Piel Castle

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Piel Castle with the gatehouse, the curtain wall of the inner castle and the donjon

Piel Castle , also Fouldry Castle or Pile of Fouldray is a ruined castle at the southeast end of Piel Iceland off the coast of the peninsula Furness in the English county of Cumbria . The castle, which John Cockerham , the abbot of the neighboring Furness Abbey , had built at the beginning of the 14th century, was intended to monitor trade in the local harbor and protect against Scottish raids. Stones from the surrounding beaches were used as building material. The castle had a large donjon , which was surrounded by an inner castle and an outer castle . In 1487 the Yorkist Lambert Simnel used it , in 1534 it was already in ruins and was in the hands of the English crown. Erosion from the sea caused considerable damage to the ruins in the early 19th century. In the 1870s, the owner, Walter Montagu Douglas Scott , the Duke of Buccleuch , had extensive restoration work carried out and external works erected to protect the ruins from further damage by the sea. In 1920 the castle ruins were given to the town of Barrow-in-Furness and are now managed by English Heritage .

history

Piel Castle was built on Piel Island, from where one could monitor the deep water port of Piel Harbor outside the port of Barrow (now Barrow-in-Furness ). There may have been a 12th century fortress on the island earlier, possibly built by local monks during King Stephen's reign , but that is not certain. The present castle was built by John Cockerham , the abbot of Furness Abbey, around 1327 when King Edward III. the abbey gave permission to build fortified buildings on its territory (English: License to Crenellate). The castle, consisting of a donjon, a core and an outer bailey, was intended to monitor and defend the port, as the abbey suffered Scottish raids in 1316 and 1322.

Piel Castle and the surrounding island . You can see the donjon (bottom right) and the core and outer bailey.

Architectural historian Anthony Emery believes that the castle was built in three phases. One started with the donjon in the middle, which in his opinion was intended more as a non-fortified summer residence for the abbot. With the growing threat from the Scots and the royal permission to build a fortified building, Emery believes that the inner castle was built as a defensive structure for the donjon, followed by the construction of the outer castle as the third phase.

In 1408 Abbot John Bolton decided that the cost of maintaining the castle was enormous and wanted the defenses to be demolished, but was stopped by King Henry IV . This was followed by a phase of reconstruction around 1429. The abbey also used the castle for smuggling, which led to complaints from merchants from the English-controlled Calais . They complained that the abbey was shipping wool, which at the time was only legal via the French port. In 1487 the Yorkist Lambert Simnel landed on the island. He sought the help of local supporters and held court at the castle. Then he moved inland and was finally defeated at the Battle of Stoke . In 1534 the castle was already in ruins and was described as "wrecked". In 1537, when the abbey was dissolved , the castle ruins passed to the English crown, and after 1660 it was loaned to George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle .

At the end of the 18th century the island became a pilot base and the castle became the property of the Dukes of Buccleuch . In 1811, the poet William Wordsworth visited the area and wrote a poem entitled "Peele Castle" describing the site. The sea caused considerable erosion during this period , so that one side of the donjon collapsed at the beginning of the 19th century. Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, the Duke of Buccleuch, bought the rest of the island and carried out extensive and expensive restoration work on the castle ruins in 1877 and 1878. Most traces of the medieval inhabitants were destroyed. Part of the restoration work included the construction of external works to protect the castle ruins from further erosion by the sea, the removal of damage to the stone components of the castle and the protection of the upper edges of the stone walls.

In 1919 John Montagu Douglas Scott, 7th Duke of Buccleuch , decided to sell the island and castle ruins. The mayor of Barrow, Alfred Barrow , objected to this, and the following year the duke agreed to leave the island and castle ruins to the local authorities as a war memorial for those who died in the First World War . In 1973 the castle passed into the hands of the British government and is now managed by English Heritage, which operates the property as a tourist attraction. An archaeological survey was ordered by English Heritage in 1984; Rachel Newman from Lancaster University conducted it. The results of the investigation led to a restoration program that was completed in 1991. The castle ruin is listed as a historical building of the first degree.

architecture

Piel Castle floor plan; A - outer bailey; B - chapel; C - core castle; D - Donjon

The castle is built as a ring castle with a donjon in the southeast corner. The latter is protected by a core and an outer bailey with stone curtains that extend from the donjon to the northwest. The castle was built from stones that were found on the beach and joined with liquid mortar. Smaller masonry around the windows and doors was made from red sandstone ashlar that was brought over from the mainland. Much of the surrounding island fell victim to the erosion by the sea and part of the castle was also lost. Today you can still see fallen stone fragments on the beach below the castle ruins.

