Brough Castle
Brough Castle | ||
---|---|---|
Grid reference grid reference NY791141 | | |
Site information | ||
Owner | English Heritage | |
Open to the public | Yes | |
Site history | ||
Materials | Stone | |
Events | Great Revolt of 1173-74 |
Brough Castle is a ruined
The
In 1921, Brough Castle was given to the state and is now run by English Heritage as a tourist attraction. It is a listed building and a scheduled monument.
11th century
Brough Castle was built on the site of the
Following the
12th century
The region around Brough continued to be disputed between the kings of England and Scotland; in 1173, William the Lion of Scotland invaded as part of the Great Revolt against the rule of Henry II. William's army struck south but failed to take Wark and moved on to attack Carlisle instead; when that failed too, they successfully took Appleby before turning their attention to Brough.[9]
Brough, guarded by six
Henry II had a square stone keep constructed in the 1180s by first Theobald de Valoignes and then
13th–15th centuries
King John granted the lordship of Westmoreland, including Brough, to
The Cliffords successfully recombined the former Vieuxpont estates by 1333, and were able to controlled the Eden valley through their castles at Appleby, Brougham, Pendragon and Brough.[22] Robert Clifford controlled Brough by around 1308 and improved the defences, rebuilding the east wall and constructing a new hall, alongside his apartments which were located in a new circular tower, called Clifford's Tower.[23] These apartments may have been similar to those surviving at Appleby Castle, also built by Robert.[24]
Robert died fighting the Scots at the
In the 1380s
The gatehouse was reinforced with buttresses and an additional courtyard built within the bailey around 1450, possibly by
16th–17th centuries
Henry Clifford used the castle until 1521, when a fire broke out after a lavish Christmas Feast, destroying the inhabitable parts of the castle.[30] Henry died shortly afterwards and the castle remained ruined for many years.[5]
The castle was restored in the 17th century by Lady Anne Clifford, a major landowner in the Clifford family who retired to the north during the years of the Commonwealth after the English Civil War.[31] Although Anne was a royalist, she was protected by powerful friends within the ruling Parliamentary faction and able to enjoy her properties freely.[32] She rebuilt a number of the Clifford castles, including Brough, where she conducted restoration work between 1659 and 1661.[33] Anne undertook more work at Brough than anywhere else on her estates, aiming to restore it to its pre-1521 condition.[34] Although Anne would have been familiar with contemporary styles, her restoration work was quite traditional in approach, drawing on existing northern castle architecture and deliberately trying to recreate 12th century features in the keep.[35] As part of this work, new windows, a ground-floor entrance to the keep and new service accommodation was installed to allow her to live a late 17th-century lifestyle, and the castle had 24 fireplaces by 1665.[36]
Anne renamed Brough's keep as "the Roman Tower", in the belief that it had been built by the Romans.[37] She divided her time at the castle between living in Clifford's Tower, part of the castle's apartments and, as work progressed, the keep; by 1665, she was able to spend her Christmas at the castle for the first time.[38] In 1666 another fire struck the castle, however, rendering it uninhabitable.[13] In the aftermath, the remaining buildings in the bailey was converted for use as a law court, and Anne died in 1676, the castle unrestored.[39]
18th–21st centuries
Anne's daughter, Margaret, married John Tufton, the Earl of Thanet.[5] John's son, Thomas, stripped the castle around 1695 to support the reconstruction of Appleby Castle.[5] The furnishings were sold in 1714 and in 1763 much of the stone from Clifford's Tower was plundered for use in the construction of Brough Mill; the castle was subsequently completely abandoned.[13] The south-west corner of the keep partially collapsed around 1800.[32]
In 1920 more of the south-west corner collapsed and the castle's owner, Lord Hothfield, gave the property to the Office of Works.[32] Work to stabilise the ruins was carried out and the castle, as a listed building and scheduled monument, eventually passed into the control of English Heritage as a tourist attraction.[32] There were initial archaeological excavations on the site in 1925, and then further work in 1970–71, 1993, 2007 and 2009.[40] Erosion continues to be a threat to the castle's masonry, and as of 2010 English Heritage considered the castle's condition to be declining, with some parts at particular risk.[41]
See also
Notes
- ^ Opinions vary as to how much of the keep was wooden; John Charlton concludes that the greater part of the keep was stone, while Higham and Barker have more recently concluded that the fortification was primarily wooden.[7]
- ^ It is impossible to accurately compare 13th century and modern prices or incomes. For comparison, £600 represents around three times the typical average annual income for a typical baron in 1200.[19]
References
- ^ Gaskell, Noakes and Wood, p. 4.
