Melbourne Castle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Melbourne Castle was a medieval castle in Melbourne,

Derbyshire. It was built on the site of an earlier royal manor Melbourne Castle
house that had provided accommodation for noblemen Melbourne, Derbyshire
hunting in a nearby royal park in the reign of King John.
The castle's construction began in 1311 by Thomas, 2nd
Earl of Lancaster, and continued until 1322, shortly before
his execution, but the work was never fully completed.

From the early fourteenth century, Melbourne Castle was

mainly in the possession of the Earls and Dukes of
Lancaster or the crown. Improvements and repairs were
made, notably by John of Gaunt, and the building was in
generally good condition throughout the fifteenth and early 19th century print of a 1602 drawing
sixteenth centuries. John I, Duke of Bourbon, was kept at
Melbourne for 19 years after his capture at the Battle of
Agincourt in 1415, and the castle was considered as a
possible prison for Mary Queen of Scots, although events
led to her incarceration elsewhere.

The castle was in decline by the end of the reign of

Elizabeth I. Although the stonework was sound, minimal
maintenance had led to significant deterioration of other
parts of the structure. The manor was purchased in 1604 by
Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon, who had his own
castle in nearby Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The Melbourne
property was then demolished and used as a source for
building materials. All that remains of Melbourne Castle
today is a section of wall about 15 m (50 ft) long and 4 m
(13 ft) high and some foundations; nothing is known of the
internal layout of the former building. The ruins are grade II
listed and the site is a scheduled monument. There is no
public access to the castle remains.
Melbourne
Castle
Contents
1 Background Coordinates 52.822715N 1.424114W
2 Description
3 History Site history
3.1 Early years Built Crenellated in the 14th century
3.2 Lancastrian improvements
3.3 Decline Demolished 1637
4 Ruins and archaeology
5 Notes
6 References
7 Cited texts

Background
Melbourne is a town in South Derbyshire close to the River Trent, which may have originated as buildings
associated with the royal manor to the south of the nearby settlement at Kings Newton.[1] Melbourne Castle
was constructed on the site of an earlier manor house of unknown date; there is an old tradition that the manor
was originally established in about the year 900, during the reign of Alfred the Great, but there is no evidence
for this.[2] As recorded in the Domesday Book, the manor of Melbourne and its lands were the property of King
Edward the Confessor prior to the Norman Conquest. The property then passed into the hands of William I of
England.[3] After creating the Diocese of Carlisle in 1133, Henry I gave the manor for life to thelwold, the
first bishop. Some time later, the diocese built a palace nearby on the site of what is now Melbourne Hall.[4]
When Bishop thelwold died in about 1156, the manor reverted to the crown.[5]

A royal hunting park close to Melbourne was probably created by King John around 1200,[1] and the King is
known to have stayed at the manor house on at least five occasions.[3] John gave the manor and its lands to
Hugh Beauchamp, although they appear to have soon reverted to the crown,[6] being gifted by Henry III to
Bishop Walter Mauclerk of Carlisle in about 1230. The estate returned to the crown on the bishop's death in
1248, and Henry granted the land to his son, Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster in 1265.[4] At some
later date, the manor appears to have been granted to a Philip Marc,[6] before passing to Thomas, 2nd Earl of
Lancaster, the King's son. This was in 1298 when he came of age, his father having died two years earlier.
Early references to the house itself are rare, but there are records of repairs to the gutters in 1246 and to the roof
of the King's Chamber in 1248.[7]

Description
The castle was built to the east of the fourteenth-century town on a
slightly raised location. The area enclosed within the castle's outer walls
was about 2.8 ha (7 acres), but with outbuildings, other ancillary
constructions and orchards, the total area has been estimated to be at
least 8 ha (20 acres). The walls were constructed with rubble faced with
ashlar, and even without their former polished facings the walls are
about 3 m (10 ft) thick.[2]
1733 print of a drawing from around
1580
All that is known of the appearance of the castle is from contemporary
drawings. Although these may seem fanciful to modern eyes, there are
better preserved sites which share some features. Tutbury and Pontefract castles both have similar gatehouses
and chapels, and Tutbury's motte and Pontefract's curtain wall are also close in style to those in the illustrations.
Sandal Castle has a multi-angular tower like those depicted, and this feature is confirmed at Melbourne by
foundations which still remain.[7]

A bakehouse, kitchen and chapel are recorded, as well as the hall, great chamber, and drawbridge, but the
details of the internal layout for the castle are unknown.[8]

