Beaumont Castle

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Beaumont Castle
Mixbury, Oxfordshire, England
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Beaumont Castle
Coordinates 52°00′07″N1°06′47″W / 52.002°N 1.113°W / 52.002; -1.113 Coordinates: 52°00′07″N1°06′47″W / 52.002°N 1.113°W / 52.002; -1.113
Type Possible Motte and bailey or ringwork
Site information
Condition Limited earthworks remain

Beaumont Castle was a medieval castle in Mixbury, Oxfordshire, England, located at grid reference SP610140 .

Castle Fortified residential structure of medieval Europe

A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages by predominantly the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a palace, which is not fortified; from a fortress, which was not always a residence for royalty or nobility; and from a fortified settlement, which was a public defence – though there are many similarities among these types of construction. Usage of the term has varied over time and has been applied to structures as diverse as hill forts and country houses. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls and arrowslits, were commonplace.

Mixbury village and civil parish in Cherwell district, Oxfordshire, England

Mixbury is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about 2.5 miles (4 km) southeast of Brackley in Northamptonshire.

Oxfordshire County of England

Oxfordshire is a county in South East England. The ceremonial county borders Warwickshire to the north-west, Northamptonshire to the north-east, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, Wiltshire to the south-west and Gloucestershire to the west.

Contents

History

Beaumont Castle was a possible motte and bailey or ringwork castle built in the village of Mixbury, Oxfordshire, England. [1] The castle was probably built by Roger d'Ivry following the Norman invasion of England. [2] The castle was probably called Beaumont because it occupied a natural promontory overlooking a local stream. [2] The castle was abandoned before 1216. [1] Private excavations by two brothers from London in 1954–5 allegedly revealed a dungeon and an underground passage, although this discovery is disputed by scholars. [3]

Ringwork A form of fortified defensive structure

A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles minus the motte. Defences were usually earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank surrounding the site.

Roger d'Ivry or d'Ivri or Rog'ive or Roger Perceval was an 11th-century nobleman from Ivry-la-Bataille in Normandy. He was the younger son of Robert de Breval and his wife, Albreda, daughter of Rodolph, Lord of Ivry.

See also

Castles in Great Britain and Ireland Wikimedia list article

Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 1050s, the Normans began to build motte and bailey and ringworks castles in large numbers to control their newly occupied territories in England and the Welsh Marches. During the 12th century the Normans began to build more castles in stone – with characteristic square keeps – that played both military and political roles. Royal castles were used to control key towns and the economically important forests, while baronial castles were used by the Norman lords to control their widespread estates. David I invited Anglo-Norman lords into Scotland in the early 12th century to help him colonise and control areas of his kingdom such as Galloway; the new lords brought castle technologies with them and wooden castles began to be established over the south of the kingdom. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 1170s, under Henry II, castles were established there too.

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References

  1. 1 2 Beaumont Castle, Mixbury , Gatehouse website, accessed 10 June 2011.
  2. 1 2 Parishes: Mixbury , A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6 (1959), pp. 251-262; accessed 11 June 2011.
  3. ↑ Parishes: Mixbury , A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6 (1959), pp. 251-262; accessed 11 June 2011; Beaumont Castle, Mixbury , Gatehouse website, accessed 10 June 2011; Beaumont Castle , English Heritage, accessed 11 June 2011.
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