Bourne Castle

Last updated February 11, 2024

Bourne Castle was a castle in the market town of Bourne in southern Lincolnshire (grid reference TF095199 ).

A ringwork castle may have been established in Bourne soon after 1071 by Oger the Breton (largest landholder in Bourne in the 1086 Domesday account). The founding of a castle which may have been built on the old Saxon manor, or within the vicinity, may have came about from the rise and quashing of the Saxon rebellion led by the legendary Hereward ‘the Wake’. It is believed that the rebellion had been funded by the Saxon Earl Morcar.

The manor of Bourne passed into the hands of Ralph, Son of Oger, thence onto William and Richard Du Rullos (c1114).

At some point in its early life the castle transitioned into a motte and Bailey and built from timber. It is believed that the motte may have been added by Baldwin FitzGilbert (son of Gilbert Fitz Richard, of the De Clare family)(this Baldwin is not to be confused with the older Baldwin FitzGilbert aka Baldwin the Sheriff who built Oakhampton Castle).

The castle passed into the Wac family (Wake) through the marriage of Hugh Wac and Emma FitzBaldwin (c1141) upon the death of Baldwin FitzGilbert in 1154.

The castle transitioned from timber into a grander stone castle under the lordship of the Wake’s. The motte was reduced and a stone keep built. The keep had been surrounded by an semi-oval curtain wall which may have attached itself to the stone keep (donjon).

The castle (which is probably best described as a ‘farming castle’) was at its grandest under the lordship of the Wake’s.

An inventory of 1380 states there had been 413 houses, 2295 inhabitants, and about 200 serving in the castle of Bourne under the ladyship of Blanche Wake, wife of Thomas Wake.

In 1356 a couple from Irnham, Luttrell and Despenser were married at the chapel within the castle grounds.

The castle passed into the hands of the Holland family. Something drastic had happened in Bourne after 1380 because in 1443 it is recorded that over 140 messages lay in waste snd ruinous^[2]. How the castle had fared during this time is anyone’s guess.

It must have been functional at some point in the mid 1400s because Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, lived there with Henry Stafford for five years.

The castle passed into the hands of Henry VIII illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, until his death in 1536.

The castle had been described by antiquarian John Leland as being hills and ditches (historians have used this to incorrectly state that the castle had been ruinous, yet Leland never mentions the state of the castle. He does however make mention that ‘every feoderie (servant) knows his place of service and that much service is done to the castle).

Another antiquarian by the name of Peaks describes the castle. This antiquarian may have seen the castle prior to Leland, in the early 1500s because he describes the donjon.

By the mid 1500s William Cecil, treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, is in possession of the manor of Bourne. It is during the lordship of the Cecil family that we no longer hear about the castle.

There is a tradition that the castle had been destroyed in the. Civil war of 1645, but if this we cannot be certain.

It is interesting to note that a watching brief of 2002 dates activity from late 11th century early 12th century to the mid 17th century.

Traces of the enclosed mound and inner and outer moats (forming part of the Bourne Eau) are all that now survive, although a resistivity survey by Charles Hobbit in 2006 , and a far greater survey initiated by local historian Steven Giullari in 2021 shows the footprint of the castle which can also be seen during long spells of extremely hot weather. ^[3]

The land the castle occupied is now a park, known as the Wellhead Park, owned by the Bourne United Charities and is open to the public.^[4]

The first reference to Bourne Castle was in the 1179/80 Pipe Roll. There are other mentions of Bourne Castle throughout its history including the IPM (Inquisition Post Mortem) and the Close Rolls.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bartholomew Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere</span> Member of the Parliament of England

Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere was an English soldier, diplomat, member of parliament, landowner and nobleman. He was the son and heir of Sir Gunselm de Badlesmere and Joan FitzBernard. He fought in the English army both in France and Scotland during the later years of the reign of Edward I of England and the earlier part of the reign of Edward II of England. He was executed after participating in an unsuccessful rebellion led by Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alveston</span> Human settlement in England

Alveston is a village, civil parish and former royal manor in South Gloucestershire, England, inhabited in 2014 by about 3,000 people. The village lies 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Thornbury and 10 miles (16 km) north of Bristol. Alveston is twinned with Courville sur Eure, France. The civil parish also includes the villages of Rudgeway and Earthcott.

