was rebuilt in stone, replacing the tower keep of a motte and bailey with inner bailey with buildings along a curtain wall and five towers on a raised platform surrounded by a moat, beyond which there is an outer gatehouse
Gatehouse
A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance.-History:...
or barbican
Barbican
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...
. For the next half century, the castle stood as a bastion defending Shropshire from invasion by the Welsh, until the conquest of Wales by Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
in 1283.
After the defeat of Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, the castle became a lordly residence for the FitzWarin family. However, after the death of Fulk VII in 1349, the castle went through a long period when the lords were almost always under age and usually absentees. Though some repairs were carried out in about 1402. The lordship was laid waste in 1404 during the rebellion of Owen Glendower, so that the lordship was worth nothing in 1407. However, the castle was not captured.
It had been occipied during the minority of Fulk XI by his mother and her new husband William Lord Clinton, during whose time there was a dispute with the people of Oswestry
Oswestry
Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....
who had cut down oak trees in his woods. When the FitzWarin line until it died out in 1420, the lordship passd to Fulk XI's sister Elizabeth, who married Richard Hankeford. In 1422, the castle was captured by escalade
Escalade
Escalade is the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders, and was a prominent feature of siege warfare in medieval times...
by William Fitzwaryn (presumably a cousin claiming the castle as heir male) and Richard Laken, but evidently soon restored to Lord Clinton. Their daughter Thomasia married William Bourghchier, thus carrying the FitzWarin peerage
Baron FitzWarin
The title Baron FitzWarin was a hereditary peerage created by Writ of summons for Fulk V FitzWarine in 1295. His family had been great lords for nearly a century, at least since his grandfather Fulk III had recovered Whittington Castle in 1205. This castle was their main residence and its...
into the Bourchier family. Their grandson John Bourchier
John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath
John Bourchier, 11th Baron FitzWarin, created 1st Earl of Bath was born in Essex, England to Fulk Bourchier, 10th Baron FitzWarin and Elizabeth Dinham.-Marriages:...
was made Earl of Bath
Earl of Bath
Earl of Bath was a title that was created five times in British history, three times in the Peerage of England, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once Peerage of the United Kingdom...
, but his son John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath
John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath
Sir John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath, PC was an Earl in the peerage of England. He also succeeded to the titles of 4th Baron FitzWarin, Baron of Daubeney and 4th Count of Eu....
exchanged the lordship and castle in 1545 with Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, for some former monastic
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
estates nearer the main family home in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
.
A detailed survey of the castle was made at the time of the exchange. This describes some of the buildings as 'in decay'. The castle itself was probably never inhabited again. It passed through various hands to William Albany, a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
merchant taylor, but he and his descendants (from 1750 the Lloyd family of Aston near Oswestry, who still own the castle) lived in Fernhill
Fernhill
Fernhill is a residential district in the Scottish town of Rutherglen in Lanarkshire. It is situated south of the River Clyde. Built largely in the 1950s and 60s as a slum clearance area for Rutherglen, Fernhill could be considered as a smaller equivalent to the infamous Castlemilk estate which...
Hall. William's grandson, Francis Albany, fell into debt and sold his wood in Babbinswood to Arthur Kynaston of Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
, who built a forge
Finery forge
Iron tapped from the blast furnace is pig iron, and contains significant amounts of carbon and silicon. To produce malleable wrought iron, it needs to undergo a further process. In the early modern period, this was carried out in a finery forge....
at Fernhill, using stone from the castle. In 1632, the Castle Gatehouse was let, the tenant being allowed to take 'freestone out of the castle'. By the time of the English civil war
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, Whittington Castle was evidently no longer defensible and there is no evidence that it played any role in that war. In 1673, the castle (or rather the gatehouse) was let as a romantic dwelling to one Thomas Lloyd, a London merchant, probably retired. About 1760, one of the towers fell into the moat. This and other parts of the castle were used to make roads, probably including the new turnpike road
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
to Ellesmere
Ellesmere
-Places:* Ellesmere, Shropshire, a market town in Shropshire, England** Ellesmere Castle** Ellesmere Rural, a civil parish to the west* Ellesmere Park, area of Eccles, Greater Manchester, England* Ellesmere Port, an industrial town in Cheshire, England...
in 1776, during the minority of William Lloyd.
Restoration
Whittington Castle is currently owned on a 99-year lease from 2002 by the Whittington Castle Preservation Trust, a rural community formed in December 1998. The trust recently completed a 1.5 million pound
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
(3 million U.S. dollar) renovation project.
Every year the Normannis historical re-enactment group gathers at the castle to re-enact battles that would have happened in the area at that time of year.
Legends
One of the most prominent legends concerning Whittington Castle regards the Marian Chalice, thought by some to be the Holy GrailHoly Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
. According to this legend, Sir Fulk FitzWarin, the great grandson of Payne Peveril and one in the line of guardians of the Grail and King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
. A story from the 13th century states that the Grail was kept in a private chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
of the castle when Sir Foulke was there. The coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of Fulk FitzWarin is hung above the castle archway.
It is also claimed that the castle formed part of the lordship of a noble Welshman called Tudur Trefor or Tudor Trevor in both the Maelors (that is Maelor Saesneg and Maelor Gymraeg. Though his father Rhys Sais did hold the former, the rest seems to be an invention of Lewis Dwnn in 1846.
- Sir Gawain and the Red Knight
- Fitz Warin RomanceFulk FitzWarinFulk FitzWarin was an English nobleman turned outlaw from Whittington Castle in Shropshire. The historical Fulk, or Fulk III FitzWarin, was a Marcher Lord who rebelled against King John from 1200 to 1203 over his familial right to the estate of Whittington...
Further reading
- Remfry, P. M., Whittington Castle and the families of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Peverel, Maminot, Powys and Fitz Warin. ISBN 1899376801
- The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire ISBN 1871731003
- Castles of Shropshire (Medieval Castles of England). ISBN 0903802392
- History of Shropshire (Darwen County History). ISBN 1860770363
- Medieval Fortifications (The Archeology of Medieval Britain). ISBN 0718513924