| Summary : A Medieval and Tudor castle. The original castle at Kenilworth is thought to have been a motte and bailey with wooden buildings, established in the 1120s by Geoffrey de Clinton who built most of the Norman great tower. The remains of the original castle, an artificial mound, are now enclosed within the keep, whilst the later inner court is thought to occupy the site of the original bailey. In 1173-4 it became a royal castle; the stone built fortified keep and curtain wall were built at this time, and King John added an outer circuit of stone walls and a dam to hold back a great lake in the early 13th century. In 1253 Henry III granted the castle to Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. The earl led a rebellion against the King but was killed at the battle of Evesham in 1265. His followers endured a long siege at Kenilworth before finally surrendering. In 1361 the castle passed to John of Gaunt (son of Edward III), who developed it as a royal palace, constructing the great hall, associated apartments and services. From 1415, Henry V built an eIaborate manor house at the far end of the lake. In 1553 the castle was granted to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who made alterations, previously ascribed to his son, such as the new stables. Following his execution, it returned to the Crown. The grant was renewed to his son, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester and favourite of Elizabeth I, who sponsored extensive structural development until his death in 1588. Today the site includes a reconstruction of a garden of that period. During the Civil War, the Royalists initially occupied the castle but it was later held by the Parliamentarians, who demolished the north wall of the keep and the north curtain wall to make the castle undefendable in 1650. By the late 17th century Leicester's Gatehouse had been converted into a residence which was inhabited through to the 20th century; the remainder of the buildings were gradually abandoned. This is an English Heritage property. |
More information : Kenilworth Castle. For details see guidebook. (1)
Surveyed. (2)
Important early C12 Keep with some of the earliest meurtrieres in existence. Early C13 curtain walls and towers. Late C14, circa 1391 by Robert Skyllington, banqueting hall comparable with Westminster Hall, though ruinous; domestic buildings etc. Late C15 barbican gatehouse converted 1650 by Colonel Hawksworth into a residence (inhabited by Lord Kenilworth). Late C16 timber-framed barn embodying castle curtain-wall. Associations with John of Gaunt, Queen Elizabeth, etc. Scheduled AM. (3)
Additional references. (4-11)
Listed by Cathcart King. (12)
Founded circa 1122, the castle was acquired by Henry II. King John spent heavily on the outer defences making it one of the largest English castles. However John had to cede the castle as a guarantee of the Magna Carta, and in the mid-13th century it was owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. Circa 1380, John of Gaunt transformed the interior, creating a palatial Great Hall complex, the ruins of which dominate the interior. The last building phase ocurred under Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in the late 16th century. The castle was slighted after the Civil War to prevent its further use as a stronghold.
The remains consist of an inner bailey on a natural knoll, dominated by a massive oblong keep of Norman origins, and a large outer bailey surrounding the inner. The lowest level of the keep has always been filled with soil, suggesting that it encloses an earlier motte. At the corners of the keep are projecting towers, all of the arrow slits except one being converted by Robert Dudley into windows. The North wall was brought down as part of the slighting, in 1649. The keep stands at the North-East corner of the polygonal bailey, which as it remains is John of Gaunt's creation. The buildings back onto the original Norman curtain wall. The main apartment is the Great Hall to the West flanked by two square-faced towers. A kitchen wing linked the Hall with the keep, while the south range consisted consisted of a probable solar and a private chamber. These apartments are separated by a projecting tower containing latrines.Dudley added a large guest block (Leicester's Building) adjoining the bailey on the outside. Between that and the keep, the curtain wall has disappeared. The outer bailey, by King John, is long and low, with many buttresses but few intra-mural towers. It gives the appearance of a concentric castle. On the South and West sides the castle given further protection by the provision of a defensive lake. There are no towers between Mortimer's Gate in the South-East angle and the Swan Tower in the North-West angle. The North curtain wall, protected by a double-moat, was destroyed when slighted, only Lunn's Tower at the North-East angle surviving. Between Lunn's Tower and Mortimer's Tower is the semi-octagonal Water Tower.
Mortimer's Gate was the main entrance until Dudley created a new gatehouse inside the North-East angle, and is one of the finest examples of a double towered type flanking a long passage, although only the lower parts remain. It lies at the head of a narrow causeway, beyond which stood an outer gate (destroyed), and the footings of a third gatehouse have been found beyond that in earth outwork known as The Brays. The causeway was breached in the mid 16th century to drain the defensive lake. (13)
Originally part of the royal manor of Stoneleigh, Henry I granted the manor to his chamberlain, Geoffrey de Clinton who built one of the strongest and most important castles in the Midlands. It was so important that Henry II took it into royal hands on the death of Geoffrey de Clinton II in 1173-4. Granted to Simon de Montfort by Henry III in 1244, it held out against the King for a year after Simon's death at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Henry at once granted it to his son, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, whose descendant, John of Gaunt built the magnificent great hall, and transformed it from a fortress to a palace. Henry VIII spent lavishly on the castle, and following its grant to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in 1563, a new gatehouse was built, and the keep was remodelled to combine feudal splendour with Elizabethan luxury. In 1649 Parliament ordered it rendered untenable for military purposes. (14,15)
Additional reference and photograph. (16)
Kenilworth Castle was established in the 1120s by the royal chamberlain, Geoffrey de Clinton. A royal castle for most of its history, it was expanded and enhanced by King John, John of Gaunt and Henry V. Under the owenership of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the castle played host to Elizabeth I on several occasions. The English Heritage guide includes a tour and history of the site, ilustrated with plans, reconstruction drawings and historical images. It contains features on the development of the castle and about the historical personalities and events associated with it, such as the "Great Siege of 1266", which is thought to be the longest seige of a castle in English medieval history. (17)
A 16th century plan of a proposed ambitious extension of Kenilworth Castle, but which was never carried out, is held at Longleat House. This potential plan of works would have meant a large scale addition of an eastern lodging wing across the entrance to the Inner Court, in a style influenced by French court architecture. The plan is a pen and ink drawing, probably of about 1566-1568. It is thought to have been commissioned by the Earl of Leicester and drawn by the architect Henry Hawthorne. (18-19)
An important documentary source for Kenilworth in the Earl of Leicester's time is an inventory which is believed to have been made in about 1578, three years after the famous revels of 1575, held in honour of the visiting Queen Elizabeth I. (20)
A further very useful documentary source for examining the development of Kenilworth in the Elizabethan period is a survey of Kenilworth Castle, probably made for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, when he was granted the castle in 1563. It is the only source of the period that gives the dimensions of the buildings at Kenilworth. Analysis of the survey also shows that a number of features thought to have been part of the rebuilding of the site by Dudley are more liekly to have been built by his father the Duke of Northumberland during his short tenure at the castle in 1553. These feature include: the tiltyard on the dam, the new stables (traditionally and now erroneously known as "Leicester's Stables") and the new bridge at the north gate. Contrasting the status quo shown in the survey with the later developments by Dudley serves to show how wide ranging these changes were. The original document is held in the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth. (21-22)
Review of the reconstructed Elizabethan garden commissioned by English Heritage at Kenilworth Castle. (23)
A new guidebook details the history of the castle, and provides more detail on the Elizabethan garden, a reconstruction of which is now open to the public. (24) |