Bodiam Castle

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Bodiam Castle

Sussex


Bodiam Castle from the northwest
Location
Grid reference: TQ785256
Location: 51°0’8"N, 0°32’37"E
History
Built 1385
Information
Condition: Internally ruined
Owned by: National Trust

Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century fairytale moated castle exuding romance from its walls, standing near Robertsbridge in Sussex. Bodiam was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of King Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War. Today it is owned by the National Trust.

Of quadrangular plan, Bodiam Castle has no keep, having its various chambers built around the outer defensive walls and inner courts. Its corners and entrance are marked by towers, and topped by crenellations. Its structure, details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castle's design as well as defence. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam.

Today its walls and moat remain, but inside Bodiam is a ruin of the Civil War. Nevertheless, it is a fairytale castle, its silent walls reflected in the still moat, promising many a tale of the restless days of old.

Brief history

Sir Edward Dalyngrigge built the caslte in 1385 and possession of Bodiam passed through several generations of the Dalyngrigge family, until their line became extinct, when the castle passed by marriage to the Lewknor family. During the Wars of the Roses, Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the House of Lancaster, and when Richard III of the House of York became king in 1483, a force was despatched to besiege Bodiam Castle. It is unrecorded whether the siege went ahead, but it is thought that Bodiam was surrendered without much resistance. The castle was confiscated, but returned to the Lewknors when Henry VII of the House of Lancaster became king in 1485. Descendants of the Lewknors owned the castle until at least the 16th century.

By the start of the Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was in the possession of John Tufton. He supported the Royalist cause, and sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by Parliament. The castle was subsequently dismantled, and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by John 'Mad Jack' Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, the castle was partially restored before being sold to George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe, and later to Lord Curzon, both of whom undertook further restoration work. The castle is protected as a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument. It has been owned by The National Trust since 1925, donated by Lord Curzon on his death, and is open to the public.

Overview

Bodiam Castle is one of Britain's most romantic and picturesque, set in the beautiful Sussex countryside. It has what every castle of the fairytales should have, but here a reality in solid stone and timber: spiral staircases, battlements, a portcullis, arrow slits, wall walks and murder-holes.

In the impressive gatehouse is the castle's original wooden portcullis, an extremely rare example of its kind. Enough of the interior ruins survive to give an impression of castle life. The National Trust provide a guide to bring the castle history to life, and stage events throughout the year.

History

Origin

The death of Wat Tyler

Edward Dalyngrigge was a younger son and so did not inherit his father's estates but had to make his own fortune. By 1378, he owned the manor of Bodiam by marrying into a land-owning family.[1] From 1379 to 1388, Dalyngrigge was a Knight of the Shire for Sussex and one of the most influential people in the county.[2] By the time he applied to the king for a licence to crenellate (build a castle), the Hundred Years' War had been fought between England and France for nearly 50 years and Dalyngrigge journeyed to France to seek his fortune in one of the Free Companies – groups of mercenaries who fought for the highest bidder. He left for France in 1367 and journeyed with Lionel, Duke of Clarence, King Edward III's son. After fighting under the Earl of Arundel, Dalyngrigge joined the company of Sir Robert Knolles, a notorious commander who was reputed to have made 100,000  gold crowns as a mercenary from pillage and plunder.[3] It was as a member of the Free Companies that Dalyngrigge raised the money to build Bodiam Castle; he returned to England in 1377.[4]

The Treaty of Bruges in 1375 brought peace for two years, until Edward was succeeded by Richard II. During the war, England and France struggled for control of the English Channel, with raids on both coasts. With the renewed hostilities, Parliament voted that money be spent on defending and fortifying England's south coast, and defences were erected in Kent in anticipation of a French invasion.[5] There was internal unrest as well as external threats, and Dalyngrigge was involved in suppressing the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.[2] The manor of Bodiam was granted a charter in 1383 permitting a weekly market and an annual fair to be held.[6][7] In 1385, a fleet of 1,200 ships – variously cogs, barges, and galleys – gathered across the English Channel at Sluys, Flanders; the population of the southern counties was in a state of panic. Later in the year, Edward Dalyngrigge was granted a licence to fortify his manor house.[5]

Construction and use

Bodiam Castle from the air
... Know that of our special grace we have granted and given licence on behalf of ourselves and our heirs, so far as in us lies, to our beloved and faithful Edward Dalyngrigge Knight, that he may strengthen with a wall of stone and lime, and crenellate and may construct and make into a Castle his manor house of Bodyham, near the sea, in the County of Sussex, for the defence of the adjacent country, and the resistance to our enemies ... In witness of which etc. The King at Westminster 20 October.
—Excerpt from the license to crenellate allowing Edward Dalyngrigge to build a castle from the Patent Rolls of 1385–89[8]

