Buckden Towers
Buckden Towers | |
---|---|
Buckden Near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire in England | |
Coordinates | 52°17′39″N 000°15′09″W / 52.29417°N 0.25250°W |
Type | Fortified house |
Site information | |
Open to the public | Grounds open regularly |
Condition | Used as a Christian retreat |
Site history | |
Built | 1175 |
In use | 1175-Present |
grid reference TL192677 |
Buckden Towers, formerly known as Buckden Palace, is a medieval
History
The 15th-century buildings are the remains of the palace of the
The antiquary Edward John Rudge published a history, Illustrated and Historical Account of Buckden Palace, in 1839.[1]
Present day
The site is a scheduled monument and the great tower,
The Claretian Missionaries were given the site by the Catholic Bishop of Northampton in 1956. Initially it was used as a junior seminary carrying out the preliminary training of 11- to 18-year-olds aspiring to become Claretian Missionary priests or brothers. The junior seminary closed in July 1965. Since then the Towers complex has been developed by the Claretians as a retreat and conference centre. Also on the site is the Catholic Church of St Hugh of Lincoln, which stands on the site of the great chamber of the medieval palace and was built as the chapel for the junior seminary. The grounds, but not the buildings, of the Towers are open to visitors at all reasonable times but dogs are not permitted.
Notable visitors
- Henry III in 1248
- Edward I in 1291
- Richard III in 1483
- Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of Henry VII) in 1501
- Queen Catherine of Aragon – resided here from July 1533 to May 1534 until she was transferred a few miles away to Kimbolton Castle, where she died in 1536. She was buried at Peterborough Cathedral.[5]
- Henry VIII and Queen Catherine Howard in 1541. They stayed at Buckden Palace in 1541, during a summer tour that the King and Queen took of England before her coronation. It was during this tour that Catherine would be accused of committing adultery with Thomas Culpeper which led to her beheading for treason in 1542.[5]
- On 16 July 1551, Henry, Duke of Suffolk and his brother Lord Charles died here from the sweating sickness; they had come to Buckden to avoid the sickness at Cambridge.[6]
- James VI and I in 1619
- In the 1630s Bishop Williams held state at Buckden, entertaining his neighbours with lavish displays of hospitality.
- The 9th Light Dragoons, the West York and Herefordshire Militia, and a few artillerymen.[7]
- William Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln – buried there.
See also
Bibliography
- Pettifer, Adrian. (2002) English Castles: a Guide by Counties. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0-85115-782-5.
Footnotes
- ^ Woodward, Bernard Barham (1897). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 49. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Historic England. "The Great Tower (1130324)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
- ^ Historic England. "The Inner Gatehouse (1130290)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
- ^ Historic England. "The Curtain Wall (1130444)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
- ^ a b [1] Buckden Palace Page on Cambridge Military History Website, accessed 10 January 2015
- ^ Strype, John, Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. 2 part 1, Oxford (1822), 491
- ^ "The 10th instant". Cumberland Pacquet, and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser. 18 January 1814. p. 3.