Castle Bytham (castle)

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Castle Bytham's hilltop

Castle Bytham (also Bytham Castle ) is a former castle in Lincolnshire in Great Britain . The castle site, protected as a Scheduled Monument , is located east of the small village of Castle Bytham .

history

Presumably after the Norman conquest of England , the castle was built by Odo von Aumale , a brother-in-law of William the Conqueror. The castle was first mentioned in 1141 when it was owned by William le Gros , Count of Aumale. Through the marriage of Hawise , the daughter and heir of William le Gros, with William de Mandeville , the castle fell to this and as a consequence to the family Coleville. William de Forz claimed the castle back as the son and heir of Hawise from 1214. He managed to maintain the castle's administration during the War of the Barons in 1216. The lands of the castle had returned to William de Coleville after the end of the war in 1217, but Forz refused to surrender the castle, contrary to the decisions of the Regency Council and the courts to return goods received during the war to their previous owners. When asked again to hand over the castle, he began a revolt against the Regency Council in late 1220. Then the castle was besieged by royal troops in January and February 1221 in the so-called Bytham War , after about 14 days it was conquered and destroyed. Forz had to hand Castle Bytham over to the king, who gave it to its previous owner, William de Colville . He built a fortified manor house in the castle courtyard, which was destroyed during the Wars of the Roses in the second half of the 15th century and not rebuilt.

investment

The castle was laid out as a motte with a bailey . The conical castle hill is still 18 m high, it covers an area of ​​100 by 80 m. The castle hill is surrounded on three sides by a moat and the remains of a curtain wall with several towers. To the south of the castle hill was the outer bailey, which was originally 155 by 80 m in size and surrounded by an earth wall. It was divided into two halves by a stone wall. In the larger outer courtyard there are remains of stone buildings that served as stables and farm buildings. The smaller inner courtyard was fortified with a stone wall. The remains of the manor house built after 1221 can be seen in it. This was a square complex with round corner towers, which enclosed a small inner courtyard and had a fortified gatehouse .

literature

  • John Wild: The history of Castle Bytham, its ancient fortress and manor, its feudal lords, Vaudey Abbey . Johnson, Stamford 1871

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adrian Pettifer: English Castles. A Guide by Counties . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2002. ISBN 978-0-85115-782-5 , p. 142
  2. ^ Barbara English: Forz, William de, count of Aumale. In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

Coordinates: 52 ° 45 ′ 21.3 "  N , 0 ° 31 ′ 53.6"  W.