Stokesay Castle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Stokesay Castle |
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| Stokesay, Shropshire | |
Stokesay Castle, viewed from the church yard, showing the north tower in the foreground
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 Stokesay Castle
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| Coordinates | 52°25′49″N 2°49′53″W / 52.4303°N 2.8313°W |
| Type | Fortified manor house |
| Site information | |
| Owner | English Heritage |
| Condition | Intact |
| Site history | |
| Built | c. 1285–1294 |
| Built by | Laurence of Ludlow |
| Events | English Civil War |
Stokesay Castle is a very old and special building in Shropshire, England. It's one of the best-preserved fortified manor houses from the medieval period. This means it was a grand home that also had defenses, like strong walls and towers.
Most of the castle you see today was built in the late 1200s by Laurence of Ludlow. He was a super rich wool merchant. He wanted a safe and fancy home that could also help him manage his business. Before Laurence, the de Lacy family owned the land and had an earlier castle here.
Stokesay Castle stayed in Laurence's family for a long time. Later, it was owned by different private families. During the English Civil War in the 1640s, the castle belonged to William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven (1608–1697). He supported King Charles I. In 1645, soldiers from Parliament attacked the castle. The small group defending it had to give up quickly. Parliament ordered the castle to be damaged so it couldn't be used for fighting again. But luckily, only a little damage was done to the walls. This meant Stokesay could still be used as a home for many years.
In the 1700s, the castle wasn't lived in much and started to fall apart. People used it for farming and making things. An old writer named John Britton visited in 1813 and said it was "abandoned to neglect, and rapidly advancing to ruin."
But then, people started to care for it again! William Craven, 2nd Earl of Craven paid for repairs in the 1830s and 1850s. Later, a very rich businessman named John Derby Allcroft bought the castle in 1869. He spent a lot of money fixing it up in the 1870s. Both owners tried to keep the castle looking as original as possible, which was unusual for that time. Stokesay Castle became a popular place for visitors and artists. It officially opened to the public in 1908.
In the 1900s, the Allcroft family found it hard to pay for the castle's upkeep. So, in 1986, Jewell Magnus-Allcroft decided to give Stokesay Castle to English Heritage. This group looks after many historic places in England. English Heritage did a lot of restoration work in the late 1980s. Today, Stokesay Castle is still a popular place to visit. It helps us see what a medieval home was really like!
Architects and historians say Stokesay Castle is "one of the best-preserved medieval fortified manor houses in England." It has a walled area, a moat, and a 17th-century wooden gatehouse at the entrance. Inside, you'll find a stone hall and a solar block, protected by two stone towers. The hall has a cool 13th-century wooden ceiling. The gatehouse and solar have detailed carvings from the 1600s. Stokesay was never meant to be a super strong fortress. Instead, its style copied the big castles King Edward I was building in North Wales. It was built to be a fancy, safe, and comfortable home. It hasn't changed much since the 1200s, making it a rare example of a complete medieval building.
Contents
History of Stokesay Castle
Early Days (1200s-1400s)
The name Stokesay comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word stoches, meaning "cattle farm," and the de Says family, who owned the land early on. The de Lacy family first owned Stokesay. Later, it passed to the de Verdun family.
In the 1280s, Laurence of Ludlow bought the right to live at Stokesay. He was a very rich wool merchant. He made a huge fortune selling wool from the Welsh Marches across Europe. Stokesay Castle was perfect for him. It was a safe home and a good place to manage his business. The land around it was valuable, with farms, meadows, and woodlands.
Laurence started building the castle after 1285. He moved in during the early 1290s. The castle was designed to be both grand and comfortable. It first had living areas and a tower to the north. In 1291, Laurence got special permission from the King to fortify his castle. This was called a licence to crenellate. It allowed him to add defenses like battlements. He might have used this to build the strong-looking southern tower.
Sadly, Laurence drowned at sea in 1294. His son, William, might have finished some of the last work on the castle. Laurence's family, who took the Ludlow name, owned Stokesay Castle until the late 1400s. Then, it passed to the Vernon family through marriage.
From Home to Battlefield (1500s-1600s)
In 1563, Stokesay Castle went to Henry Vernon. Around this time, people started calling it a "castle" more often. Henry spent time in London and at Stokesay. He eventually sold the castle in 1598 because he had a lot of debt.
In 1620, a rich widow named Dame Elizabeth Craven bought Stokesay for a lot of money. Her son, William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven (1608–1697), didn't spend much time there. He leased it to Charles Baldwyn and his son Samuel. William rebuilt the fancy gatehouse in 1640-1641.
When the English Civil War started in 1642, William Craven supported King Charles I. He put soldiers in the castle. The Baldwyn family also supported the King. By 1645, the war was going badly for the King. In June, 800 Parliament soldiers marched towards Stokesay. The castle's defenders, led by Captain Daurett, were greatly outnumbered. The new gatehouse wasn't built for serious fighting.
The soldiers followed the rules of war. The attackers asked the defenders to surrender, they refused, then they asked again, and the defenders gave up with dignity. This meant no one was hurt. Soon after, Royalist soldiers tried to take the castle back but failed.
Unlike many castles, Stokesay wasn't badly damaged after the war. Parliament ordered the castle to be "slighted" in 1647. This meant making it unusable for war. But they only pulled down the outer curtain wall. The rest of the castle stayed mostly whole. Samuel Baldwyn continued to rent the castle. He added wood panels and new windows. When King Charles II returned to the throne in 1660, William Craven got his lands back. The Baldwyns continued to rent Stokesay Castle from him.