Shropshire was established during the division of Saxon Mercia into shires in the 10th century. It is first mentioned in 1006. After the Norman Conquest it experienced significant development, following the granting of the principal estates of the county to eminent Normans, such as Roger De Montgomery and his son Robert de Bellême.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olveston</span> Village in South Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Olveston is a small village and larger parish in South Gloucestershire, England. The parish comprises the villages of Olveston and Tockington, and the hamlets of Old Down, Ingst and Awkley. The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 2,033. Alveston became a separate church parish in 1846. The district has been inhabited since the Stone Age, and the salt marshes that made up almost half of the parish, were progressively drained in Roman and Saxon times. A sea wall was constructed at the same time to prevent flooding from the nearby estuary of the River Severn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restormel Castle</span> Norman castle in Cornwall, England

Restormel Castle lies by the River Fowey near Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England, UK. It is one of the four chief Norman castles of Cornwall, the others being Launceston, Tintagel and Trematon. The castle is notable for its perfectly circular design. Once a luxurious residence of the Earl of Cornwall, the castle was all but ruined by the 16th century. It was briefly reoccupied and fought over during the English Civil War, but was subsequently abandoned. It is now in the care of English Heritage and open to the public.

Bourne Abbey and the Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is a scheduled Grade I church in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. The building remains in parochial use, despite the 16th-century Dissolution, as the nave was used by the parish, probably from the time of the foundation of the abbey in 1138.

Wiston Castle is a motte and bailey castle in the Pembrokeshire village of Wiston in south west Wales and is one of the best examples of its type in Wales. The castle and village were founded by Wizo, a Flemish settler who was granted the land by Henry I of England after he had wrested control from the previous owner, Arnulf de Montgomery. The castle was captured by the Welsh on several occasions but on each occasion it was retaken. It was abandoned during the thirteenth century when the then owner moved to nearby Picton Castle.

Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, was the son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and brother of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, whom he succeeded to the Earldom of Pembroke and Lord Marshal of England upon his brother's death on 6 April 1231.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Fitzharding</span> Anglo-Saxon nobleman

Robert Fitzharding was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman from Bristol who was granted the feudal barony of Berkeley in Gloucestershire. He rebuilt Berkeley Castle, and founded the Berkeley family which still occupies it today. He was a wealthy Bristol merchant and a financier of the future King Henry II of England (1133-1189) in the period known as the Anarchy during which Henry's mother, the Empress Matilda (1102-1167), mounted repeated military challenges to King Stephen. Fitzharding founded St. Augustine's Abbey, which after the Reformation became Bristol Cathedral. Many members of the Berkeley family were buried within it, and some of their effigies survive there. As J. Horace Round asserted he was one of the very few Anglo-Saxon noblemen who managed to retain their noble status in Norman England and successfully integrate with the Norman nobility, if not the only one.

Bronllys Castle is a motte and bailey fortress standing south of Bronllys, towards Talgarth in Powys, Wales. The original castle, constructed of wood, was founded in or soon after 1100 by Richard Fitz Pons, the owner of the nearby Herefordshire barony of Clifford, who was a supporter of Bernard of Neufmarché.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baldwin FitzGilbert</span> 11th-century Norman nobleman in England

Baldwin FitzGilbert was a Norman magnate and one of the 52 Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror, of whom he held the largest fiefdom in Devon, comprising 176 holdings or manors. He was feudal baron of Okehampton, seated at Okehampton Castle in Devon.

Blaenllynfi Castle is a privately owned ruinous stone castle near the village of Bwlch in southern Powys, Wales. It was probably built in the early thirteenth century. It was captured several times during the rest of the century and apparently was never fully repaired afterwards and fell into ruins. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Stockport Castle was a promontory castle in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The castle was in the medieval town, overlooking a ford over the River Mersey. It was first documented in 1173, but the next mention of it is in 1535 when it was in ruins. What remained of the castle was demolished in 1775.

Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond was an Anglo-Norman peer and soldier. He was the second son of Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and his wife Maud de Lacy, Countess of Gloucester. In 1272 he served a term as Lieutenant of the Duchy of Aquitaine. On 26 January 1276 he was granted the Lordship of Thomond by Edward I of England; he spent the next eight years attempting to conquer it from the O'Brien dynasty, kings of Thomond.

William de Lancaster I, or William Fitz Gilbert, was a nobleman of the 12th century in Northwest England during the Anarchy, and the period during which his region was ruled by King David I of Scotland. His position survived the return of English rule under King Henry II, and his most important lordship, which had previously come together under Ivo de Taillebois, would evolve into what was eventually known as the barony of Kendal. According to a document some generations later, he was also referred to as William de Tailboys when younger, and then became "William de Lancaster, baron of Kendal". He died in about 1170.

Ralph Fitzwilliam, or Ralph, son of William de Grimthorpe, Lord of Greystoke, was a feudal baron with extensive landholdings in the North of England, representative of a manorial lordship seated where Grimthorpe Hill rises to commanding views a mile to the north of Pocklington in the Yorkshire Wolds. He gave sustained military service and leadership through the Scottish and Welsh campaigns of Edward I and was summoned to parliament from 1295 to 1315. His marriage in c. 1282 brought him other manors including Morpeth in Northumberland and its appurtenances. In 1297 he was enfeoffed as tenant-in-chief of the entire barony of Greystoke, seated at Greystoke in Cumberland but with Yorkshire estates, through his matrilineal Greystok descent. He entered upon these in his own right in 1306. Having served in the retinue of Aymer de Valence, during the first decade of Edward II's reign he remained dependable as a military leader and royal lieutenant in the defence administration of the northern counties and Scottish marches. His descendants adopted the Greystoke name, and their inheritance continued in the male line until the end of the 15th century.

An Inquisition post mortem is an English medieval or early modern record of the death, estate and heir of one of the king's tenants-in-chief, made for royal fiscal purposes. The process of making such inquisition was effected by the royal escheators in each county where the deceased held land. The earliest inq.p.m. was made in 1236, in the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272), and the practice ceased c. 1640, at the start of the English Civil War, and was finally abolished by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660, which ended the feudal system.

Liddel Strength is an ancient monument near Carwinley, Cumbria, in northwest England. It consists of the earthwork remains of an Anglo-Norman border fortification destroyed by the Scots in 1346 and fragmentary remains of a pele tower subsequently built upon the site. It lies on a cliff on the south bank of the Liddel Water, overlooking the Liddel Water's confluence with the River Esk; the last high ground before the Esk reaches the Solway Plain. The Liddel Water and the Esk (downstream) form the modern Anglo-Scottish border; formerly they were the southern boundary of the Debatable Lands.

The feudal barony of Okehampton was a very large feudal barony, the largest mediaeval fiefdom in the county of Devon, England, whose caput was Okehampton Castle and manor. It was one of eight feudal baronies in Devonshire which existed during the mediaeval era.

The Lordship of Brecknock was an Anglo-Norman marcher lordship located in southern central Wales.

References

↑ Historic England. "Shippon Barn (Grade II) (1241937)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 April 2013.
↑ Inquisition Post Mortem of Joan Stafford 1443
↑ Historic England. "Bourne Castle (348162)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 21 July 2010.
↑ Needle, Rex (2010). "Well Head park". Bourne United Charities. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2013.

Fry, Plantagenet Somerset (1980). The David & Charles Book of Castles. David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3.
Armitage, E S (1912). Early Norman Castles. pp. 107–8.
Cope-Faulkner, Paul (April 2002). Archaeological Watching Brief During Pipeline Trenching at Bourne Castle, Bourne, Lincolnshire (BCD 01). Vol. Report No. 85/02. Archaeological Project Services.

52°45′56″N0°22′43″W / 52.76561°N 0.37856°W / 52.76561; -0.37856

This article about a Lincolnshire building or structure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article about an English castle is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Historic England. "Shippon Barn (Grade II) (1241937)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 April 2013.

[2] Inquisition Post Mortem of Joan Stafford 1443

[3] Historic England. "Bourne Castle (348162)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 21 July 2010.

[WP-4] Needle, Rex (2010). "Well Head park". Bourne United Charities. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2013.

[2]

[3]

[4]