History
Early years

Earl Thomas granted the manor to his steward, Robert de Holland, in February 1308.[7] In 1311, Robert
obtained a licence to crenellate from Edward II in order to fortify the manor house,[3] and the more modest
earlier building was converted into a castle between 1311 and 1322. Local tradition says that the stone was
obtained from a quarry on the site of what is now Melbourne Pool.[1] The records show 1,313 was spent on
the project in the year 131314,[9][a] of which 548 was paid to masons for dressing stone. Several masons
working on the project were involved in an affray at Ravenstone in 1315.[7] The important medieval buildings
in Melbourne were constructed from the local bedrock, Millstone Grit.
This is a coarsely grained sandstone which can be worked to produce
good-quality ashlar.[11] The village was centred around the church,
castle and High Street until the late eighteenth century.[12]

Earl Thomas, with other barons, captured King Edward's favourite,

Piers Gaveston, and killed him in 1312. Nevertheless, the King stayed at
Melbourne in 1314. For a time, after Edward's defeat at Bannockburn,
the earl, a friend of the Scots, controlled most of England, but by 1321, End view of the surviving wall
Edward had raised an army and driven Thomas from the Midlands. The section
Lancastrian castles at Melbourne and Tutbury were left deserted and
looted by the local populace. Earl Thomas was finally defeated at the
Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322.[7] He was swiftly executed, and Robert de Holland was beheaded in 1328.
The King sent a garrison to Melbourne and appointed a steward, Ralph Basset, to replace the incumbent, John
de Hardedeshull.[7][13] In March, those who had stolen from the castle were arrested, and by April Edward had
withdrawn his troops.[7] He appointed Robert Tocher and Roger de Beler in 1323 to help administer his
possessions in Melbourne using money obtained from confiscations of rebel property in Staffordshire. Edward
stayed at Melbourne again in 1325, and while there he issued a right to collect tolls to the men of nearby
Swarkestone to repair the bridge over the Trent.[7]

Lancastrian improvements

The castle, still unfinished at the time of Thomas' execution, and its
lands, remained as crown property until it was bestowed on Henry, 3rd
Earl of Lancaster, Earl Thomas' brother, in 1327.[1][9] In turn, it passed
to Henry's son, the fourth earl, who became the first Duke of Lancaster.
At the time of the duke's death in 1361, his constable was Ingram
Fauconer, who received an annual life stipend of 10, a further 5 going
to his wife. Henry's heiress was Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt.[7][b]
Duke John confirmed Fauconer's pension when he came into possession
of the Lancastrian lands.[7]

Peter Melbourne was made keeper of the Melbourne estate in 1377 with
an annual income of 10. He was granted another 66s 8d in 1386, and
10 marks (6 13s 4d) in 1395. The last award was conditional on his not
meddling with the offices of constable and keeper of the parks, which
had passed on to his son, also called Peter.[7] The younger Peter
Melbourne was involved in the upbringing of the future Henry IV John of Gaunt made significant
during the reign of Richard II. He was again appointed constable and improvements to the castle in the late
steward of the Derbyshire manor in March 1399, although he gave up fourteenth century.
his office in April in return for an annuity from King Richard, who had
confiscated the Lancastrian estates when John of Gaunt died earlier that
year. Upon Henry's seizure of the throne, Peter was confirmed as constable and in October 1399, his annuity
was increased from 10 to 100 marks (66 8s); in the following year he was awarded land in Derbyshire
confiscated from Thomas Merke, Bishop of Carlisle, co-leader of plot against the King.[15][c]

The Duchy of Lancaster continued to improve and expand the property through the 14th and 15th centuries.[9]
John of Gaunt had windows glazed in the Communal Hall and the Great Chamber in 1392/3, along with other
works. He repaired a drawbridge in 1393/4 and made plumbing improvements in 1399/1400, using lead
acquired as a forfeit two years earlier.[7]
For 19 years, the castle served as a prison for John I, Duke of Bourbon after he was taken at the Battle of
Agincourt in 1415.[16][d] His custodian was a Nicholas Montgomery the Younger.[2] Nineteenth-century local
historian John Joseph Briggs claimed that during the Wars of the Roses, the castle was partially dismantled by
the Lancastrian forces of Margaret of Anjou,[16] but since her campaign was along the line of the Great North
Road, it was Melbourne, Cambridgeshire she sacked, not its Derbyshire namesake.[7][e]

In 1545, antiquarian John Leland reported to Henry VIII the property was in good enough shape that it was
described as "praty and yn meately good reparation"[7][f] perhaps following repairs in the reign of Edward
IV,[6] when Sir Ralph Shirley, a commander at Agincourt, was governor of the castle.[2]

