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Bodiam Castle is a quadrangular castle located near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England (grid reference TQ785256). It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the surrounding area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War. Situated in a moat and an artificial watery landscape, display was an important aspect of the castle as well as defence. It was the centre of the manor of Bodiam and the home of the Dalyngrigge family. It passed through several generations of Dalyngrigges. When the line became extinct, Bodiam Castle passed to the Lewknor family through marriage. During the Wars of the Roses, Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the House of Lancaster, and when Richard III of the House of York became king in 1483, a force was despatched to besiege Bodiam Castle; it is not recorded whether the siege went ahead and it is thought the Bodiam was surrendered without much resistance. The castle was confiscated, but later returned to the possession of the Lewknors when Henry VII of the House of Lancaster became king in 1452. Descendants of the Lewknors owned the castle until at least the 16th century. By the start of the English Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was owned by John Tufton. He supported the Royalist cause, and sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by Parliament. There are no records of a siege at Bodiam, and the castle was probably surrendered without resistance. After the civil war, the castle was sold by Tufton and later dismantled. It was left as a picturesque ruin until it was bought by John Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, repairs were made to the castle. George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe, bought the castle and later it was bought by Lord Curzon; they each undertook projects of restoration of the castle. Bodiam Castle is protected as a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument. It has been owned by The National Trust since 1925, donated by Lord Curzon on his death, and is today open to the public.
[edit] Background By 1378, Edward Dalyngrigge owned the manor of Bodiam by virtue of marrying into a land-owning family.[1] From 1379 to 1388, Dalyngrigge was a Knights of the Shire for Sussex and one of the most influential people in the county.[2] By the time he applied to the king for a license to crenellate (build a castle), the Hundred Years' War had been fought between England and France for nearly 50 years.[3] Edward III of England (r. 1327–1377) pressed his claim for the French throne and secured the territories of Aquitaine and Calais. Free Companies were groups of mercenaries who fought for the highest bidder during the war. Dalyngrigge was one of many Englishmen who went to France to seek their fortune; he departed for France in 1367 and travelled with Lionel, Duke of Clarence and son of Edward III. After fighting under the Earl of Arundel, Dalyngrigge joined the company of Sir Robert Knolles, a notorious commander who was reputed to have made 100,000 gold crowns from such exploits.[4] It was as a member of the Free Companies that Dalyngrigge raised the money to build Bodiam Castle; he returned to England in 1377.[5] The Treaty of Bruges (1375) ensured peace for two years, but after it expired fighting resumed between England and France.[6] However, by 1377 Edward III had been succeeded by Richard II. During the war, England and France struggled for control of the English Channel, with raids on either coast. In the face of renewed hostilities, Parliament voted money to be spent on defending England's south coast. In the anticipation of a French invasion, defences were erected in Kent.[7] As well as external threats, there was internal unrest and Dalyngrigge was involved in suppressing the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.[2] The manor of Bodiam was granted a charter in 1383 that permitted a weekly market and an annual fair to be held.[8][9] In 1385, a fleet of 1,200 ships – variously cogs, barges, and galleys – gathered at Sluys; the population of southern England was in a state of panic. In the autumn of the same year, Edward Dalygrigge was granted a licence to fortify his manor house.[7] [edit] Construction and use
Dalyngrigge's licence from Richard II permitted him to refortify his pre-existing manor house. Instead, Dalyngrigge chose to built a castle on a fresh site. Construction was completed in one phase and most of the castle is in the same architectural style. Archaeologist David Thackray has suggested from this that Bodiam Castle was built quickly, probably due to the threat of the French.[11] Stone castles were usually time-consuming and expensive to build, often costing thousands of pounds.[12] In his role as Captain of the port of Brest, in France, from 1386–87 Dalyngrigge was probably absent for the first years of the castle's construction.[9] The castle replaced the old manor house as Dalyngrigge's main residence and the administrative centre of the manor.[13] When the castle was completed is not recorded, but Thackray suggests that it was before 1392; Dalygrigge would not have had long to spend in the completed Bodiam Castle, as by 1395 he was dead.[9]  Edward's estates, including the castle, were inherited by his his son, John Dalyngrigge. Like his father, John Dalyngrigge enjoyed the favour of the king and was described as the "King's Knight; in 1400 he was granted an annual allowance of 100 marks by the king. He died on 27 September 1408; his will ensured that his property belonged to his widow, Alice. Edward and Alice had no children, so on her death in 1443 the estates and castle were passed onto Richard Dalyngrigge, Edward's cousin. Richard died without issue, so in accordance with Edward's will the estates passed onto Richard's sister Philippa in 1470. She was married to Sir Thomas Lewknor, a member of a prominent family in Sussex who owned land all over the country.