Brownsea Castle

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Brownsea Castle from the seaside

Brownsea Castle , formerly Branksea Castle , is a castle on Brownsea Island in the English county of Dorset . Originally it was a fortress that King Henry VIII had built between 1545 and 1547 to protect Poole Harbor from feared French attacks. The fortress consisted of a stone blockhouse and a hexagonal gun platform. The garrison consisted of six soldiers from the neighboring town of Poole and the armament of eight cannons. The fortress was still in use after the initial threat of attack subsided and was occupied by the Roundheads during the English Civil War in the 1640s . However, at the end of the 17th century it was no longer used.

In 1726 the architect William Benson converted the fortress into a private residence, although the city of Poole objected to it. Benson and the following owners had the existing log cabin converted into a country house and a landscaped garden with ornamental gardens and artificial lakes created on the surrounding island. In the 19th century, the owners, z. B. Colonel William Waugh, keep doing construction work. Waugh had several parts of the building added in the Jacobean style. In 1896 a fire damaged the castle, but it was subsequently restored on behalf of Major Kenneth Robert Balfour. The wealthy stock trader Charles van Raalte led a lavish life at Brownsea Castle in the early 20th century. He used the property for his collection of old musical instruments .

In 1927 Mary Bonham-Christie bought Brownsea Castle. However, she let the property fall into disrepair and after her death in 1961 it was in very poor condition. Then the National Trust bought it and leased it to the John Lewis Partnership, who had it restored for many years. Today this company still uses it as a hotel for its current and former employees.

history

16th Century

Brownsea Castle was built by King Henry VIII in the final years of his reign in response to tensions between England, France and the Holy Roman Empire . Traditionally the Crown had left fortresses on the coast to the local lords or communities and gave them few regulations about their construction and maintenance, and although France and the Empire were in conflict and attacks from the sea were common, the danger was one Invasion of England minor. Modest defenses around simple log houses and towers existed in the southwest of the country and along the Sussex coast and a few more sophisticated ones in the north of England, but generally the fortifications were quite small.

Floor plan of the log house from the 16th century

In 1533 there was a break between Henry VIII and Pope Paul III. because Heinrich wanted to break off his long marriage with Catherine of Aragon and get married again. Heinrich responded to this in 1539 with an order to build fortresses along the most sensitive parts of the coast. The immediate danger passed, but reappeared in 1544 when France, supported by its allies in Scotland , threatened to invade the English Channel. Heinrich therefore issued another order in 1544 to expand the country's defensive positions, particularly along the south coast.

Brownsea Castle was built on the southeast corner of Brownsea Island between 1545 and 1547 to protect the busy port of Poole. The island has belonged to the Crown since it had been confiscated from Cerne Abbey a few years earlier when the English monasteries were dissolved . The construction was conservative, a block house with a square floor plan, which, according to a report from 1522, was said to have 13 meters by 13 meters, served as a base for cannons on its roof and was divided into three rooms. Originally the log house was supposed to have two floors, but this was not realized. There was a hexagonal platform on the lake side of the log cabin, on the other three sides it was surrounded by a moat . Access was via a 7.3 meter long drawbridge on the southwest side.

The crown and the city of Poole, which also took responsibility for the maintenance and the garrison, paid for the construction costs. In the first years of Elizabeth I's reign the normal garrison of six men armed with eight cannons is described.

Additional work on the gun platform for £ 56 were carried out in 1548 and further work on the defense works of the fortress in 1552 by the city of Poole for £ 133. The castle needed regular investments: 101 pillars were introduced in 1551, probably around the coastal erosion counteract, and 1561 the city asked the Crown for help with further repairs and the procurement of new cannons. Another petition for similar aid was made in 1571, resulting in repairs two years later that cost £ 520 and devoured 4,000 tons of stone. More work followed in 1585, including the construction of a 1.2 meter high wall around the castle.

In 1576 Queen Elizabeth I gave Brownsea Castle and Corfe Castle as a fiefdom for life to Sir Christopher Hatton and made him Admiral of Purbeck . Hatton argued with the City of Poole because he claimed he had the right to search and inspect ships entering the city's port, as well as the right to the profits of the local ferry company. He lost the trial for the ferry rights in 1581. In 1589 the crew of the Bountiful Gift refused to have their ship inspected, claiming that they had a valid permit to leave the port. The ship was then fired from Brownsea Castle and two crew members died. The captain of the fortress, Walter Partridge, was charged with manslaughter and convicted, but then pardoned. The rest of the island - not the castle - was leased to various landowners in the years that followed.

17th and 18th centuries

View of the castle in 1818, showing the Palladian conversion of the original log cabin by Sir Humphrey Sturt.