- ^ Noakes, p. 4; Pettifer, p. 266.
- ^ Noakes, p. 4; Charlton, p. 14.
- ^ Gaskell, Noakes and Wood, p. 4; Pounds, p. 43.
- ^ a b c d Mackenzie, p. 283.
- ^ Noakes, p. 4; Higham and Barker, p. 122; Charlton, p. 14.
- ^ Higham and Barker, p. 122; Charlton, p. 14.
- ^ Gaskell, Noakes and Wood, p. 5; Pounds, p. 44.
- ^ Brown, pp. 166–167.
- ^ Goodall, p. 138; Brown, pp.167, 169–170; Charlton, p. 14.
- ^ Goodall, p. 138; Brown, pp. 168–169; Charlton, p. 14.
- ^ Goodall, p. 138; Charlton, p. 15.
- ^ a b c d e f Noakes, p. 5.
- ^ Pettifer, p. 266; Gaskill, Noakes and Woods, p. 5; Noakes, p. 5.
- ^ Hulme, p. 216; Noakes, p. 5.
- ^ Goodall, p. 164.
- ^ Chron.de Lanercost (Bannatyne Cl.), 12.
- ^ a b Noakes, p. 5; Charlton, p. 16.
- ^ Pounds, p. 147.
- ^ Charlton, p. 16.
- ^ Pounds, p. 142.
- ^ Emery, p. 169; Charlton, p. 16.
- ^ a b c d Charlton, p. 17.
- ^ Goodall, p. 244.
- ^ a b Gaskell, Noakes and Woods, p. 5.
- ^ Creighton, p. 166.
- ^ Emery, pp.170, 262; Pounds, p. 188; Charlton, p. 17.
- ^ King, p. 153.
- ^ Pettifer, p. 266.
- ^ Goodall, p. 408; Charlton, p. 17.
- ^ Johnson, p. 117.
- ^ a b c d Charlton, p. 20.
- ^ Goodall, p. 244; Johnson, p. 117.
- ^ Chew, p. 107.
- ^ Johnson, p. 117; Chew, p. 109.
- ^ Chew, pp.107-108.
- ^ Goodall, p. 481.
- ^ Goodall, p. 244; Chew, p. 109.
- ^ Noakes, p. 5; Charlton, p. 20.
- ^ Gaskill, Noakes and Woods, pp.5-6.
- ^ Heritage at Risk Register 2010 North West , p. 32, English Heritage, accessed 31 March 2012.
Bibliography
- Brown, R. Allen (1962). English Castles. London: Batsford. OCLC 1392314.
- Creighton, Oliver Hamilton (2005). Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England. London: Equinox. ISBN 9781904768678.
- Charlton, John (1986). Brough Castle, Cumbria. London: English Heritage. ISBN 1850742650.
- Chew, Elizabeth V. (2003). "'Repaired by me to my Exceedingly Great Cost and Charges': Anne Clifford and the Uses of Architecture". In Hills, Helen (ed.). Architecture and the Politics of Gender in Early Modern Europe. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Press. ISBN 9780754603092.
- Emery, Anthony (1996). Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500: Northern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521497237.
- Gaskill, Nicola; Noakes, Helen; Woods, Frances (2009). An Archaeological Watching Brief and Investigation at Brough Castle, Church Brough, Cumbria (PDF). Alston, UK: North Pennines Archaeology.
- ISBN 9780300110586.
- Hulme, Richard (2008). "Twelfth Century Great Towers – The Case for the Defence" (PDF). The Castle Studies Group Journal (21): 209–229.
- Johnson, Matthew (2002). Behind the Castle Gate: From Medieval to Renaissance. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 9780415258876.
- King, D. J. Cathcart (1991). The Castle in England and Wales: An Interpretative History. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415003504.
- Mackenzie, James D. (1896). The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure, Vol II. New York: Macmillan. OCLC 504892038.
mackenzie story and structure.
- Noakes, Helen (2008). An Archaeological Field Evaluation at Brough Castle, Church Brough, Cumbria (PDF). Alston, UK: North Pennines Archaeology.
- Pettifer, Adrian (2002). English Castles: A Guide by Counties. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 9780851157825.
- Pounds, Norman John Greville (1994). The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A Social and Political History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521458283.
External links
- English Heritage visitor information
- Verteris: Roman Fort at Roman Britain Online