Penrith Castle

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Exterior view of Penrith Castle and remains of the moat (2008)

Penrith Castle is a ruined castle in Penrith in the English county of Cumbria , a few kilometers west of the Lake District National Park .

Early history

The area of ​​the castle in the west of the city was probably a Roman army camp, as it has four-sided, irregular borders.

Origins in the 15th century

Penrith Castle was built from 1399 to 1470 as a defensive structure against raids by the Scots . It is said that, unlike many other castles in the north of England, it shows no signs of old age. The reign of Penrith was created as a fiefdom to the newly appointed Earl of Westmorland in 1397 , but the castle was first mentioned in a feudal treaty from 1437. Previously it was thought that they by William Strickland , who later became Bishop of Carlisle had been been built, but the late documentary mention, it is felt today, point out that the most likely builder Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury was, . However, it is not known whether he had the castle built on undeveloped land or whether he used Strickland's structure as the core of his new castle. It is now more likely that Strickland had Hutton Hall built near the church of Penrith and that the list of feudal landowners in England also shows that Strickland did not even own the site of the later castle. There is a possible reference to construction on the castle grounds as early as 1412 and it is known that Ralph Neville was allowed to build a tower there from his seat in Raby the following year . However, it seems very unlikely that the castle was built not by a baron but by the residents themselves for their protection, as was once claimed.

Penrith Castle 1772.

Penrith manor and castle became the Neville family's primary possession and primary source of patronage in the 15th century . In 1441–1444, Lord Salisbury passed the manor of Penrith on to Lumley, Bishop of Carlisle, then Warden of the West March , and Professor AJ Pollard estimated that the Nevilles lands in Penrith were worth about £ 350.

After Lord Salisbury's death at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick , the "kingmaker" inherited the castle and the manor, but fell himself at the Battle of Barnet without leaving a male heir, and so the castle and the manor fell back to the crown. They were given in 1471 to Richard, Duke of Gloucester , by King Edward IV as a fief, who used Penrith as a base, when he took "effective measures" against the Scots and also "the income of the lands" which affected the Forest of Cumberland . At the same time the Duke was appointed Sheriff of Cumberland for five consecutive years and was described in 1478 as "of Penrith Castle".

Later story

Today's ruins of Penrith Castle from the outside. (2008)

After Gloucester's illegal appropriation and his death in the Battle of Bosworth (1483–1485), the castle and town remained until the reign of William III. Part of the crown lands. This lent it together with most of the other crown possessions in Cumberland in 1696 to his friend Johann Wilhelm Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland . In 1787 the castle was sold by the Dukes of Portland to the Dukes of Devonshire . They later sold these to the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway Company , which built the Penrith station there. The ruins of the castle are now opposite the train station. It later became the property of the Penrith City Council, which converted the site into a park in the 1920s and had houses built nearby. The few ruins that have survived to this day were described in the 19th century as "not particularly interesting in terms of their age and their present-day appearance". This still applies today:

The ruins are remarkable more for their extent than their magnificence: the chief objects of interest are the projecting corbels in the eastern front, which appear to have supported an open corridor; there are some large vaults, which were probably prisons. The walls, broken in many places, and intersected with remaining windows, assume, from different points of view, striking varieties of perspective scenery. After the great civil war, the edifice was dismantled, and part of the materials sold. ( Eng . : The ruins are more remarkable for their size than for their grandeur: the main objects of interest are the protruding consoles on the east facade, which have an open There are some large vaults that were probably used as a prison. The walls, which are damaged in many places and interrupted by the remaining windows, offer an impressive variety of perspective scenes when viewed from different directions During the great civil war , the building was torn down and parts of the building materials were sold.

The castle is now administered and maintained by English Heritage , which has listed it as a Grade I Historic Building.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Samuel Lewis (editor): Penponds - Penzance . In: A Topographical Dictionary of England . Institute of Historical Research. 1848. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  2. ^ J. Petre: The Origins of Penrith Castle in The Ricardian . Book VI. No. 86 (1984). P. 373.
  3. ↑ DR Perriam: William Strickland's Tower in Penrith Penrith Castle or Hutton Hall? in The English Heritage Historical Review . Issue 3. No. 1 (June 1, 2008). P. 41.
  4. ↑ DR Perriam: William Strickland's Tower in Penrith Penrith Castle or Hutton Hall? in The English Heritage Historical Review . Issue 3. No. 1 (June 1, 2008). P. 44.
  5. ^ JE Marr: Cumberland . Cambridge County Geographies, Cambridge 1910. p. 126.
  6. ^ William Gilpin: Observations relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, Made in the year 1772 ..... Cumberland & Westmoreland . R. Blamire, London 1786. Opposite p. 85.
  7. ^ JP Marsh: Landed Society in the far North-West of England c.1332-1461 . Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Lancaster, Lancaster 2000. p. 140.
  8. ^ JP Marsh: Landed Society in the far North-West of England c.1332-1461 . Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Lancaster, Lancaster 2000. p. 143.
  9. ^ AJ Pollard: Warwick the Kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame . London 2007. p. 107.
  10. ^ JP Marsh: Landed Society in the far North-West of England c.1332-1461 . Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Lancaster, Lancaster 2000. p. 29.
  11. ^ RS Ferguson: A History of Cumberland . Popular County Histories. London 1890. p. 238.
  12. ^ Daniel and Samuel Lysons: Parishes: Newton-Regny - Ponsonby . In: Magna Britannia: Volume 4: Cumberland . Institute of Historical Research. 1816. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  13. ^ Daniel and Samuel Lysons: Antiquities: Castles . In: Magna Britannia: Volume 4: Cumberland . Institute of Historical Research. 1816. Retrieved September 23, 2015.

Web links

Commons : Penrith Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 54 ° 39 ′ 43.6 "  N , 2 ° 45 ′ 26.3"  W.