Newbury Castle
Newbury Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Hamstead Marshall, west of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire .
The castle was built at the behest of John Marshal during the Civil War of Anarchy . The castle is mentioned in L'Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal ; there is described how King Stephen the castle in 1152 besieged and marshals son William as hostage taking to force the surrender of the castle. When the father refused to give in, King Stephen threatened to have the boy catapulted over the walls of the castle . John Marshal, "that child of hell and root of all evil" according to Henry of Huntingdon , replied defiantly: "I have the anvil and the hammer to forge even better sons!" King Stephen softened and the boy survived.
The castle appears in the coat of arms of the city of Newbury, even if the castle was probably not there at all, but in Hamstead Marshall 6 km to the west . There you can still see the mounds of three castles, which coincided with the methods of siege at that time.
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Coordinates: 51 ° 23 '56.4 " N , 1 ° 23' 42" W.