Thornbury Castle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
West front of Thornbury Castle

Thornbury Castle is a country house in Thornbury in the English county of Gloucestershire . The house, which Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham , had built from 1511, was not intended to serve as a fortress, but as an early form of a country house in the Tudor period . English Heritage has listed it as a Grade I Historic Building.

In 930 there was a manor house on the site . Some of the original plans for a grand residence were "well advanced" when the Duke was beheaded in 1521 on the orders of his distant cousin, King Henry VIII, for suspected treason . As with the Royal Palace at Sheen, the main wings of Thornbury Castle framed inner courtyards. Of this, the symmetrical entrance wing with the central gatehouse and octagonal corner towers still stands today , as well as two less regular side wings with many irregular protrusions and towers.

After the Duke's death, Thornbury Castle was confiscated by the King. He spent ten days there with his Queen Anne Boleyn in August 1535 . After the English Civil War the country house fell into disrepair and the Howard family did not renovate it until 1824. It lies behind St. Mary's Church, whose founding date is in Norman times.

From 1966 to 1986 the country house served as one of the finest restaurants in the UK . It was operated by Kenneth Bell MBE with staff who e.g. B. Cookbook author Nigel Slater or Simon Gault , who included the judge on the TV show MasterChef New Zealand in the early years of their culinary careers.

Today the castle is a luxury hotel and restaurant with 26 rooms. You can also celebrate weddings there.

There is a GWR Castle Class -4-6-0 locomotive called 7027 Thornbury Castle .

Gallery images

  • Thornbury Castle from the tower of St. Mary's Church

  • Detail from the chimneys of the country house

  • Datail of the chimneys of the country house, masonry from 1514

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Summerson: Architecture in Britain 1530-1830 . 9th edition 1993. p. 23.
  2. ^ Letters & Papers Henry VIII . Volume 8 (1885). No. 989. The King's Gestes (advance plan). July 5, 1535; Correspondence from Cromwell and his servants at Thornbury. Volume 9 (1886). No. 114, 155, 124, 157.
  3. ^ Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger . Fourth Estate Ltd, 2003. ISBN 1-84115-289-7 .

Web links and sources

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

Coordinates: 51 ° 36 '49 "  N , 2 ° 31' 48.4"  W.