Denham Castle

Last updated

Denham Castle
Gazeley, Suffolk, England
Denham Castle.jpg
Earthwork remains of Denham Castle
Suffolk UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Denham Castle
Coordinates 52°14′09″N0°33′25″E / 52.2357°N 0.5569°E / 52.2357; 0.5569 Coordinates: 52°14′09″N0°33′25″E / 52.2357°N 0.5569°E / 52.2357; 0.5569
Grid reference grid reference TL747628
Type Motte and bailey
Site information
OwnerThe Denham Estate
Open to
the public
No, but closely viewable from public path
ConditionEarthworks remain
Site history
MaterialsEarth and timber

Denham Castle, also known as Castle Holes, is a medieval motte and bailey castle near the village of Gazeley, Suffolk, England. The castle was also known as Desning Castle at the time of building and occupation. [1]

Contents

History

Plan and cross-section of Denham Castle in 1911 Denham Castle plan.jpg
Plan and cross-section of Denham Castle in 1911

Denham Castle was a 12th Norman castle, built in a motte and bailey design with the motte (man-made hill), now 10 feet high, located in the north-east corner. [2] The motte and the bailey (courtyard) are contained within a wide ditch, 132 m by 122 m across. [3] The entrance to the castle was on the south side. [2]

The castle is thought to have been at its greatest importance during the civil wars that arose after Stephen of Blois (1097-1154) took the throne instead of Matilda, Henry I's daughter. Later, Stephen adopted Matilda's son, Henry, as his heir but it was Stephen's death in 1154 that brought about the demise of Desning Castle. The newly crowned Henry II decided to strip many of the leading Suffolk nobles of their castles as a result of their support for Stephen. As a result it is thought that Desning Castle was slighted, retaining the hall and other buildings within the bailey. Thus the site was occupied until the 1300s when the plague is thought to have caused the site to be evacuated, with the owner occupants moving about a mile West to the site of Desning Hall (which itself was totally demolished in the 1980s. [1] Today the castle is a scheduled monument. Despite previous damage to the castle remains from modern agriculture, the current owners, the Denham Estate, have announced that they are working with English Heritage to restore and maintain the site. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

South Mimms Human settlement in England

South Mimms is a village and civil parish in the Hertsmere district of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It is a small settlement located near to the junction of the M25 motorway with the A1(M) motorway and is perhaps more widely known because of the naming of the service station at that junction.

Oxford Castle Partly ruined castle in Oxford in Oxfordshire, England

Oxford Castle is a large, partly ruined Norman medieval castle on the western side of central Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Most of the original moated, wooden motte and bailey castle was replaced in stone in the late 12th or early 13th century and the castle played an important role in the conflict of the Anarchy. In the 14th century the military value of the castle diminished and the site became used primarily for county administration and as a prison. The surviving rectangular St George's Tower is now believed to pre-date the remainder of the castle and be a watch tower associated with the original Saxon west gate of the city.

Castle Acre Castle and town walls Grade I listed castle in United Kingdom

Castle Acre Castle and town walls are a set of ruined medieval defences built in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk. The castle was built soon after the Norman Conquest by William de Warenne, the Earl of Surrey, at the intersection of the River Nar and the Peddars Way. William constructed a motte-and-bailey castle during the 1070s, protected by large earthwork ramparts, with a large country house in the centre of the motte. Soon after, a small community of Cluniac monks were given the castle's chapel in the outer bailey; under William, the second earl, the order was given land and estates to establish Castle Acre Priory alongside the castle. A deer park was created nearby for hunting.

Bedford Castle Medieval castle in Bedford, England

Bedford Castle was a large medieval castle in Bedford, England. Built after 1100 by Henry I, the castle played a prominent part in both the civil war of the Anarchy and the First Barons' War. The castle was significantly extended in stone, although the final plan of the castle remains uncertain. Henry III of England besieged the castle in 1224 following a disagreement with Falkes de Breauté; the siege lasted eight weeks and involved an army of as many as 2,700 soldiers with equipment drawn from across England. After the surrender of the castle, the king ordered its destruction (slighting).

Clare Castle Castle in Suffolk, England

Clare Castle is a high-mounted ruinous medieval castle in the parish and former manor of Clare in Suffolk, England, anciently the caput of a feudal barony. It was built shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 by Richard Fitz Gilbert, having high motte and bailey and later improved in stone. In the 14th century it was the seat of Elizabeth de Clare, one of the wealthiest women in England, who maintained a substantial household there. The castle passed into the hands of the Crown and by 1600 was disused. The ruins are an unusually tall earthen motte surmounted by tall remnants of a wall and of the round tower, with large grassland or near-rubble gaps on several of their sides. It was damaged by an alternate line of the Great Eastern Railway in 1867, the rails of which have been removed.

Christchurch Castle

Christchurch Castle is located in Christchurch, Dorset, England. The earliest stonework has been dated to 1160. It is a Norman motte and bailey castle. The castle's site is inside the old Saxon burh dominating the River Avon's lowest crossing.

