Mitford Castle

Mitford Castle ruins 2005

Mitford Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Mitford in the English county of Northumberland . The castle was built at the end of the 11th century, is now a Scheduled Monument and English Heritage has listed it as a historical building of the first degree. The castle ruins are also listed in the Heritage at Risk Register . The moth from Norman times was built on a small elevation, a somewhat elliptical mound , above the River Wansbeck . The choice of the location enabled a natural mound with a moat .

Mitford Castle was the first of three main line seats in the Mitford family to be built on manor land. After Mitford Castle was destroyed, the Mitford Old Manor House (near the castle ruins to the northwest) was used from the 16th century until Mitford Hall was built in 1828 . Mitford Hall stands in 34 acres of parkland west of the castle ruins.

history

Before the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the castle belonged to Sir John de Mitford , whose only daughter and heiress, Sybilla Mitford , was married to the Norman knight Richard Bertram by King William the Conqueror . At the end of the 11th century the castle was an earthwork fortress of the Bertram family and in 1138 according to the documents William Bertram s Oppidum . During the First Barons' War , the castle was conquered by Flemish mercenaries in the service of King John Ohneland in 1215 . In 1264 it belonged to the third Roger Bertram , but in the same year it was confiscated by King Henry III of England . and placed her in the care of his half-brother, William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke . In 1275 the castle was under the supervision of Alexander de Balliol , a son of John de Balliol . During a revolt in Northumberland in the 1310s, Sir Gilbert Middleton captured Mitford Castle from Aymer de Valence . Sir Gilbert's castle was used for kidnapping in 1315 and he was imprisoned there himself after Ralph de Greystoke, 1st Baron Greystoke , arrested him for treason .

There are different reports about the destruction of the castle. One theory sees the cause as a fire during the De Middleton's rebellion. Another theory says it was destroyed by the Scots in May 1318 while Middleton was in prison in the Tower of London . What is certain, however, is that it was already destroyed in 1323, as records of an investigation carried out after Aymer de Valence's death mention that Mitford Castle was "completely destroyed and burned". When the then owner of the property, David Strathbogie, died in 1335 , his family's castle ruins were taken.

The Bruce Shepherd family bought the property, including the castle ruins, from the Mitford family in 1993 . In the 2000s, English Heritage granted a grant to repair, restore and maintain the property, and some of the work has been completed.

architecture

View of Mitford Castle on its somewhat elliptical mound

The castle ruins are made of ashlar blocks . The inner courtyard was built at the beginning of the 12th century. The western part of the inner courtyard is on a stepped plinth and contains a round gate. The eastern section of the boundary wall of the inner courtyard has a round arch as a passage to the outer courtyard, which was reconstructed in the 19th century. In the inner courtyard there is an unusual, pentagonal donjon , which has been preserved up to the first floor and dates from the beginning of the 13th century. The donjon was built at the highest point in the northernmost part of the castle; each of its five sides has a different width and its inner surface is about 2 m². The triangular, outer courtyard in the south and east was originally built at the end of the 12th century. The divided basement contains two chambers with barrel-vaulted ceilings , which probably served as a well.

The chapel , which was built in the mid-12th century and largely destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century, is also made of stone blocks. A sanctuary or choir arch has been preserved to this day. In 1939 a cemetery north of the chapel with tombstones from the 12th century was discovered. At least one tombstone was moved to the courtyard of Mitford Church, others removed or destroyed.

The remains of the eastern curtain wall , which was also built in the 12th and 13th century stone blocks that contain an archway to a Barmkin ( Barbican ), wall chambers, a garderobe and a round arch. The eastern curtain wall is flanked by a semicircular parapet , the strongest part of the building. The western curtain wall and adjoining structures from the 12th and 13th centuries were also built from stone blocks, with different types of construction and masonry types being found in the individual sections.

An inner courtyard served as a garden and orchard; it measured about 100 meters by 100 meters.

Individual evidence

↑ Mitford Castle . In: ecastles.co.uk . Retrieved July 20, 2016.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Mitford Castle, Remains of Inner Ward and Keep, Mitford . In: britishlistedbuildings.co.uk . Retrieved July 20, 2016.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g The Saturday magazine . JW Parker. P. 50, 1837. Retrieved July 20, 2016.

^ Sir Bernard Burke: A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British empire . Harrison. P. 52, 1866. Retrieved July 20, 2016.

^ Sir Bernard Burke: A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British empire . Harrison. Pp. 254, 1866. Retrieved July 20, 2016.

^ Sir Bernard Burke: A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British empire . Harrison. 517, 1866. Retrieved July 20, 2016.

↑ ^a ^b Historical Note . In: shepherdoffshore.com . Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 20, 2016. @1@ 2

^ Mitford Castle, Mitford, Northumberland . In: english-heritage.org.uk . Archived from the original on July 20, 2016. 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 July 20, 2016. @1@ 2

↑ Mitford Castle. Remains of Chapel in Outer Ward, Mitford . In: britishlistedbuildings.co.uk . Retrieved July 20, 2016.

↑ Mitford Castle. Two Headstones to North of Chapel Ruin, Mitford . In: britishlistedbuildings.co.uk . Retrieved July 20, 2016.

↑ Mitford Castle. Remains of East Curtain Wall, Mitford . In: britishlistedbuildings.co.uk . Retrieved July 20, 2016.

↑ Mitford Castle. Remains of West Curtain Wall Buildings, Mitford . britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved July 20, 2016.

source

FP Somerset: The David & Charles book of castles . David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3

Web links

Commons : Mitford Castle - collection of images, videos and audio files

55.164-1.734Koordinaten: 55° 9′ 50,4″ N, 1° 44′ 2,4″ W

[ECastles-1] Mitford Castle . In: ecastles.co.uk . Retrieved July 20, 2016.

[BLB-2] Mitford Castle, Remains of Inner Ward and Keep, Mitford . In: britishlistedbuildings.co.uk . Retrieved July 20, 2016.

[SaturdayMagazine50-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g The Saturday magazine . JW Parker. P. 50, 1837. Retrieved July 20, 2016.

[Burke52-4] Sir Bernard Burke: A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British empire . Harrison. P. 52, 1866. Retrieved July 20, 2016.

[Burke254-5] Sir Bernard Burke: A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British empire . Harrison. Pp. 254, 1866. Retrieved July 20, 2016.

[Burke517-6] Sir Bernard Burke: A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British empire . Harrison. 517, 1866. Retrieved July 20, 2016.