Odiham Castle
Odiham Castle (also King John's Castle ) is a ruined castle near Odiham in the English county of Hampshire . It is one of only three castles that King Johann Ohneland had built during his reign.
The king probably chose the site because he had visited the area in 1204 and it is halfway between Windsor Castle and Winchester .
construction
Odiham Castle was built on 8 acres that the king had acquired from a local lord, Robert the Parker . It lies in a modified bend of the River Whitewater .
The castle, which took seven years to build, had a two-story stone donjon and a moat with a square floor plan. There was also a wall at the moat and palisade . Notably, the fortress also had a domus regis (royal house).
Scrolls in the Public Record Office indicate that the total expenditure between 1207 and 1214, the year the work was finished, was £ 1000 (equivalent to £ 11.4 million in 2009).
history
In 1215 Johann Ohneland left either Odiham Castle or Windsor Castle and rode to Runnymede , where he met the barons and placed his seal under the Magna Carta . A year later, Odiham Castle was captured by the French after two weeks of siege in the First Barons' War . The garrison of only 13 men surrendered the castle on July 9, 1216. Sometime within the next nine years, the donjon was completely rebuilt, possibly to repair the damage caused by the French troops. At the same time, the mound on which the donjon stood was raised by 5 meters and an inner ditch was added around the donjon to the defenses.
In 1238, Simon de Montfort married King Johann Ohneland's daughter Eleanor , just two years after her brother, King Henry III , left Odiham Castle . , had received. In the following year a kitchen was added on a bridge over the inner moat, as well as a new knight's hall outside the donjon. During the same period, another building was built over the moat, this time on the southeast side of the donjon. This should create more living space.
In 1263 De Monfort rebelled against King Henry and died in the Battle of Evesham in 1265 ; Eleanor was exiled. Odiham Castle again fell to the crown.
The castle was also involved in the rebellion led by the powerful Despenser family against Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabelle de France , wife of King Edward II .
In the 14th century the Parliament of the United Kingdom also met in Odiham Castle . The Scottish King David II was imprisoned here for 11 years after his capture at the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346. He was kept under light guard and allowed to run his own household. The use of the castle as a prison seems to have been common practice in the 13th and 14th centuries; the nearby Greywell manors were required to keep watch every third night.
In the 15th century, Odiham Castle served only as a hunting lodge and in 1605 it is described as a ruin.
In 1792 the Basingstoke Canal was built through the southern corner of the courtyard.
today
Odiham Castle is open to the public. The only remains that can still be seen today are parts of the octagonal donjon and earthworks of the outer works. In September 2007, Hampshire County Council had restoration work on the donjon carried out under the guidance of English Heritage. The southernmost corner of the moat is still preserved today in the form of a small, overgrown pond on the side of the canal opposite the castle.
Two series of archaeological digs were carried out on the castle, one in 1953, according to a report in a regional newspaper, and the other between 1981 and 1985 by Hampshire County Council Museum Services .
Gallery images
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Rupert Willoughby: A Key to Odiham Castle . 1998. pp. 2-3.
- ^ Rupert Willoughby: A Key to Odiham Castle . 1998. p. 4.
- ^ A b Rupert Willoughby: A Key to Odiham Castle . 1998. p. 5.
- ^ Rupert Willoughby: A Key to Odiham Castle . 1998. p. 9.
- ^ Rupert Willoughby: A Key to Odiham Castle . 1998. p. 7.
- ^ A b Rupert Willoughby: A Key to Odiham Castle . 1998. p. 19.
- ^ Hampshire County Council: Odiham Castle . In: Countryside Service . 2006. Archived from the original on June 15, 2008. 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 August 2, 2016.
- ↑ David Allen, Nick Stodeley: Odiham Castle Hampshire, Excavations 1981-85 in Hampshire Studies: Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society . 2010. p. 32.
literature
- Patricia McGregor: Odiham Castle, 1200–1500: Castle and Community . Sutton, 1983. ISBN 0-86299-030-0 .
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 41.1 ″ N , 0 ° 57 ′ 42.2 ″ W.