The castle was occupied by a garrison for most of the 17th century. During the civil war of the 1640s between the supporters of King Charles I and the parliamentarians , the castle was held by the Roundheads under the orders of the Governor of Poole. The castle was re-fortified in 1644; Parliament ordered four guns and four boxes of muskets . The castle was occupied by 20 men in 1646. During the interregnum (between the reigns of Charles I and Charles II ), the wealthy merchant Sir Robert Clayton bought the surrounding island. Clayton probably did not live in the castle and it fell into disrepair. At the end of the 17th century, the city of Poole refused to garrison the crumbling fortress.

The amateur architect William Benson bought the island from Clayton's heirs in 1726 for £ 300. Benson, despite complaints from the City of Poole, set about converting the castle into a private residence. The city took the case to the Attorney General, alleging that Benson had not bought the rights to the castle itself, but only those on the island, and that Brownsea Castle was a national fortress originally built by Henry VIII owned by the town of Poole. Benson stated that the building was not originally a castle at all, but rather a residential building; it was not built by Henry VIII and therefore the crown had no special rights to it - the previous owners of the island had rather allowed the city and the government to set up guns there. The case was eventually put down and Benson had the outer defenses torn down, a great hall created , and trees and rare plants planted across the island.

The castle was sold to a Mr. Chamberlayne and then to Sir Gerard Sturt in 1762 and to his cousin Sir Humphrey Sturt in 1765. Humphrey Sturt had the castle expanded around its 16th century core so that it became a four-story tower in the Palladian style with battlements and new wings on three sides. He also built a fenced yard in the greenhouses next to the castle and built the island into a landscaped garden with two artificial lakes and a large number of fir trees , which cost him £ 50,000. His son, Charles Sturt, made the castle his main residence, although he often lived elsewhere because of his involvement in the coalition wars.

19th to 21st century

The gatehouse and clock tower, built in 1852

Charles Sturt's son, also named Charles, inherited the property and sold it to Sir Charles Chad in 1817. Chad invested heavily in the castle and King George V visited in 1818 to watch the gun salute. The diplomat Sir Augustus Foster acquired the castle in 1840 when he retired; he committed suicide at the castle in 1848 when he was in what was termed "intermittent mental illness" following an "illness of the heart and lungs" on his examination.

A retired Indian army officer, Colonel William Waugh, bought the island in 1852 in hopes of converting it into a profitable pottery factory . He had restoration work carried out on the castle and a new building line built in Jacobean style on the south and east sides of the castle. Waugh also had the crenellated gatehouse and clock tower built at the entrance to the courtyard and the Jacobean pier on the beach below the castle. His ventures proved unsuccessful and in 1857 he escaped from his creditors to Spain .

After a period in the hands of a Mr Faulkner who continued the pottery factory, the property was sold in 1873 for £ 30,000 to politician and lawyer George Cavendish-Bentinck, who furnished the castle with an extensive collection of Italian Renaissance sculptures. Cavendish-Bentinck closed the pottery factory and gave the island to his son William as a family seat, and he also financed an extensive renovation of the castle. William and his wife moved in in 1888. Cavendish-Bentinck died in 1891, leaving behind immense debts that forced William to sell the island and castle to Major Kenneth Robert Balfour.

On January 16, 1896, the castle caught fire and the interior was destroyed by the fire. Balfour had the property restored with the help of architect Philip Brown, smoothing out the more complex aspects of the castle. Balfour's wife, Margaret Anne, fell ill and so in 1901 Balfour decided to sell the island to the stockbroker Charles van Raalte.

The family pier, also from 1852

Van Raalte had a lavish lifestyle at the castle, which at the time had 38 bedrooms. He held large house parties in the summer months, complete with house staff and a semi-professional musical troupe, and amassed a rare collection of around 250 historical musical instruments from Europe, Asia and Africa. Charles van Raalte died in 1908, but his wife, Florence, stayed on the island until 1925. After her death in 1927, the castle was sold to Sir Arthur Wheeler, who immediately decided to auction the remaining furnishings and have the castle demolished. The auction, which included some of Van Raalte's collection of instruments and paintings, as well as 5,000 books, raised £ 22,300.

The castle was not demolished as originally planned but was bought by Mary Bonham-Christie for £ 125,000 later that year. The new owner decided to live in a house nearby and not in the castle itself, so that the island became overgrown and the castle fell into disrepair. When Bonham-Christie died in 1961, part of the roof had collapsed and a tree was growing right through the building. Bonham-Christie's grandson put the island up for sale in view of the high inheritance taxes, but then decided to leave it to the United Kingdom in exchange for these inheritance taxes.