Dalyngrigge's licence from Richard II permitted him to refortify his existing manor house, but instead he chose a fresh site to build a castle on. Construction was completed in one phase, and most of the castle is in the same architectural style. Archaeologist David Thackray has deduced from this that Bodiam Castle was built quickly, probably because of the threat from the French.[9] Stone castles were usually time-consuming and expensive to build, often costing thousands of pounds.[10] Dalyngrigge was Captain of the port of Brest in Brittany from 1386 to 1387, and as a result was probably absent for the first years of the castle's construction.[7] It replaced the old manor house as Dalyngrigge's main residence and the administrative centre of the manor.[11] It is not recorded when Bodiam Castle was completed, but Thackray suggests that it was before 1392; Dalyngrigge did not have long to spend in the completed castle, as he was dead by 1395.[7]

Edward's estates, including the castle, were inherited by his son, John Dalyngrigge. Like his father, John enjoyed the favour of the king and was described as the "King's Knight"; in 1400 he was granted an annual allowance of 100 marks by the king. He died on 27 September 1408; his will ensured that his property belonged to his widow, Alice. John and Alice had no children, so on her death in 1443 the estates and castle were passed on to Richard Dalyngrigge, John's cousin. Richard died without issue, so in accordance with John's will the estates passed on to Richard's sister Philippa in 1470. She was married to Sir Thomas Lewknor, from a prominent Sussex family who owned land all over the country.[12]

Across the moat

Sir Thomas Lewknor was a supporter of the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses, which began in 1455. When Richard of the House of York ascended to the throne as Richard III in 1483, Lewknor was accused of treason and of raising men-at-arms in the southeastern counties. In November 1483, Lewknor's uncle and Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey, were given permission to levy men and besiege Bodiam Castle, where Lewknor was based. It is not recorded whether the siege went ahead, and Thackray suggests that Lewknor surrendered without much resistance. His property was confiscated, and Nicholas Rigby was made constable of the castle. On Henry VII's accession to the English throne the attainder was revoked, and Bodiam Castle was returned to Lewknor. However, not all of the surrounding land was returned to the family until 1542. Possession of Bodiam Castle passed through several generations of the Lewknor family. Although the inheritance of the castle can be traced through the 16th and 17th centuries, there is little to indicate how it was used in this period, or if the family spent much time in it.[13]

Following Sir Roger Lewknor's death in 1543, his estates were divided among his descendants, and the castle and manor were split.[14] John Levett of Salehurst purchased the castle in 1588.[15] In 1623, most of the estates of Bodiam were bought by Sir Nicholas Tufton, later Earl of Thanet. His son, John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Thanet, inherited Nicholas's property on his father's death in 1631; it was John Tufton who reunited possession of castle and manor when he bought Bodiam Castle in 1639. John Tufton was a supporter of the Royalist cause during the Civil War, and led an attack on Lewes, and was involved in a Royalist defeat at Haywards Heath. Parliament confiscated some of his lands in 1643, and more in 1644, as well as fining him £9,000. To help pay his fine, Tufton sold Bodiam Castle for £6,000 in March 1644 to Nathaniel Powell, a Parliamentarian.

Picturesque ruin

Engraving of 1737 by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck

After the Civil War, Powell was made a baronet by Charles II. Although it is unrecorded when Bodiam Castle was dismantled, it may have been a slighting by order of Parliament to put it out of military use, though at Bodiam, it was deemed sufficient to dismantle the barbican, the bridges, and the buildings inside the castle. When Nathaniel Powell died in 1674 or 1675, Bodiam Castle was passed on to his son, also called Nathaniel. After the second Nathaniel, the castle came into the possession of Elizabeth Clitherow, his daughter-in-law.[16]

In 1722 Sir Thomas Webster bought the castle. For over a century, Bodiam Castle and its associated manor descended through the Webster family. It was in this period that the site became popular as an early kind of tourist attraction because of its connection with the mediæval period. The first drawings of Bodiam Castle date from the mid-18th century, when it was depicted as a ruin overgrown with ivy.[17] Ruins and mediæval buildings such as Bodiam Castle served as an inspiration for the revival in Gothic architecture and the renovation of old structures.[18]