Clifford Castle

Clifford Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Clifford which lies 2.5 miles to the north-east of Hay-on-Wye in the Wye Valley in Herefordshire, England. It was the caput of the feudal barony of Clifford, a Marcher Lordship. The castle stands in the grounds of a private house and is only open to the public on certain days of the year.

Deddington Castle Motte-and-bailey castle in Oxfordshire

Deddington Castle is an extensive earthwork in the village of Deddington, Oxfordshire, all that remains of an 11th-century motte-and-bailey castle, with only the earth ramparts and mound now visible.

Devizes Castle Grade I listed castle in the United Kingdom

Devizes Castle was a medieval fortification in the town of Devizes, Wiltshire, England, on a site now occupied by a Victorian-era castle. It is a Grade I listed building. The original castle was overbuilt by the current structure. Records indicate that the first castle on the site had its origins in about 1080 as an early Norman motte and bailey with wooden pallisade and tower.

Eye Castle

Eye Castle is a motte and bailey medieval castle with a prominent Victorian addition in the town of Eye, Suffolk. Built shortly after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the castle was sacked and largely destroyed in 1265. Sir Edward Kerrison built a stone house on the motte in 1844: the house later decayed into ruin, becoming known as Kerrison's Folly in subsequent years.

Haughley Castle

Haughley Castle was a medieval castle situated in the village of Haughley, some 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north-west of the town of Stowmarket, Suffolk. Prominent historians such as J. Wall consider it "the most perfect earthwork of this type in the county," whilst R. Allen Brown has described it as "one of the most important" castle sites in East Anglia.

Denham, West Suffolk Human settlement in England

Denham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located around five miles west of Bury St Edmunds, in 2005 its population was 170, increasing to 171 at the 2011 Census. The parish also includes the hamlet of Denham End, as well as the remains of Denham Castle, a motte-and-bailey structure. The parish council is shared with neighbouring Barrow.

Southampton Castle Castle in Southampton, England

Southampton Castle was located in the town of Southampton in Hampshire, England. Constructed after the Norman conquest of England, it was located in the north-west corner of the town overlooking the River Test, initially as a wooden motte and bailey design. By the late 12th century the royal castle had been largely converted to stone, playing an important part in the wine trade conducted through the Southampton docks. By the end of the 13th century the castle was in decline, but the threat of French raids in the 1370s led Richard II to undertake extensive rebuilding. The result was a powerfully defended castle, one of the first in England to be equipped with cannon. The castle declined again in the 16th century and was sold off to property speculators in 1618. After being used for various purposes, including the construction of a Gothic mansion in the early 19th century, the site was flattened and largely redeveloped. Only a few elements of the castle still remain visible in Southampton.

Fotheringhay Castle Ruined castle in Fotheringhay, United Kingdom

Fotheringhay Castle, also known as Fotheringay Castle, was a High Middle Age Norman Motte-and-bailey castle in the village of Fotheringhay 3+12 miles (5.6 km) to the north of the market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire, England. It was probably founded around 1100 by Simon de Senlis, Earl of Northampton. In 1113, possession passed to Prince David of Scotland when he married Simon's widow. The castle then descended with the Scottish princes until the early 13th century, when it was confiscated by King John of England.

Burgh Castle (Roman fortification)

Burgh Castle is the site of one of nine Roman Saxon Shore forts constructed in England around the 3rd century AD, to hold troops as a defence against Saxon raids up the rivers of the east and south coasts of southern Britain. It is located on the summit of ground sloping steeply towards the estuary of the River Waveney, in the civil parish of Burgh Castle, in the county of Norfolk.

Great Ashfield Castle Castle in the United Kingdom

Great Ashfield Castle, also known locally as Castle Hill, is a medieval motte and bailey castle near the village of Great Ashfield, Suffolk, England.

Lidgate Castle

Lidgate Castle is a medieval motte and bailey castle in the village of Lidgate, Suffolk, England, built to an unusual quadrangular design.

Oswestry Castle

Oswestry Castle is a medieval castle in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, England. The castle has also been known as, or recorded in historical documents as: Album Monasterium; Blancminster; Blankmouster; Blancmustier; Croes Oswald; L'Oeuvre; L'uvre; Castle Loure; Luure; Luvre; Lvvre: Castle Philip; Oswaldestre; Meresberie.

Old Sarum Castle

Old Sarum Castle, formerly known as Seresberi Castle, is an 11th century motte-and-bailey castle built in Old Sarum, Wiltshire. It was originally built in timber and it was eventually built in stone, of which the ruins can be seen today. Only the mound and foundations of the castle survive today. The castle is owned by the English Heritage and it is open to the public, along with the rest of Old Sarum.

References

  1. 1 2 English Heritage Information Panel on the Denham Castle site
  2. 1 2 Wall, p.598.
  3. Denham Castle Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine , National Monuments Record, English Heritage, accessed 2 July 2011.
  4. Farming Policy Archived 2011-10-01 at the Wayback Machine , the Denham Estate, accessed 2 July 2011; Denham Castle Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine , National Monuments Record, English Heritage, accessed 2 July 2011.

Bibliography