The National Trust took over the castle and island in 1962 and assessed the castle as "of little antiquarian and architectural value". The John Lewis Partnership leased the castle from the National Trust and used it as a corporate hotel for their employees. Little by little the buildings were restored and the company still uses the castle today. Some of the furnishings from the 19th century have been preserved to this day, e.g. B. the wood paneling and the decorative ceilings or some of the open fireplaces decorated with stone carvings from Venice . There are also four cannons in the castle, probably from the 17th or 18th century. The castle has been listed by English Heritage as a Grade II Historic Building.

Individual references and comments

  1. ^ MW Thompson: The Decline of the Castle . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1987. ISBN 1-854226-08-8 . P. 111.
  2. ^ John R. Hale: Renaissance War Studies . Hambledon Press, London 1983. ISBN 0-907628-17-6 . P. 63.
  3. ^ DJ Cathcart King: The Castle in England and Wales: An Interpretative History . Routledge Press, London 1991. ISBN 978-0-415003-50-6 . Pp. 176-177.
  4. ^ BM Morley: Henry VIII and the Development of Coastal Defense . Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London 1976. ISBN 0-116707-77-1 . P. 7.
  5. ^ John R. Hale: Renaissance War Studies . Hambledon Press, London 1983. ISBN 0-907628-17-6 . Pp. 63-64.
  6. ^ John R. Hale: Renaissance War Studies . Hambledon Press, London 1983. ISBN 0-907628-17-6 . P. 80.
  7. ^ Peter Harrington: The Castles of Henry VIII . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2007. ISBN 978-1-472803-80-1 . Pp. 29-30.
  8. ^ Peter Harrington: The Castles of Henry VIII . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2007. ISBN 978-1-472803-80-1 . P. 8.
  9. ↑ a b c Oliver Garnett: Brownsea Castle . Corrected edition. The National Trust, Swindon 2005 (1993). ISBN 978-1-84359-110-8 . P. 5.
  10. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England): Studland . British History Online. 1970. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ a b c Peter Harrington: The Castles of Henry VIII . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2007. ISBN 978-1-472803-80-1 . P. 33.
  12. ^ John Sydenham: History of the Town and Country of Poole . Sydenham, Poole 1839. p. 388.
  13. ^ A b Andrew Saunders: Fortress Britain: Artillery Fortifications in the British Isles and Ireland . Beaufort, Liphook 1989. ISBN 1-855120-00-3 . P. 51.
  14. ^ John Sydenham: History of the Town and Country of Poole . Sydenham, Poole 1839. p. 389.
  15. ^ John Sydenham: History of the Town and Country of Poole . Sydenham, Poole 1839. pp. 387, 390.
  16. ^ A b c John Sydenham: History of the Town and Country of Poole . Sydenham, Poole 1839. pp. 389-390.
  17. ↑ a b c It is difficult to compare 16th century costs and prices with modern costs and prices. £ 56 out of 1548 can be anywhere from £ 27,000 to £ 12m in 2014, depending on the yardstick. £ 133 from 1552 can be between £ 43,000 and £ 21 million and £ 520 from 1571 between £ 158,000 and £ 62 million. As a comparison, the total cost of the crown for all coastal fortresses in England built between 1539 and 1547 , £ 376,500 with St Mawes Castle alone costing £ 5,018 and Sandgate Castle £ 5,584.
  18. ^ A b c Martin Biddle, Jonathan Hiller, Ian Scott, Antony Streeten: Henry VIII's Coastal Artillery Fort at Camber Castle, Rye, East Sussex: An Archaeological Structural and Historical Investigation . Oxbow Books, Oxford 2001. ISBN 0-904220-23-0 . P. 12.
  19. ↑ a b c d e f g Lawrence H. Officer, Samuel H. Williamson: Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1270 to Present . MeasuringWorth. 2014. Accessed December 23, 2015.
  20. ^ Charles van Raalte: Brownsea Island in Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society . Volume 26 (1905). P. 189.
  21. ↑ a b c Rodney Legg: Brownsea: Dorset's Fantasy Island . The Dorset Publishing Company, Sherborne 1986. ISBN 0-902129-74-0 . P. 8.
  22. ^ Charles van Raalte: Brownsea Island in Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society . Volume 26 (1905). Pp. 189-190.
  23. ^ A b c d Charles van Raalte: Brownsea Island in Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society . Volume 26 (1905). P. 190.
