Beverston Castle
Beverston Castle , also Beverstone Castle , is a ruined castle in the village of Beverston , about 3 km west of Tetbury and about 2 km east of Calcot Manor in the English county of Gloucestershire . It is in the center of Beverston, about 200 meters north of the A4135 thoroughfare . The castle was built in 1229 at the behest of Maurice de Gaunt . Most of the castle was in ruins in 2011, but part is also inhabited and there is a beautiful garden on the site.
description
Originally the castle was pentagonal, later, at the beginning of the 14th century, a small, square fortress and a gatehouse with two towers were added. The castle ruins are located in the Cotswolds , a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
history
Early Roman remains have been found near the castle, at Calcot Manor, indicating that the area has been inhabited since at least the 5th century AD, although it is likely that it was in the early Iron Age as well People lived here. In the Middle Ages the property was called Beverstane or Beverstone . Another early name is Bureston , after the large number of blue stones found here.
An important battle between the armies of King Stephen and Empress Matilda took place in the area around 1140 . Maurice de Gaunt had the castle built a little before 1229 without a royal permit, but then received a license to crenellate (English: License to Crenellate). This early castle was fortified with a T-shaped moat. Parts of it can still be seen today as a partial moat on the south side of the castle ruins. At the beginning of the 14th century, Thomas Lord Berkeley the Rich (1293-1361) had the castle rebuilt by adding a small, rectangular fortress and a two-tower gatehouse. A smaller tower with a square floor plan was added at the end of the 15th century.
In the 16th century, Beverston Castle belonged to Sir Michael Hicks . He bequeathed it to his son, Sir William Hicks, 1st Baronet (of Beverston) . The property remained in the Hicks family until at least the early 19th century. As a result of the English Civil War in the middle of the 17th century, Beverston Castle was destroyed. The troops of the parliamentarians attacked the castle twice in the course of the war, but the greatest blow was probably the order of the parliament to demolish the defensive works of the castle after the war. The western and southern building complexes together with the gatehouse and one of the original D-shaped towers have been preserved to this day.
architecture
The sprawling western complex of Beverston Castle is flanked at its ends by square-plan towers and contains a solar (family dining room) over a vaulted basement. The pentagonal brick castle still has two - now ruined - round towers from the 13th century, which De Gaunt had built. The clad, bluish limestone appears to have come from the same quarry as that used at nearby Calcot Manor. The two-story tour house with a D-shaped tower was added around 1350-1360 at the behest of Lord Berkeley. The entrance arch to this gatehouse, which was still completely intact in 2006, was probably originally provided with a huge portcullis . There was a fairly large bedroom upstairs above the gateway. The dilapidated square-plan northwest tower dates back to the 14th century (commissioned by Lord Berkeley) and was remodeled in the late 15th century.
The southern residential wing, which was still inhabited in 2006, was built for the Hicks family in the early 17th century and marks a period of increasing security for large mansions. In its place originally stood a medieval knight's hall , either from the time of the De Gaunts or that of the Berkeleys. In 1691 a fire damaged the southern wing of the building, but it was restored soon after.
today
In 2006 Beverston Castle was in private hands. The old moat is part of the extensive and well-tended garden. The gardens are known for their orchids . The castle ruins can be reached from the south via a bridge that spans the remains of the moat. The access for cars leads from the north through the arch of the old gatehouse.
Individual evidence
- ^ Beverstone Castle . CastleUK. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- ↑ C. Michael Hogan, Amy Gregory: History and Architecture of Calcot Manor . Lumina Technologies. July 5, 2006. ( Memento of the original from March 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- ^ WPW Phillimore (editor): Gloucestershire Notes and Queries . Volume 5. 1894.
- ^ List of medieval fortified sites of the historic county of Gloucestershire . Gatehouse Gazetteer. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- ^ House of Commons Journal . Volume 4. London, July 28, 1646.
- ^ Lorna Parker: Seasonal Guide to Gardens and Nature Preserves in the Cotswalds in The Cotswalds Review . 2006.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 38 '37.3 " N , 2 ° 12' 8.3" W.