Decline

When Elizabeth I became queen, she ordered a survey of her castles. A

1562 report told her that only ten castles in the north of her realm were
worth keeping; Melbourne was not one of these. A further survey in
1576 reported that, although the stonework was in good condition apart
from one chimney and window, the timbers were perished, the lead roof
was full of holes, one kitchen was on the verge of collapse, and another
needed its floor replacing. In the same year, George Talbot, 6th Earl of
Shrewsbury wrote to the queen to assure her that the castle was in good
condition, worth 1,000, and could be repaired for 100. Since he was The foundations of the turret
responsible for keeping the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots and her (foreground)
140 retainers, he hoped to get her moved to Melbourne.[7] In 1583, the
castle was inspected again to see if it was suitable to house the captive
queen. Although the rooms were sufficient in number and quality, the unfinished building was deemed
"imperfect at every corner".[1] The large rooms would need subdividing, the floors were earth and plaster, and
there was no paved courtyard "so as being out of dors you are in the myre, for it is verie foule and unpleasaunt
to walk round about the said house".[18] In 1584, Queen Elizabeth finally decided to move Mary to Melbourne,
only for the plan to be abandoned following the Babington Plot to assassinate the English queen and place her
Scottish cousin on the throne.[7]

In 1597, the castle was being used as a cattle pound,[19] although a survey in 1602 assured Elizabeth that it was
a "faire and anciente castle", in the charge of Gilbert, Earl of Shaftsbury.[2] The constable's annual fee of 10
was the same as that paid to Ingram Fauconer 140 years earlier.[2]

The castle and lands were bought for 4,700 in 1604, by Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon,[7] whose
family seat at Ashby de la Zouch Castle was just 11 km (7 mi) away.[20] Melbourne Castle was destroyed
between 1610 and 1637 so that its materials could be used in other construction.[9][19] By 1629, it is likely that
all the worked stone above ground level had been removed; Sir John Coke of Melbourne Hall obtained
permission from the Bishop of Carlisle in that year to quarry stone from the castle foundations.[18] Some of the
facing stones were used to repair the weir at King's Mill, seen by some at the time to fulfil the words of a local
prophet that "the waters of the Trent should overflow the towers of Melbourne castle".[2] The Hastings estate
was gradually sold off,[21] and the castle site was sold by Earl Moira in 1811.[22]

Ruins and archaeology

A section of rubble wall about 15 m (50 ft) long and 4 m (13 ft) high remains,[7] incorporated into outbuilding
of the adjacent farm on its north side. The ruins and the later farmhouse are jointly grade II listed and the castle
remains are designated as a scheduled monument. The area to the south of the wall has been excavated to
reveal the ashlar bases of two polygonal towers. The site is on the east side of
Castle Street in a private garden to which there is no public access.[23][24]

Some of the stone taken from the castle was used to construct the mid-
eighteenth-century grade II-listed buildings at 43 and 45 Castle Street,[7][25] and
other buildings known to have used the stone, but no longer extant, include old
houses demolished to build the Castle Mill textile factory. The mill, now
demolished, was said to have been built on castle foundations up to 4 m (12 ft)
thick; 15 Castle Street also rests on the old foundation wall. It is likely that the
former Melbourne Furnace and the Furnace Farm barn also used recycled castle
material.[7]

An early nineteenth-century excavation found underground apartments "of

considerable extent and superior workmanship", and excavations in the latter
part of the same century found considerable foundations in the gardens of
Castle Farm. Castle Mills housing estate contains a now-covered well 2 m (6 ft) 43 and 45 Castle Street are
in width and 15 m (50 ft) deep, and work in 1961 uncovered massive 5 m (16 ft) faced with stone taken from
foundations east of the old mill and on the same alignment as the existing wall. the castle.
Excavations in 19691971 found an extensive network of walls faced with
ashlar, a door post, the base of a spiral staircase and evidence of an outer
courtyard. Many stones had mason's marks.[7] During construction works in 1988, masonry including the
rubble centres of two large eastwest walls was found in test trenches.[18] Apart from the area of the turret
bases next to the standing wall, none of the archaeology is now visible.[7]

