Cambridge Castle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Castle Mound as a remnant of Cambridge Castle

Cambridge Castle is an abandoned castle in Cambridge in the English county of Cambridgeshire . The remains of the castle built after the Norman conquest of England are also known locally as Castle Mound . The castle was used to control a strategic road to the north of England and played a role in anarchy , the First Barons 'War and the Second Barons' War . King Edward I had the castle expanded extensively, but then it quickly fell into disrepair in the late Middle Ages and its masonry was used to build the neighboring colleges . In the English Civil War the castle was reattached, but then just as after the war prison used the county. This castle prison was finally demolished in 1842 and a new prison in the front castle built. This new prison, in turn, was demolished in 1932 and the modern Shire Hall built in its place. Only the mound and a few earthworks remain from the castle. The castle grounds are open to the public every day and offer a good panoramic view of the city's historic buildings.

history

11th century

Cambridge Castle was one of three castles that William the Conqueror had built in late 1068 after his campaign north to take the city of York , in eastern England. Cambridge - or Grantabridge , as the city was then called - was on the old Roman road from London to York and was both strategically important and threatened by rebellion. The initial construction was carried out by Picot of Cambridge , the High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdon Shire, who later established a priory next to the castle. The castle was built as a moth when the city already existed. As a result, 27 houses had to be demolished to make way for the new castle.

12th and 13th centuries

The castle was held by the Norman kings until the outbreak of civil anarchy in 1139. Castles played a key role in the conflict between King Stephen and Empress Matilda , and in 1143 Geoffrey de Mandeville , a supporter of the Empress, attacked Cambridge: the city was raided and the castle temporarily taken. Stephan responded with a counter-attack, forcing Geoffrey de Mandeville to retreat to the Fens and recapturing the castle. Cambridge Castle remained open to attack and so King Stephen decided to have additional fortifications built in the adjacent village of Burwell to secure the castle. Geoffrey de Mandeville died the following year in the attack on the new Burwell Castle , leaving Cambridge Castle alone.

Under King Henry II , the castle was adequately maintained, but little was done to expand it. A castle guard system was established, under which lands around Cambridge were loaned to local nobles when they provided troops to defend the royal castle, and the castle served primarily as the sheriff's judicial and administrative center. King Johann Ohneland had the castle expanded in the years before the first barons' war (1215–1217); this work only included the construction of a new knight's hall and a royal bedchamber, which cost £ 200. In this war the rebellious barons, with the support of the French Prince Louis , conquered most of eastern England; Cambridge Castle fell in 1216. After the war, the castle came back under royal control, but Henry III. had only simple maintenance work carried out on the fortifications. Cambridge was attacked again in the Second Barons' War in 1266. This time the city and the castle withstood the attacks long enough for Heinrich's troops to relieve them. King Henry had the fortifications of the castle extended by a moat that was later called King's Ditch .

Cambridge Castle remained just a simple fortress until 1284, when King Edward I decided to have extensive expansion work carried out. In the following 14 years the king spent at least £ 2,630 on rebuilding the castle in stone. Edward's new castle was a square with round towers on every corner, which was additionally secured with a gatehouse and a barbican . A round donjon was built on the mound. The result was a "great fortress according to the latest fashion", albeit never fully completed. In 1294 Edward I spent two nights at the castle.

14th to 17th centuries

The bastions from the 17th century in a floor plan from 1837

In the 14th century the kings let the castle fall into disrepair. From the reign of Edward III. Little money was spent on maintaining the property and by the 15th century the castle was already in ruins. The knight's hall and bedchamber of the king had no roofs and King Henry VI. Ordered the demolition of these buildings and that the stones be reused to build King's College in 1441. Other parts of the structure were used to build the Trinity College chapel . Further building blocks were given away by Queen Maria I in the 16th century for the construction of a mansion near Scawston in the Fens and further building blocks were given to Emmanuel College and Magdalene College . In 1604 only the gatehouse, which was used as a prison, and the donjon were intact. The surrounding walls were described by contemporaries as "wiped out and completely ruined".

The English Civil War broke out in 1642 as a conflict between the royalists and the parliamentarists . Cambridge Castle was captured by the Parliamentary Forces in the first year of the Civil War. Oliver Cromwell ordered a makeshift repair of the fortifications. Thus, two new earthwork bastions and one from brick built barracks in the old bailey. In 1643, the Governor of Cambridge decided that “our city and our castle were now very strongly fortified, (...) with parapets and bulwarks ”. The castle saw no further fighting in this war, and in 1647 parliament ordered the razing of the remaining fortifications so that they could no longer be used.