[14] In the Wars of the Roses, which began in 1455, Sir Thomas Lewknor of the House of Lancaster. When Richard of the House of York ascended to the throne as Richard III of England in 1483, Thomas Lewknor was accused of treason and of raising men-at-arms in south-east England. In November 1483, Thomas Lewknor's uncle and Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey, were given permission to levy men and besiege Bodiam Castle, where Thomas Lewknor was based. It is not recorded whether the siege went ahead, and Thackray suggests that Lewknor surrendered without much resistance. Lewknor's property was confiscated and a Nicholas Rigby was made constable of the castle. When Henry VII became king, the attainder was revoked, and Bodiam Castle was returned to Lewknor's possession. However, the lands of Bodiam were not completely returned to the family until 1542. Possession of Bodiam Castle passed through several generations of the Lewknor family; although the inheritance of the castle can be traced through the 16th and 17th centuries, there is little to indicate how it was used in this period, or if the Lewknor family spent much time in it.[15] When Sir Roger Lewknor died in 1543, he divided his estates between his descendants, and the castle and manor were split.[16] John Levett purchased the castle in 1588 for £3,000 (£600,000 as of 2010).[17][18] In 1623, most of the estates of Bodiam were bought by Sir Nicholas Tufton, later Earl of Thanet. His son, John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Thanet, inherited Nicholas's property on his death in 1631; it was John Tufton who reunited possession of castle and manor when be bought Bodiam Castle in 1639. In the English Civil War, John Tufton was a supporter of the Royalist cause and led an attack on Lewes, and at Haywards Heath. Parliament confiscated his lands in 1643 and 1644 and fined him £9,000 (£1,300,000 as of 2010).[17][19] To help pay this fine, Turton sold Bodiam Castle for £6,000 (£830,000 as of 2010)[17] in March 1644 to a Parliamentarian, Nathaniel Powell.[19] [edit] Picturesque ruinAfter the Civil War, Nathaniel Powell was made a baronet by Charles II. Although there is not recorded when Bodiam Castle was dismantled (slighting), it was probably after it was bought by Nathaniel Powell. During and after the Civil War, there were many castles that were slighted to prevent them from being reused. Not all were destroyed completely, and in some cases care was taken not to unnecessarily deface the structure. At Bodiam, it was deemed sufficient to dismantle the barbican, the bridges, and the buildings inside the castle. When Nathaniel Powell died in 1674 or 1675, Bodiam Castle was passed on to his son, also called Nathaniel. After the second Nathaniel, the castle came into the possession of Elizabeth Clitherow, his daughter-in-law.[20]  In 1722 Sir Thomas Webster bought the castle. Bodiam Castle and its associated manor descended through the Webster family for over a century. It was in this period that Bodiam Castle became popular for as an early kind of tourist attraction for its connection with the medieval period. The first drawings of Bodiam Castle date from the mid-18th century; the castle was depicted as a ruin overgrown with ivy.[22] A cottage was built within the castle in the 18th century. Ruins and medieval buildings such as Bodiam Castle served as inspiration for a revival in Gothic architecture in new buildings and renovations of old structures.[23] The third Sir Godfrey Webster began looking for buyers for the castle in 1815, and in 1829 he finally managed to sell Bodiam Castle and 24 acres (10 ha) of the surrounding lands to a John Fuller for £3,000 (£210,000 as of 2010).[17][23] Fuller repaired one of the towers and added new gates to the site, and removed the cottage; he is thought to have bought the castle to prevent the Webster family from dismantling it and reusing its materials. George Cubitt, later Baron Ashcombe, bought the castle and its 24 acres from Fuller's grandson in 1849 for over £5,000 (£390,000 as of 2010).[17][24] Cubitt continued the renovations that Fuller started. Cubitt commission the first detailed survey of Bodiam Castle in 1864. He also undertook repairs to the tower at the south-west corner of the site had almost entirely collapsed. Because there was a fashion for ruins covered in ivy, the vegetation was not removed, despite its detrimental effect on the masonry, and the trees which had grown up in the courtyard were left alone.[25] Lord Curzon decided that "so rare a treasure [as Bodiam Castle] should neither be lost to our country nor desecrated by irreverent hands".[25] To this end, Curzon made enquiries about buying the castle; Cubitt did not wish to sell. However, after Cubitt's death, Curzon was able to make a deal with Cubitt's son and in 1916 he bought Bodiam Castle and its lands.