More information : [TQ 252503] REIGATE CASTLE [GT] (Site of) MOAT [GT] (3 times)
BARONS CAVE [GT] CAVES [GT] (1)
Reigate Castle .. occupies a natural sand-hill, which has been artificially scarped, forming a plateau of about 300' from East to West, by 200' wide at the western end and 150' at the eastern end. At the foot of the scarp is a ditch, of varying widths, from 60' to 30'. The crest of the scarp had a stone wall round it at one period. This formed the inner ward of the castle. The entrance was to the east, by the causeway, perhaps once broken by a drawbridge, across the ditch. There was an entrance tower standing here 120 years ago. The dwelling house was latterly, and probably always, at the wider western end. Outside the north-western part of the ditch, up the hill, was an extensive outwork. This part of the site is partly covered by private grounds, and has been cut into by building and a road, and is hard to define exactly. From this outwork or barbican a wet ditch ran eastwards and then southwards in a curve. The sound ditch of the inner ward is continued eastwards for about 320' and has a short limb reaching north and divided from the south-eastern extremity of the wet ditch by a rank. The wet ditch and extended dry ditch inclose an outer ward of nearly twice the area of the inner ward, and lying north-east and east of it.
From the northern outwork or barbican a wall was carried round the west and south sides of the castle on the outside of the dry fosse round the inner ward, making a narrow outer ward here also. Some small parts of this outer wall seem to remain in the garden walls of the houses on the south side of the castle, being the only stonework left in sites with any claims to antiquity ...' The date of the castle is not known but it was in existence in 1216 (a) and the residence of the Earls of Surrey, lords of the manor of Reigate. By 1441, however'... the houses within the castle were ruinous' (b) and the survey of 1622 calls it 'a decayed castle with a very small house' (c) It was briefly occupied by both sides during the Civil war but a Parliamentary Order of 1648 (d) requiring it to be made indefensible no doubt completed the ruin.
'In 1782 Watson (e) gives a contemporary view from the south, which shows the small house, a one storied building with two wings, the Gate Tower, apparently of about 14thC. date, in good preservation, a round tower to the southwest and a bit of ruinous wall between these two towers. It is badly drawn and the Gate Tower is in the wrong place, according to his own plan, and judging from the existing causeway over the ditch.
Some French jetons and a large mediaeval spur have been found in the castle.
The caverns are under the western part of the inner enclosure. There is an entrance from the middle of the castle, and another, perhaps more recent, from the western ditch. The caverns were in all probability dry cellars and storehouses to begin with, enlarged later....' (2)
Reigate Castle was probably constructed soon after 1088 when William de Warenne was created Earl of Surrey and received a grant of Reigate from the King. It was strongly fortified by the Earl of Arundel in the late 14th C.
[The history of its decay is given]
The site is now a public park and the low mound used as a children's playground is thought to conceal the foundations of an outer gatehouse or barbican.
The mock antique gateway was erected 1777. [See AO/58/381/4 for plan of castle) (3)
'Edwin Freshfield exhibited ... the brass handle of a knife in the form of a lion crowned and standing on his hind legs, holding in front of him a tall cartouche charged with a King's head, found in an old wall of the Castle Hill, Reigate and is probably of late sixteenth century date'. (4)
[Description and plan. Showing the site of a round tower at the SE corner of the castle mound] (5)
[Description and plan] (6)
Large rowel spur found within the walls of Reigate Castle. 'In 1802 a spur of extraordinary size was found in the castle butts at the depth of 3' in the ground'. (7)
In 1802 a spur of extraordinary size was found in the Castle Butts at a depth of 3 feet in the ground. [Castle Butts - A block of cottages known as Providence Terrace occupies the site of a tenement called Castle Butts in 1644. It lay on the west side of the castle just outside the ditch - See Authority 3 p.203]
[Text accompanying an illustration of a large rowel spur]
'Found two feet below the surface near the castle of Reigate in 1804. In possession of A.Glover'. (9)
On the north side of the castle site, are the remains of a moat now cemented into an ornamental sheet of water. Excavations in 1813 proved the moat to possess an 18" - thick lining of clay. (10)
Scheduled. (11)
Centred TQ 2520 5035. The general description given by authority 2 is correct. The earthworks forming the inner bailey are intact although somewhat mutilated by the construction of public gardens. The moat on the NE side of the outer bailey has gone, but its course can be traced near the SE corner, by a vague depression in the ground. The children's playground (at TQ 2515 5042) contains no trace of the barbican or outer gatehouse referred to by authorities 2 and 3. No structural remains exist of the original castle buildings. Some old stonework is visible in garden walls to the south of the castle (presumably those referred to in para. 2 of authority 2) but there is no indication that it is in situ.
A modern entrance to the caves is within the road tunnel. A part of them is at present occupied by Reigate Miniature Rifle Club. Present location of the finds referred to has not been ascertained.
The O.S. 2" map (1806-10) shows the outer bailey complete, the shape corresponding to plan reproduced in authority 3. (12)
Description still applies: pub.1:1250 survey correct. (13) |