Huntington Castle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Huntington Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Huntington about 4 km southwest of Kington in the English county of Herefordshire .

location

The castle ruins are in an elevated position on the border between England and Wales . The area was known as the Welsh Marches in Norman times, in the Middle Ages . It protected the valley and was in turn protected in the north and west by steep ravines and in the south and east by a moat fed by a stream.

Successor to Kington Castle

Presumably this castle was built as a successor to the nearby Kington Castle , which was believed to have been destroyed in 1216.

Powerful barons, kings and future kings

The castle belonged to the Braose family , but in 1228, after the death of Reginald de Braose , King Henry III owned it. they look at. However, the castle must have been returned to the family, because after the death of William de Braose, 7th Baron of Bramber , it fell to the De Bohun family through marriage . She was involved in some fighting in the Second Barons' War in the 1260s. She remained in this family until 1372, when the last male offspring of the De Bohun family died. The eldest daughter of the family, Mary de Bohun , married Henry , the Earl of Derby , who was made Duke of Hereford by King Richard II , his cousin . Until his own coronation as Henry IV in 1399, Huntingdon Castle remained in his hands.

The Staffords

Henry IV then gave the castle to Edward de Stafford , the Earl of Buckingham . In 1403 he fell at the Battle of Shrewsbury and the castle fell to his widow, Anne, Countess of Stafford . She had the castle fortified against attacks by Owain Glyndŵr .

Owain Glyndŵr's Rebellion

Anne de Stafford appointed John Sment as constable of the castle, who could defend the castle more easily than she. Glyndŵr's forces moved to the castle after their brilliant victory in the Battle of Bryn Glas ; they drove away the herds, took the flour from the local mill, and then burned the mill to the ground.

After 1415

It seems that the castle then fell into disrepair. During King Henry V's reign , peace returned to the Welsh Marches as the king focused on the conflict with France .

Relapse to the Crown

In 1564 Huntington Castle was owned by the crown and then passed through different hands.

English Civil War

In 1642, during the English Civil War , the castle was completely in ruins. In 1670 the stone donjon was still there. Today only earthworks and some masonry remain. The area is completely overgrown with plants.

Web links and sources

Coordinates: 52 ° 10 ′ 41.6 ″  N , 3 ° 5 ′ 59 ″  W.