18th and 19th centuries

Engraving of Cambridge Castle around 1730 with the mound (left) and prison in the gatehouse (right)

The castle quickly fell into disrepair after it was razed and the remaining walls and bastions were demolished in 1785, leaving only the gatehouse and mound made of earth. The gatehouse remained in use as the county's central prison until the 19th century, and like other prisons of the same type, it was run as a private company. The director of the castle prison received £ 200 a year from the county for around 1807.

This use ended when the county's new prison was built on the site of the former outer bailey. The new prison was built by G. Byfield from 1807 to 1811 in a novel, octagonal structure under the influence of the prison reformer John Howard . The gatehouse was torn down to make way for the new courthouse .

today

The only parts of the medieval castle that have survived to this day are the 10 meter high mound at the highest point in the city and some fragments of the surrounding earthworks. The site is open to the public free of charge and offers beautiful views of the city's historic buildings. Mound and earthworks are protected as Scheduled Monuments . The 19th century outer bailey and jail area is now occupied by the Cambridgeshire County Council headquarters called Shire Hall , which was built in 1932.

Gallery images

  • Shire Hall from the mound, with steps to the mound.

  • Cambridge skyline from the Mound: the church in the foreground is St Giles' Church , the spire on the left is part of All Saints Church , the tower in the middle belongs to St John's College chapel, and the long roofline on the right Side is the chapel of King's College .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume II. Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 310. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  2. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 7.
  3. ↑ The other two castles in East England were Lincoln Castle and Huntingdon Castle .
  4. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 57.
  5. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 58.
  6. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 208.
  7. ^ A b Jim Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-53 . The History Press, Stroud 2009. ISBN 978-0-7509-3793-1 . P. 144.
  8. ^ Jim Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-53 . The History Press, Stroud 2009. ISBN 978-0-7509-3793-1 . P. 145.
  9. ^ A b Jim Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-53 . The History Press, Stroud 2009. ISBN 978-0-7509-3793-1 . P. 146.
  10. ^ Reginald Allen Brown: Castles From The Air . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1989. ISBN 978-0-521-32932-3 . P. 171.
  11. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . Pp. 46, 98.
  12. ^ A b c d Reginald Allen Brown: Castles From The Air . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1989. ISBN 978-0-521-32932-3 . P. 71.
  13. ↑ a b It is notoriously difficult to convert medieval financial numbers exactly into their modern equivalents. As a comparison, however, it may be used that in 1216 £ 200 was about two-thirds of the annual income of a well-off baron at that time. £ 2,630 in 1284 was about nine times the annual income of a well-off baron.
  14. ^ A b Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 139.
  15. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 116.
  16. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Reginald Allen Brown: Castles From The Air . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1989. ISBN 978-0-521-32932-3 . P. 73.
  17. ^ CV Wedgwood: The King's War: 1641-1647 . London: Fontana, London 1970. OCLC 58038493. p. 106.
  18. ↑ a b c James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume II. Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 311.
  19. ^ MW Thompson: The Decline of the Castle . Harveys Books, Leicester 1994. ISBN 1-85422-608-8 . P. 139.
  20. ↑ This was roughly £ 13,100 in 2009.
  21. ^ Purchasing Power of British Pounds 1270 to Present . Measuring Worth. ( Memento of the original from November 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 5, 2016.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.measuringworth.com
  22. ^ Margot C. Finn: The Character of Credit: Personal Debt in English Culture, 1740-1914 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 978-0-521-82342-5 . P. 135.
  23. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 100.
  24. ^ The Cambridge Guide, p. 212.
  25. ^ Cambridgeshire HER . Heritage Gateway. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  26. ↑ a b Cambridge Castle . Cambridgeshire Country Council. ( Memento of the original from October 16, 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 January 29, 2011.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk
  27. ^ Cambridge Castle mound . Ancient monuments. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  28. ^ Civil War earthworks at the Castle . Ancient monuments. Retrieved February 5, 2016.

Coordinates: 52 ° 12 ′ 42.8 "  N , 0 ° 6 ′ 53.3"  E