Beaumys Castle

Beaumys Castle
	Swallowfield, Berkshire, England
	Beaumys Castle
Coordinates	51°22′34″N0°58′53″W / 51.3760°N 0.9813°W Coordinates: 51°22′34″N0°58′53″W / 51.3760°N 0.9813°W
Grid reference	grid reference SU710646
Type	Fortified manor house
Site information
Condition	Earthworks

Last updated October 13, 2019

Beaumys Castle, also known as Beams Castle, was a 14th-century fortified manor house in the parish of Swallowfield in the English county of Berkshire.

Manor house country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor

A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with manorial tenants and great banquets. The term is today loosely applied to various country houses, frequently dating from the late medieval era, which formerly housed the gentry.

Swallowfield is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Reading, and 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the county boundary with Hampshire.

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

History

Beaumys Castle was a manor in the parish of Swallowfied, given to Sir Nicholas de la Beche in 1335. De la Beche received a licence to crenellate in 1338 and produced a fortified manor house.^[1] The castle was rectangular, protected by earthworks approximately 130m by 110m across, surrounded by a water-filled moat, with the castle accessed from an entrance to the north-west.^[2]

Nicholas de la Beche, Seneschal of Gascony, was a 14th-century English noble.

In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within their jurisdictions, i.e. by the Bishops of Durham, the Earls of Chester, and after 1351 by the Dukes of Lancaster.

De la Beche died, leaving the manor to his wife Margery, who in turn remarried,^[1] to Thomas Arderne.^[3] On Arderne's death in 1347, however, John de Dalton and a small group of followers broke into the castle, where they killed Michael de Poynings, an important nobleman; terrified Lionel, the son of Edward III who was staying there at the time; stole £1,000 worth of goods, and seized Margaret, whom, as a wealthy widow, was forced to marry John.

Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence 14th-century English prince and nobleman

Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, KG was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of the English king Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. He was named after his birthplace, at Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant. Lionel was born of a Flemish mother and was a grandson of William I, Count of Hainaut. He grew to be nearly seven feet in height and had an athletic build.

Edward III of England 14th-century King of England and Duke of Aquitaine

Edward III was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death; he is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after the disastrous and unorthodox reign of his father, Edward II. Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. His long reign of 50 years was the second longest in medieval England and saw vital developments in legislation and government, in particular the evolution of the English parliament, as well as the ravages of the Black Death.

The surrounding manor was broken up in 1420; the surviving earthworks are a scheduled monument.^[4]

Scheduled monument nationally important archaeological site or historic building in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.

Bibliography

MacKenzie, James Dixon. (1896/2009) The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure. General Books LLC. ISBN 978-1-150-51044-1.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

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References

1 2 Mackenzie, p.170.
↑ Beaumys Castle Monument No. 237298 Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine , National Monuments Record, English Heritage, accessed 18 August 2012.
↑ Ford, David Nash (2011). "Margery Poynings (d. 1349)". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
↑ Beaumys Castle Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine , National Monuments Record, English Heritage, accessed 13 June 2011

External links

Investigation History

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[Mackenzie,_p.170-1] 1 2 Mackenzie, p.170.

[Pastscape-2] Beaumys Castle Monument No. 237298 Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine , National Monuments Record, English Heritage, accessed 18 August 2012.

[rbhmp-3] Ford, David Nash (2011). "Margery Poynings (d. 1349)". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. Retrieved 4 October 2011.

[4] Beaumys Castle Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine , National Monuments Record, English Heritage, accessed 13 June 2011