Great Barford Castle
Great Barford Castle , later Creakers Manor , is an abandoned castle just north of the village of Great Barford in the English county of Bedfordshire .
Great Barford Castle was a wooden moth surrounded by a moat . The castle was 1.5 km south of Renhold Castle , which sometimes leads to the designation "Second Renhold". Two other similar castles were also nearby: Bedford Castle about 5 miles away and Gannock Castle about 9.5 km east of it.
History of the castle
Originally it was thought that the castle was built immediately after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, when William the Conqueror ordered the construction of many castles to consolidate his new position as King of England. Today we know, however, that the castle could only have been built after the Domesday Book was published in 1086.
Around 1250 the castle was owned by James de Crevequeor († 1263), a member of the family from whose name the name "Creakers Manor" was later derived. James des Crevequeor's eldest son Robert died the same year as his father and it is not known if he ever owned the castle. In 1302 and 1303 the castle belonged to the youngest son of James de Crevequeor. In 1316 the castle had passed to Stephen de Crevequeor , grandson of the first named James de Crevequeor, and his wife Anne , to whom it still belonged in 1330. Her son John de Crevequeor († 1370) owned the castle from 1346 and bequeathed it to his nephew Stephen de Crevequeor († 1370), son of John's brother Geoffrey , after he died without heirs . Stephen de Crevequeor died in his youth shortly after inheriting the castle. So it fell to his younger brother John Crevequeor when he came of age in 1385. At that time, the castle was first referred to in official documents as "Creakers Manor" and was henceforth also called that in everyday parlance. In 1428 this manor and manor belonged to a Stephen Crevequeor , a son or grandson of the aforementioned John Crevequeor. Stephen Crevequeor is listed as a member of the Bedfordshire lesser nobility in 1433, but no mention of the manor or castle.
History of the manor
A mansion was not mentioned again until 1511 when William FitzJeffrey of Thurleigh died and the mansion is listed as his property which went to his son John FitzJeffrey , whom he had with his first wife.
John FitzJeffrey died in 1535 and his widow Joan held the property until her death the following year. Then it fell to John FitzJeffrey's half-brother George FitzJeffrey , who was initially married to the daughter of John Baptist . After the death of George FitzJeffrey in 1575, he left the manor house to his second wife, Judith , who came from the then well-known Throckmorton family. She then married John Rolt of Milton Ernest . Judith and John transferred the mansion to George Fitz-Jeffrey's son in 1589, also called George and knighted in 1606. This George FitzJeffrey died in 1618 with no living descendants, as his son had died in 1616. He was buried in the manor house in December 1618. The property was sold and was successively owned by the Chandler , Mander , Peck and Halsey families until it was sold to the Pedley family in 1770 .
It is thought that the manor house mentioned in 1511 is not the same building that was erected before the 12th century and is believed to have been destroyed or turned into ruin. The remains of this castle were integrated into the manor house. However, nothing specific is known about it.
today
In 1820 the manor house no longer existed either and a priory was built in its place. Not much of the original building is preserved today; there are only signs of vegetation and light earthworks .
swell
- Parishes: Great Barford, A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3 . 1912. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 9 '52.8 " N , 0 ° 23' 6.5" W.