Leicester Castle | |
---|---|
Leicestershire | |
Coordinates | 52°37′56.4″N1°8′28.3″W / 52.632333°N 1.141194°W |
Type | Norman |
Site information | |
Open to the public | everyday |
Site history | |
Built | 11th century |
Built by | William the Conqueror |
In use | Law court |
Official name | Leicester Castle and the Magazine Gateway |
Designated | 26 June 1924 |
Reference no. | 1012147 |
Leicester Castle is in the city of the same name in the English county of Leicestershire. The complex is situated in the west of Leicester City Centre, between Saint Nicholas Circle to the north and De Montfort University to the south. A large motte and the Great Hall are the two substantial remains of what was once a large defensive structure. The hall is now encased in a Queen Anne style frontage. The Castle and the Magazine Gateway is a scheduled monument. [1]
Leicester Castle was part of the medieval town defences, built over the Roman town walls. [2] The castle was probably built around 1070 (soon after the Norman Conquest in 1066) [3] under the governorship of Hugh de Grandmesnil. The remains now consist of a mound, along with ruins. Originally the mound was 40 ft (12.2 m) high. [4]
In 1173, Henry II's three eldest sons led a rebellion against him with support from several magnates, including Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester. During the conflict, Henry's forces laid siege to Leicester and burnt most of the town. [5] The castle was then slighted (partially demolished) and parts of the ditches filled. [6] According to historian Sidney Painter, it was one of at least 21 castles demolished on Henry II's instructions. [7]
Kings sometimes stayed at the castle (Edward I in 1300, and Edward II in 1310 and 1311), and John of Gaunt and his second wife Constance of Castile both died here in 1399 and 1394 respectively. [8] [9] Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, one of the leading captains in the early phases of the Hundred Years' War died at the castle on 23 March 1361. [10]
It became an official royal residence during the reigns of Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, and Edward IV, but by the middle of the 15th century, it was no longer considered suitable [11] and was used mainly as a courthouse; with sessions being held in the Great Hall. [12] Apart from being used for assize courts, the Great Hall was also used for sessions of the Parliament of England most notably the Parliament of Bats in 1426, when the conditions in London were not suitable. [13]
A section of the castle wall, adjacent to the Turret Gateway, has gun loops (holes) that were poked through the medieval wall to use as firing ports by the city's residents when Parliamentarian Leicester was besieged, captured, and ransacked, during the English Civil War by the main Royalist Field army under Charles I and Prince Rupert on 31 May 1645. [14] The third storey of the Turret Gateway (known as 'Prince Rupert's gateway') was destroyed in an election riot in 1832. [15]
In the 1880s, J. M. Barrie visited the assize courts regularly and spent many hours inside as reporter for the Nottingham Journal when the hall was being used as a court house. [16] The castle continued to be used as the venue for assizes and quarter sessions and, after 1972, for hearings of Leicester Crown Court until the Leicester Law Courts in Wellington Street were completed in 1981. [17] [18]
Kenilworth Castle is a castle in the town of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, England, managed by English Heritage; much of it is in ruins. The castle was founded during the Norman conquest of England; with development through to the Tudor period. It has been described by the architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant for its scale, form and quality of workmanship".
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son of King Edward III of England, and the father of King Henry IV. Because of Gaunt's royal origin, advantageous marriages, and some generous land grants, he was one of the richest men of his era, and was an influential figure during the reigns of both his father and his nephew, Richard II. As Duke of Lancaster, he is the founder of the royal House of Lancaster, whose members would ascend the throne after his death. His birthplace, Ghent in Flanders, then known in English as Gaunt, was the origin of his name.
Bolingbroke Castle is a ruined castle in Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire, England.
The Lord High Steward is the first of the Great Officers of State in England, nominally ranking above the Lord Chancellor.
Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837.
Henry, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Lancaster was a grandson of King Henry III of England (1216–1272) and was one of the principals behind the deposition of King Edward II (1307–1327), his first cousin.
The title of Earl of Lancaster was created in the Peerage of England in 1267. It was succeeded by the title Duke of Lancaster in 1351, which expired in 1361.
Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster was an English statesman, diplomat, soldier, and Christian writer. The owner of Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, Grosmont was a member of the House of Plantagenet, which was ruling over England at that time. He was the wealthiest and most powerful peer of the realm.
Hugh Aston was an English composer of the early Tudor period. While little of his music survives, he is notable for his innovative keyboard and church music writing. He was also politically active, a mayor, Member of Parliament, and Alderman.
Constance of Castile was a claimant to the Crown of Castile. She was the daughter of King Peter, who was deposed and killed by his half-brother, King Henry II. She married the English prince John of Gaunt, who fought to obtain the throne of Castile in her name, but ultimately failed.
Blanche of Lancaster was a member of the English royal House of Lancaster and the daughter of the kingdom's wealthiest and most powerful peer, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. She was the first wife of John of Gaunt, the mother of King Henry IV, and the grandmother of King Henry V of England.
St Mary de Castro is an ancient, Grade I listed church in Leicester, England, located within the former bailey of Leicester Castle. Today it acts as a parish church in the Church of England's diocese of Leicester. "St Mary de Castro" is Latin for "St Mary of the Castle"; a name chosen to differentiate from nearby "St Mary de Pratis": "St. Mary of the Meadows".
Joan of Lancaster sometimes called Joan Plantagenet after her dynasty's name, was the third daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and Maud Chaworth.
Events from the 1360s in England.
Monmouth Castle is a castle close to the centre of the town of Monmouth, the county town of Monmouthshire, on a hill above the River Monnow in south-east Wales.
The Magazine Gateway is a Grade I listed building in Leicester. Now a solitary landmark alongside Leicester ringroad, it was originally the main gateway of a walled enclosure built around 1400, giving access to the religious precinct of The Newarke. The vaulted archway was open to traffic until 1905. The gatehouse rooms were variously used as a porter's lodge, guest accommodation, prison, militia building, and regimental museum. It is now a building managed by the Leicester Museum Service, and is generally only open to the public by arrangement.
The Newarke Houses Museum is a public museum in Leicester, England. It incorporates the museum of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, and has a range of exhibits illustrating post-medieval and contemporary Leicester. The museum is close to the 15th century Magazine Gateway and within the precincts of the medieval 'Newarke', the 'New Work' of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. The museum stands in the middle of the De Montfort University campus.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Leicester, the county town of Leicestershire, in England.
The Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke in Leicester, was a collegiate church founded by Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, in 1353. The name "Newarke" is a translation of the Latin "novum opus" i.e. "new work" and was used to distinguish the church from the older collegiate church of Leicester Castle, the Church of St Mary de Castro. Duke Henry enlarged his father's hospital foundation in the southern extension to the castle bailey and built the new church to house a holy relic, part of the Crown of Thorns given him by John II of France. The church became a place of pilgrimage. Leland visited it around 1540, shortly before its destruction during the Suppression of the Chantries. He described the church as "not very great...but exceeding fair."
While technically the build was completed in August 1980, Leicester did not open its doors until March 1981.