Notes
a. For comparison, the average annual baronial income d. Bourbon was granted 20s a day as keep for himself and
for the top 27 barons in that period was 668. [10] his retinue, and 33s 4d when travelling. He was
b. Henry had no male heir, so his title, Duke of Lancaster, allowed to visit the Duke of Orlans, who was held in
died with him. It was recreated for John of Gaunt, who Pontefract castle, and to go to London.[7]
is also the first duke, but of thesecond creation. The e. The original source, Stowe'sAnnals of England, listed
Duchy of Lancaster has been a royal privilege since the towns as Grantham, Stamford, Peterborrow
1413.[14] (Peterborough), Huntingdon, Royston, Meleborne and
c. A statue of a knight in Melbourne church has the de "all the townes by the way intoSt Albans". The
Melbourne arms of achevron and three scallops.[7] Melbourne concerned is 3.2 km (2 mi) from
Royston.[7]
f. "pretty and in appropriately good repair." Of 258
castles surveyed by Leland, only 91 were described as
in good condition.[17]
d. Bourbon was granted 20s a day as keep for himself and
References
1. Heath (2005) pp. 12.
2. Briggs (1852) pp. 4349.
3. Derbyshire Archaeological Society (1895) pp. 9293.
4. Stroud (2002) pp. 1, 5.
5. Greenway, Diana E. "Bishops of Carlisle"(http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33856). British History
Online. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
6. Lysons (1817) pp. 209210.
7. Usher (1991) pp. 126133.
8. Stroud (2002) pp. 25, 28.
9. Emery (1996) p. 422.
10. Pounds (1993) p. 147.
11. Morris (2011) pp. 6, 17.
12. Morris (2011) p. 4.
 13. Rickard (2002) p. 168.
14. "Privy Purse and Duchy of Lancaster"(http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHousehold/Royalfinances/Sourcesof funding/P
rivyPurseandDuchyofLancaster.aspx). Royal Household. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
15. Curry (2013) pp. 1820.
16. Firth (1905) p. 20.
17. Thompson (2008) p. 104.
18. Stroud (2002) pp. 1417.
19. Black (2006) p. 18.
20. Goodall, John. "Ashby de la Zouch Castle"(http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/ashby-de-la-zouch-c
astle/history-and-research/). History and Research. English Heritage. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
21. Stroud (2002) p. 10.
22. Heath (2005) p. 4.
23. "Castle Farmhouse and Ruins of Melbourne Castle and Outbuildings, Melbourne" (http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.
uk/en-83039-castle-farmhouse-and-ruins-of-melbourne-c) . British Listed Buildings. britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
Retrieved 30 May 2011.
24. "Melbourne Castle Fortified Manor and Earlier Medieval Manorial Remains" (http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsin
gle.aspx?uid=1008610). List entry. English Heritage. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
25. "43 and 45, Castle Street, Melbourne"(http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-83036-43-and-45-castle-street-melbo
urne-derbysh). British Listed Buildings. britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2013.

Cited texts
Black, Jeremy M (2006). A Military History of Britain: From 1775 to the Present. Santa Barbara,
California: Praeger. ISBN 0275990397.
Briggs, John Joseph (1852). The History of Melbourne, in the County of Derby: Including Biographical
Notices of the Coke, Melbourne, and Hardinge Families (2 ed.). Derby: Bemrose & Son.
Curry, Anne (2013). "The Finances of 'the Young Lord Henry' ". In Dodd, Gwilym. Henry V: New
Interpretations. York: York Medieval Press. pp. 1134. ISBN 1903153468.
Derbyshire Archaeological Society (1895). Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural
History Society. Derby: The Society.
Emery, Anthony (1996). Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 13001500: East Anglia,
Central England and Wales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521581311.
Firth, John Benjamin (1905). Highways and Byways in Derbyshire (PDF) . Erichsen, Nelly (illustrator).
London: Macmillan and Co.
Heath, Philip (2005). Melbourne: Conservation Area Histories, District of South Derbyshire (PDF) .
Swadlincote, Derbyshire: South Derbyshire District Council.
Lysons, Samuel (1817). Magna Britannia: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several
Counties of Great Britain. 5, Containing Darbyshire. London: Cadell.
Morris, Mel (2011). Melbourne Conservation Area Character Statement (PDF) . Swadlincote, Derbyshire:
South Derbyshire District Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-21.
Pounds, Norman J G (1993). The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A Political and Social History.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521458285.
Rickard, John (2002). The Castle Community: The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 12721422.
Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. ISBN 0851159133.
Stroud, Gill (2002). Derbyshire Extensive Urban Survey Archaeological Assessment Report: Melbourne.
Matlock, Derbyshire: Derbyshire Archaeology Data Service.
Thompson, Michael W (2008). The Decline of the Castle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0521083974.
Usher, Howard (1991). "Melbourne Castle". Derbyshire Miscellany, the Local History Bulletin of the
Derbyshire Archaeological Society. Stafford: Derbyshire Archaeological Society. 12 (5).

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Categories: Castles in Derbyshire English Heritage sites in Derbyshire

Grade II listed buildings in Derbyshire History of Derbyshire Ruins in Derbyshire
Buildings and structures demolished in the 17th century
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