Decline and Restoration (1700s-1900s)
In the 1700s, the Baldwyn family rented out Stokesay Castle to others. It stopped being a family home. Some wooden buildings next to the hall were taken down around 1800. By the early 1800s, the castle was used for storing grain, making barrels, and even as a blacksmith's shop.
The castle started to fall apart badly. A fire in 1830 damaged the south tower. The roof of the main hall was also decaying, pushing the walls apart.
But then, William Craven, 2nd Earl of Craven started restoring it in the 1830s. He wanted to fix the old building, not rebuild it completely. This was a new idea at the time. Stone supports were added to the hall and its roof. A local landowner, Frances Stackhouse Acton, also helped with repairs in 1853.
In 1869, John Derby Allcroft, a very wealthy glove maker, bought the castle. He started a big restoration project around 1875. He also tried to keep the castle looking original. By the late 1880s, the castle was in good shape again. It became a popular place for tourists and artists. A caretaker lived in the gatehouse to look after the property.
Stokesay Today (1900s-Present)
More repairs were needed in 1902. The Allcroft family faced money problems in the 1900s. So, Stokesay Castle officially opened to visitors in 1908 to help pay for its upkeep. But funds were still short.
It became harder and harder to maintain the castle. In 1986, Jewell Magnus-Allcroft finally put Stokesay Castle under the care of English Heritage. She left the castle to them when she died in 1992.
English Heritage found the castle mostly empty and needing repairs. They decided to fix it while keeping it as original as possible. They didn't add much furniture or modern displays. This lets visitors imagine what it was like long ago. A big restoration project happened from 1986 to 1989.
Today, Stokesay Castle is still run by English Heritage. It's a popular tourist attraction. In 2010, British Airways even named one of their planes "Stokesay Castle"! The castle is protected by law as a very important historic building.
Architecture of Stokesay Castle
Castle Layout
Stokesay Castle was built on a small hill near the River Onny. It has a solar block and a main hall connected to a northern and southern tower. This design of a hall and towers was common in England in the 1200s.
A strong outer wall, called a curtain wall, once surrounded a courtyard. This wall was destroyed in the 1600s. The entrance was through a gatehouse. This gatehouse was probably stone at first, but it was rebuilt with timber and plaster around 1640. The curtain wall would have been about 34 feet high from the bottom of the moat. The courtyard was quite large, about 150 by 125 feet. It used to have other buildings like a kitchen and storerooms, but these were taken down around 1800.
The castle was surrounded by a moat, about 15 to 25 feet wide. We don't know if it was always dry, like it is today, or if it was filled with water. The dirt dug from the moat was used to raise the courtyard. Beyond the moat, there were a lake and ponds. These were probably meant to be seen from the south tower. The old church of St John the Baptist is right next to the castle.
Stokesay Castle is special because it's a "comparatively complete ensemble" of medieval buildings. This means most of its original parts are still there. Historians say it's "one of the best-preserved medieval fortified manor houses in England."
Main Buildings
The gatehouse is a two-story building from the 1600s. It's made of wood and plaster in a local Shropshire style. It has amazing wooden carvings on its doorways. You can see angels, Adam, Eve, and the serpent from the Garden of Eden. There are also dragons and other figures. This gatehouse was mostly for show, not for strong defense.
The south tower has five uneven sides and three floors with thick walls. The walls hide the stairs and garderobes (old toilets). Because of these hidden spaces, two big buttresses (supports) had to be added to the tower when it was built. The floors you see today were put in after a fire in 1830. The tower windows don't have glass, just shutters for winter, like in the 1200s. The basement was a secure storage area and had a well. The first floor was the original entrance. It has a 17th-century fireplace using the old 13th-century chimney. The second floor was once divided but is now one big room, as it was originally.
From the roof of the south tower, you can see the whole area. In the 1200s, wooden shields called mantlets would have been in the gaps of the battlements. During the Civil War, extra wooden defenses were added.
The hall and solar block are next to the south tower. They were designed to look balanced from the courtyard. The hall is about 54 feet long and 31 feet wide. It has three large, wooden arches from the 1200s that support the roof. This roof is very rare for its age. The roof's main beams, called cruck joists, now rest on 19th-century stone supports. But they originally reached all the way to the ground. In medieval times, a wooden screen would have separated the north end of the hall, making a more private dining area.
The solar block has two floors and a cellar. This was probably where Laurence of Ludlow lived when he first moved in. The solar room itself is on the first floor, reached by outside steps. The wood panels and carved fireplace are from the 1600s. This woodwork would have been brightly painted. It even had tiny spy-holes so people in the solar could watch what was happening in the hall!
The three-story north tower is reached by a 13th-century staircase in the hall. The first floor was divided into two rooms soon after it was built. It has decorative tiles, probably from Laurence's house in Ludlow. The upper walls of the tower are half-timbered, meaning they stick out over the stone walls below. The tower has its original 13th-century fireplace. The wooden roof is from the 1800s, but it looks like the original. The windows were added in the 1600s. The details on the wood show that the same carpenter built the hall, solar, and north tower in the late 1280s and early 1290s.
Carved 17th-century Woodwork
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In Folklore
There's a legend that Stokesay Castle was once home to two giants! One lived on View Edge, and the other on Norton Camp. They kept their treasure in Stokesay Castle. But when they lost the key to the castle, they both died of sadness.
See also
- Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
- List of castles in England
- Listed buildings in Craven Arms
- Stokesay Court, built by John Derby Allcroft
Images for kids
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A sketch of the castle's hall, including workers and visitors, by Frances Stackhouse-Acton in 1868
