Haughley Castle

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Part of the former moat of Haughley Castle

Haughley Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Haughley , about 4 km northwest of Stowmarket in the English county of Suffolk . Historians like JC Wall see the ruins as "the most perfect earthworks of its kind in the county," while R. Allen Brown describes them as "one of the most important" castles in East Anglia .

construction

Hugh de Montfort had Haughley Castle built towards the end of the 11th century. The castle was a moth with a very large mound , which was 70 meters in diameter at the base and 24 meters high. The outer bailey is rectangular and covered an area of ​​117 meters × 90 meters. The entrance was on the west side. The mound and outer bailey were protected by a wide moat that was fed with water from a stream from the west. Earlier investigations feed the opinion that a stone donjon stood on the mound, of which, however, no more foundations can be found today. Another outer bailey could once have enclosed the earthworks that are still preserved today, as well as the local church. The enormous dimensions of the castle ruin brought the historians JC Wall and R. Allen Brown to the statements mentioned above.

history

Haughley Castle floor plan

The castle formed the caput (main castle) in the middle of the Honor of Haughley . This manor is also sometimes called the Honor of the Constable because the owner had to provide the constable of Dover Castle with soldiers and knights to protect the castle according to the Castle Guard system . Hugh de Montfort became a monk in 1088 and the castle fell to his heirs until the mid-12th century. Towards the end of the reign of King Stephen , he lent the castle to Henry of Essex , one of his supporters.

By the end of the 12th century, the Bigod family , who held the title of Earl of Norfolk and fought with the English crown for supremacy in the region, had come to a certain degree of dominance in Suffolk. After King Stephen's death, Henry II took over the English throne and Henry of Essex fell out of favor with the new king after he was tried and convicted of cowardice during the conflict with Wales in 1157. The king took Haughley Castle from Henry of Essex in 1163, and by the mid-1170s the castle was under the control of Ralph de Broe and a garrison of 30 soldiers for the king. In 1173 a new conflict broke out when the sons of King Henry and the Bigod ally Robert de Beaumont , the Earl of Leicester , landed on the coast of East Anglia, marched westward and besieged Haughley Castle. Ralph de Broe abandoned the castle, which was then burned down by Robert de Beaumont's troops, although the revolt was ultimately unsuccessful. After its destruction in 1173, the castle was no longer rebuilt.

Today the castle ruins are a Scheduled Monument .

Individual references and comments

  1. ↑ a b c d e J. C. Wall: Ancient Earthworks in: William Page (editor): The Victoria History of Suffolk . Volume 1. University of London, London 1911. p. 598.
  2. ^ A b c R. Allen Brown: Castles from the Air . In: Cambridge Air Surveys . Cambridge University Press Archive, Cambridge 1989, ISBN 0-521-32932-9 , pp. 128 (English, 246 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ a b c Haughley Castle . Pastscape. Historic England. English Heritage. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  4. ^ JC Wall: Ancient Earthworks in: William Page (editor): The Victoria History of Suffolk . Volume 1. University of London, London 1911. p. 599.
  5. ↑ The Castle Guard System obliged the feudal man to deploy knights and soldiers to protect the castle; in return the castle granted protection for the surrounding lands.
  6. ^ A b c d R. Allen Brown: Castles from the Air . In: Cambridge Air Surveys . Cambridge University Press Archive, Cambridge 1989, ISBN 0-521-32932-9 , pp. 129 (English, 246 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ^ R. Allen Brown: (1962) English Castles . Batsford, London 1962. p. 191. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  8. ^ A b J. D. Mackenzie: Castles of England . Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 282.
  9. ^ A b c V. B. Redstone: Notes on Suffolk Castles: Haughley Castle and its Park in Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archeology and History . Issue 11 (1903). P. 304.
  10. ↑ a b c Haughley Castle . Gatehouse Gazetteer. Retrieved May 12, 2016.

literature

  • Plantagenet Somerset Fry: The David & Charles Book of Castles . David & Charles, Newton Abbott 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 13 '21.4 "  N , 0 ° 57' 47.9"  E