The three-story Donjon stands on a low mound of clay , similar to that which makes up the basis of the remaining castle. The donjon is 13.7 meters high, covers a floor area of ​​23 meters × 22.5 meters, is reinforced with protruding buttresses and has a tower on the southeast corner. The original entrance was on the ground floor level, but later a 7.6 x 4.9 meter gatehouse was built on the north side so the entrance was raised to the level of the first floor. A carved, female figure, probably supposed to represent Salome , can be seen above the entrance arch. The donjon had large windows on the ground floor and first floor, the lower windows were later bricked up. The tripartite division of the floor plan was unusual, ensuring that there was a hall in the middle of each floor. The east side of the donjon collapsed as a result of erosion by the sea. Anthony Emery thinks that the term "donjon" is inappropriate for this building; it is more of a residential tower , similar to that of Langley Castle .

The core and outer bailey were also damaged by erosion; they originally formed concentric squares around the donjon and were protected by trenches . The curtain wall of the outer bailey, some 2.4 meters thick, no longer has a lot of substance, but it could have been quite weak when it was built. It is protected by a trench that is up to 13 meters wide and 3 meters deep. Both courtyards are protected by towers, the outer bailey are each 4.7 meters wide. The curtain wall of the main castle is 2.4 meters thick and protected by a 7.6 meter wide moat. Its towers were added later and the gatehouse in the curtain wall of the main castle was only built shortly after the castle was completed. The defenses were already a bit out of date after their completion. In the outer bailey there is a building called "The Chapel", which is 9.4 meters by 4.6 meters. Its original purpose is unknown, it seems to have been built late in the castle's history, possibly after it became in ruins.

There are local legends about a tunnel between the castle and Furness Abbey, which allegedly served the monks as an escape route from the mainland. However, no such tunnel was found.

Individual references and comments

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Anthony Emery: Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500 . Volume 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996. ISBN 978-0-521497-23-7 . P. 240.
  2. ^ A b c Jason Wood: Six Northern Castles - A Review of Recent Work Untertaken by the Lancaster University Archaeological Unit in Castle Studies Group Newsletter . Issue 6 (1992/1993). P. 18.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 'The Parish of Dalton', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8 (1914), pp. 304-319 . Victoria County History. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  4. ↑ James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume 2. Macmillan, New York 1896. pp. 185-186.
  5. ↑ a b c d Piel Castle . Historic England. English Heritage. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  6. ↑ The idea of ​​a fortress from the 12th century on the site of today's castle ruins goes back to a reference in a study from 1404, which stated that the abbey equipment depended on the maintenance of a castle at this point. The charter of the abbey does not contain such a clause.
  7. ↑ a b c d R. Newman: Piel Castle Survey and Excavations 1983-1985 (PDF) pp. 64–67. 1986. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  8. ^ A b Adrian Pettifer: English Castles: A Guide by Counties . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2002. ISBN 978-0-85115-782-5 . P. 272.
  9. ↑ James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume 2. Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 186.
  10. ↑ Susan Rose: Calais: An English Town in France, 1347–1558 . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2008. ISBN 978-1-843834-01-4 . Pp. 39-40.
  11. ↑ a b c d Anthony Emery: Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500 . Volume 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996. ISBN 978-0-521497-23-7 . P. 241.
  12. ↑ James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume 2. Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 187.
  13. ↑ Michael David Raymond: John Wordsworth on Snowdon: The Elegiac Sublime and the Spectacle of Woe . PhD thesis in philosophy. Fordham University, New York 2009. p. 231.
  14. ↑ In William Wordsworth's poem, Piel Castle is written as "Peele Castle", which leads to occasional confusion with Peel Castle on the Isle of Man .
  15. ↑ a b c d e f g R. Newman: Piel Castle Survey and Excavations 1983-1985 (PDF) p. 66, 1986. Accessed August 10, 2016.
  16. ↑ a b c d e R. Newman: Piel Castle Survey and Excavations 1983-1985 (PDF) p. 65, 1986. Accessed August 10, 2016.
  17. ^ R. Newman: Piel Castle Survey and Excavations 1983-1985 (PDF) pp. 65-66. 1986. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  18. ^ Lesley Anne Rose: The Lake District . Crimson Publishing, Richmond 2008. ISBN 978-1-85458-425-0 . P. 142.
  19. ↑ Oliver Berry: The Lake District . Lonely Planet Publications, London 2009. ISBN 978-1-741790-91-7 . P. 187.

Web links

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

Coordinates: 54 ° 3 '45.4 "  N , 3 ° 10' 23.9"  W.