Bewcastle Castle

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Bewcastle Castle
The castle plateau seen from the south, 19th century lithograph by J. Kell

Bewcastle Castle is a ruined castle in the parish of Bewcastle in the English county of Cumbria , a few kilometers from the border to Scotland .

The first castle was built on the site of an earlier Roman fort ( Fanum Cocidi ) around 1092. A wood and earth structure was probably built first. Its builders apparently reused the Roman moats on the north and east sides. This castle was destroyed in 1173 but rebuilt at the end of the 14th century. The stone castle was built between 1361 and 1371 by John de Strivelyn, who used stones from the fort for this. The northeast corner of the fort was completely demolished for this. The castle was surrounded by a dry moat , the northern and eastern sections of which again correspond to the moat of the Roman fort. Already at the beginning of the 15th century it fell into disrepair and King Edward IV gave it to his brother, the Duke of Gloucester , who later became King Richard III. ascended the English throne. The buildings were repaired at that time and the gatehouse was probably added. From the end of the 15th century the castle was in the hands of the Musgrave family until Oliver Cromwell had it demolished in 1641. Bewcastle Castle was in ruins in the 17th century as much of its stone material was used in other buildings. Only the gatehouse with its inner lavatory bay was almost completely preserved.

The place name in use today should z. T. to go back to a legendary Anglo-Saxon lord of the 11th century, Bueth. This fought against the Normans during the time of the conquest. Allegedly he built the first castle. Presumably, the statements of antiquarians who wanted to connect their research with the local aristocracy and their presumed ancestors were only copied uncritically. In a document from 1272 the fortress is referred to as a Bothecaster . The name "búð, booth" comes from Old Norse and means "provisional building". The part of the name "castle" probably refers to the Roman fort in which the new castle was built, which leads to the unusual repetition of the word in the name of the castle. In the Ordnance Survey , however, the name is given as Bew Castle .

Nowadays the castle ruins are used as pastures for sheep and llamas. It is freely accessible to the public.

Picture gallery

  • Gatehouse

  • The castle ruins seen from the NW

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Taylor / Biggins 2012, p. 82.
  2. ↑ AM Armstrong, A. Mawer, FM Stenton, B. Dickins: The Place Names of Cumberland . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1950.
  3. ↑ Bewcastle . Laverocks.co.uk. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  4. ↑ Landranger Series . Sheet 86. ISBN 0-319-22686-7
  5. ↑ Rivet / Smith 1979-1982, p. 363.

swell

  • Plantagenet Somerset Fry: The David & Charles Book of Castles . David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3
  • D. Taylor, J. Biggins: A Geophysical Survey at the Roman Fort at Bewcastle Cumbria. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2012.
  • ALF Rivet, Colin Smith: The place-names of Roman Britain. Batsford Ltd., London, 1979-1982.

Web links

Commons : Bewcastle Castle  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 55 ° 3 ′ 53.6 "  N , 2 ° 40 ′ 52"  W.