[26] In 1919, Curzon began a programme of investigation at Bodiam Castle, and with architect William Weir restored parts of the castle. The moat, on average about 5 ft (1.5 m) deep but 7 ft (2.1 m) deep in the south-east corner, was drained and 3 ft (0.9 m) of mud and silt removed; during excavations the original footings of the bridges to the castle were discovered. Nearby hedges and fences were removed to provided an unobscured view of Bodiam Castle. As well as the in the surrounding landscape, work was done on the castle's interior. A well was discovered when the basement of the south-west tower. Vegetation was cleared, stonework repaired, and the original floor level re-established throughout the castle. A cottage was built to provide a home for a new museum to display the finds from the excavations and to provide a home for a caretaker. In 1925, Bodiam Castle was given to the National Trust.[27] The National Trust continued the restoration work and added new roofs to the towers and gatehouse. In 1970, excavations were again undertaken; the moat was drained again.[28] Bodiam Castle was used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail in an establishing shot identifying it as "Swamp Castle" in the "Tale of Sir Lancelot" sequence.[29] The castle is a Scheduled Monument,[30] which means it is a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site and has been given protection against unauthorised change.[31] It is also a Grade I listed building;[32] and recognised as an internationally important structure.[33] Today, the castle is open to the public.[34] [edit] Architecture[edit] LocationWhen Bodiam Castle was built, the surrounding area was landscaped to increase the aesthetic appeal of the castle. The water features were originally more extensive, of which the moat survives today. There are residual earthworks in the area leftover from the construction of the moat. The moat is roughly rectangular and supplied by several springs, some of which are within it.[35] This made the moat difficult to drain in the excavations of the 1930s.[28] The castle sits roughly in the middle of the moat. The postern gate at the rear of the castle would have been connect with the moat's south bank by a drawbridge and a long timber bridge. The main entrance on the north side of the castle is today connected to the north back by a wooden bridge, however the original route would have included two bridges: one from the main entrance to an island in the moat and another connecting the island to the west bank. For the most part the bridge was static, however the section closest to the west bank would have been a drawbridge.[36] The island in the moat is called the Octagon, and excavation on it have uncovered a garderobe (toilet) which indicates that there may have been a guard on the island, although it is unclear to what extent it was fortified. The Octagon was connected to a barbican by a bridge, probably a drawbridge.[37] [edit] ExteriorBodiam Castle is roughly square shaped. There are circular towers at each of the four corners, with square central towers in the south, east, and west walls. The main entrance is a twin-towered gatehouse in the north face of the castle. There is a second entrace from the south; the postern gate is through a square tower in the middle of the south wall.[38]  Between the OCtagon and the main gatehouse in Bodiam Castle's north wall was a barbican. Little survives today – just a piece of the west wall – although the structure was originally two storeys high. The surviving fabric includes a slot for a portcullis for the barbican's north gate, although there are no hinges for gates. The base of a garderobe demonstrates that second storey would have provided space for habitation, probably a guard room. Drawings from the late 18th century show the ground floor of the barbican still standing and includes detail such as vaulting inside the passageway.[37] The main gatehouse is on the centre of the North wall of the quadrangle for protection, while the southern square tower has a postern gate too. Both gateways had long bridges leading over the moat, of which the northern one turns at right angles on an octagonal bastion before reaching the shore. This provided further defence to the main gate by exposing any attackers approaching along the bridge to arrow fire (and, by this time, gunfire) from the defenders in the north-west tower. There were also machicolations in the gatehouse and in the postern to drop scalding water and tar on invaders. [edit] InteriorWithin the bailey is a ruined range of domestic buildings which were probably once very grand. To the right of the postern tower is the castle's great hall. The castle is typical of later-medieval castles in that much attention was placed on comfortable living quarters, and as such its value as a military fortification has been doubted. Though the moat is a good barrier, the walls of the castle are not very thick, and there is only one line of defence (unlike a concentric castle). When it was built, early cannons were already in use, but castles were still valuable as bases for troops even if they were becoming more vulnerable to direct attack. Bodiam castle's design owes its inspiration to castles in France where the owner campaigned successfully as a soldier for the Earl of Arundel in 1359 near Paris, for the Duke of Lancaster in 1373 at Bordeaux and for Lord Despenser in 1374 at naval engagements. With the collapse of Italian banks earlier in the century, military campaigns had become self-financing through kidnap and ransom of such figures as the Duke of Burgundy, John the Good. French castle design was well suited for the incarceration of wealthy dignitaries. Research suggests that the castle was built more for show than as an effective defence: the walls of Bodiam Castle are only a couple of feet thick; the moat is relatively shallow and can be easily drained; and the towers contain too many windows to be considered militarily effective.  [edit] See also[edit] References
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