  24. ↑ Rodney Legg: Brownsea: Dorset's Fantasy Island . The Dorset Publishing Company, Sherborne 1986. ISBN 0-902129-74-0 . P. 9.
  25. ^ A b John Sydenham: History of the Town and Country of Poole . Sydenham, Poole 1839. p. 391.
  26. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Oliver Garnett: Brownsea Castle . Corrected edition. The National Trust, Swindon 2005 (1993). ISBN 978-1-84359-110-8 . P. 7.
  27. ^ Charles van Raalte: Brownsea Island in Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society . Volume 26 (1905). Pp. 190-191.
  28. ↑ a b c A History of Brownsea Island . National Trust. 2015. Archived from the original on July 16, 2015. 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nationaltrust.org.uk
  29. ↑ Comparing 18th century costs and prices with modern costs and prices is difficult. £ 300 from 1726 can be worth anywhere from £ 40,000 to £ 5.4m in 2014, depending on the benchmark. £ 50,000 can be worth between £ 6.3m and £ 657m.
  30. ^ A b c d Charles van Raalte: Brownsea Island in Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society . Volume 26 (1905). P. 191.
  31. ^ A b c John Sydenham: History of the Town and Country of Poole . Sydenham, Poole 1839. pp. 393-394.
  32. ^ A b c d e f Charles van Raalte: Brownsea Island in Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society . Volume 26 (1905). P. 192.
  33. ^ HCG Matthew: Foster, Sir Augustus John, First Baronet (1780-1848) . Oxford University Press. 2008. Accessed December 23, 2015.
  34. ^ Sylvanus Urban: The Gentleman's Magazine . Booklet 30. John Boyers Nichols and Son, London 1848. p. 317.
  35. ↑ a b c Oliver Garnett: Brownsea Castle . Corrected edition. The National Trust, Swindon 2005 (1993). ISBN 978-1-84359-110-8 . P. 9.
  36. ↑ a b Oliver Garnett: Brownsea Castle . Corrected edition. The National Trust, Swindon 2005 (1993). ISBN 978-1-84359-110-8 . P. 11.
  37. ^ Charles van Raalte: Brownsea Island in Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society . Volume 26 (1905). P. 193.
  38. ↑ a b c Comparing costs and prices from the 19th and early 20th centuries with modern costs and prices is difficult. £ 30,000 from 1873 can be worth anywhere from £ 2.6m to £ 42m in 2014, depending on the benchmark. £ 125,000 from 1927 can be worth between £ 6.7m and £ 50m in 2014, £ 6 22,000 between £ 1.2m and £ 8.9m
  39. ↑ Margaret EM Graubard: In the Best Society . iUniverse, Bloomington (USA) 2008. ISBN 978-0-59549-831-4 . P. 156.
  40. ↑ Rodney Legg: Brownsea: Dorset's Fantasy Island . The Dorset Publishing Company, Sherborne 1986. ISBN 0-902129-74-0 . P. 42.
  41. ↑ Margaret EM Graubard: In the Best Society . iUniverse, Bloomington (USA) 2008. ISBN 978-0-59549-831-4 . P. 157.
  42. ↑ a b c Rodney Legg: Brownsea: Dorset's Fantasy Island . The Dorset Publishing Company, Sherborne 1986. ISBN 0-902129-74-0 . P. 50.
  43. ↑ a b c d Brownsea Castle . Historic England. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  44. ↑ a b c d e f Oliver Garnett: Brownsea Castle . Corrected edition. The National Trust, Swindon 2005 (1993). ISBN 978-1-84359-110-8 . P. 13.
  45. ↑ Rodney Legg: Brownsea: Dorset's Fantasy Island . The Dorset Publishing Company, Sherborne 1986. ISBN 0-902129-74-0 . P. 62.
  46. ↑ Charles Van Raalte . Borough of Poole. 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  47. ^ NN: A Musician's Paradise in The Musical Times . Issue 68 (1927). Number 1008, p. 162.
  48. ^ A b c E. van der Straeten: Sale of the van Raalte Collection of Old Instruments in The Musical Times . Issue 68 (1927). Number 1014. p. 712.
  49. ↑ Rodney Legg: Brownsea: Dorset's Fantasy Island . The Dorset Publishing Company, Sherborne 1986. ISBN 0-902129-74-0 . P. 60.
  50. ↑ a b c d Brownsea Island's Half Century Haven Marked . BBC News. May 17, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  51. ↑ a b Oliver Garnett: Brownsea Castle . Corrected edition. The National Trust, Swindon 2005 (1993). ISBN 978-1-84359-110-8 . P. 23.
  52. ↑ Rodney Legg: Brownsea: Dorset's Fantasy Island . The Dorset Publishing Company, Sherborne 1986. ISBN 0-902129-74-0 . P. 68.

Web links

Commons : Branksea Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 41 ′ 18 "  N , 1 ° 57 ′ 29.7"  W.