The third Sir Godfrey Webster began looking for buyers for the castle in 1815, and in 1829 he finally managed to sell it and 24 acres (10 ha) of the surrounding land to John 'Mad Jack' Fuller for £3,000. Fuller repaired one of the towers, added new gates to the site, and removed a cottage which had been built within the castle in the 18th century; he is thought to have bought the castle to prevent the Webster family from dismantling it and reusing its materials. George Cubitt, later Baron Ashcombe, purchased the castle and its 24 acres from Fuller's grandson in 1849, for over £5,000. Cubitt continued the renovations that Fuller started. He commissioned the first detailed survey of Bodiam Castle in 1864, and undertook repairs to the tower at the southwest corner of the site, which had almost entirely collapsed. Because there was then a fashion for ruins covered in ivy, the vegetation was not removed despite its detrimental effect on the masonry, and the trees which had taken root in the courtyard were left.[19]

Watercolour from 1906 by Wilfrid Ball

Lord Curzon decided that "so rare a treasure [as Bodiam Castle] should neither be lost to our country nor desecrated by irreverent hands".[19] Curzon made enquiries about buying the castle, but Cubitt did not wish to sell. However, after Cubitt's death, Curzon was able to make a deal with Cubitt's son, and he bought Bodiam Castle and its lands in 1916.[20] Curzon began a programme of investigation at Bodiam in 1919, and with architect William Weir restored parts of the castle. The moat, on average about 5 feet deep but 7 feet deep in the southeast corner, was drained and 3 feet of mud and silt removed; during excavations the original footings of the bridges to the castle were discovered. Nearby hedges and fences were removed to provide an unobscured view of the castle. There were excavations in the interior, and a well was discovered in the basement of the southwest tower. Vegetation was cleared, stonework repaired, and the original floor level re-established throughout the castle. A cottage was built to provide a museum to display the finds from the excavations and a home for a caretaker. Bodiam Castle was given to the National Trust in 1925.[21]

The National Trust continued the restoration work, and added new roofs to the towers and gatehouse. Excavations were resumed in 1970, and the moat was once again drained.[22]

The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England carried out a survey of the earthworks surrounding Bodiam Castle in 1990.[23] In the 1990s, Bodiam Castle was at the centre of a debate in castle studies over the balance between militaristic and social interpretations of such sites.[24] The arguments focused on elements such as the apparent strength of the defences – such as the imposing moat  – and elements of display. It has been suggested that the moat could have been drained in a day because the embankment surrounding it was not substantial, and that as such it did not pose a serious obstacle to an attacker.

The castle is a Scheduled Monument,[25] and a Grade I listed building.[26] Today the castle is open to the public, and according to figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, over 170,000 people visited in 2010.

In the opinion of historian Charles Coulson, Bodiam "represents the popular ideal of a mediæval castle".[27]

Bodiam Castle interior from the South Tower

Miscellany

  • The Moonraker (the 1958 swashbuckler) has much of its plot at Bodiam, the actual castle appearing in the film. His coach stopped by Cromwell's soldiers, Parfitt declares his desination and purpose "Bodiam. Riotous living!"
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail uses Bodiam Castle in an establishing shot identifying it as "Swamp Castle" in the "Tale of Sir Lancelot" sequence.

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Bodiam Castle)

References

  1. ↑ Thackray 2004, p. 11.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Thackray 2004, p. 12.
  3. ↑ Thackray 2004, p. 9.
  4. ↑ Thackray 2004, pp. 9, 11.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Thackray 2004, p. 10.
  6. ↑ Letters 2005
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Thackray 2004, p. 13.
  8. ↑ Quoted in Thackray 2004, p. 59.
  9. ↑ Thackray 2004, p. 14.
  10. ↑ McNeill 1992, pp. 41–43.
  11. ↑ Thackray 2004, p. 17.
  12. ↑ Thackray 2004, pp. 21–22.
  13. ↑ Thackray 2004, pp. 21–24.
  14. ↑ Thackray 2004, p. 22.
  15. ↑ Curzon 1926, pp. 37–39.
  16. ↑ Thackray 2004, pp. 24–25.
  17. ↑ Thackray 2004, p. 25.
  18. ↑ Thackray 2004, p. 26.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Thackray 2004, p. 27.
  20. ↑ Thackray 2004, pp. 27–29.
  21. ↑ Thackray 2004, pp. 29–30.
  22. ↑ Thackray 2004, p. 30.
  23. ↑ Taylor 1990, p. 155.
  24. ↑ Liddiard 2005, pp. 8–9.
  25. ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 414651 – Bodiam Castle
  26. ↑ National Heritage List 1044134: Bodiam Castle
  27. ↑ Coulson 1992, p. 51.

Books

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