Wressle Castle facts for kids
Wressle Castle is a ruined castle in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was built for Thomas Percy in the 1390s. Today, it is privately owned and you cannot visit it. Wressle Castle used to have four main buildings around a central courtyard. There was a tower at each corner. You would enter the castle through a gatehouse on the east side, which faced the village.
Wressle Castle was taken by the king after Thomas Percy rebelled against King Henry IV. For many years, the castle was mostly controlled by the king. In 1471, it was given back to the Percy family. Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, made the castle and its gardens look new and fancy, just like royal homes.
The castle was part of a beautiful landscape with two gardens made when it was built. A third garden was added later. Wressle was meant to be a fancy home, not just a fort. It was never attacked in a battle. However, during the English Civil War, it was held by Parliament. Parts of it were pulled down between 1646 and 1650, leaving only the south building. About 150 years later, a fire badly damaged what was left. In recent years, groups like Historic England helped fix the castle ruins.
History of Wressle Castle
In the old days, the Percy family was one of the biggest landowners in Yorkshire. They owned land in Northumberland too, but Yorkshire was still very important to them. The Percys owned the land at Wressle from the early 1300s. It was given to Thomas Percy in 1364. Wressle Castle was first written about in 1402, but it was probably built in the 1390s. By 1390, Thomas Percy had spent almost ten years working as a soldier or diplomat in other countries. After that, he became important in the king's court. He was friends with both King Richard II and King Henry IV. A historian named Anthony Emery said Wressle Castle was built to show Thomas Percy's important family and his great service to the country.
King Henry IV gave Thomas Percy power in south Wales. But their friendship became difficult, partly because the king was slow to pay Thomas. Thomas's nephew, Henry Percy, started a rebellion in July 1403. Thomas joined him. The rebellion ended at the battle of Shrewsbury, where Thomas Percy was captured. Two days later, on July 23, he was executed. His property, including Wressle Castle, was then taken by the king.
Between 1403 and 1471, the castle's ownership changed many times. It went between the king and people the king chose to give it to, but only for short times. In 1471, Wressle Castle was given to Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland. This meant it was back with the Percy family. His son, Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, did a lot of work to make Wressle Castle new again. He fixed up the inside and updated the gardens. At that time, he was one of the richest men in England. A book called The Northumberland Household Book was written around this time. It tells us about daily life at Wressle and Leconfield castles. Historians use it to learn about how people lived in noble homes long ago.
Henry Percy died at Wressle in 1527. His son, Henry Algernon Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, took over. The Pilgrimage of Grace was a big protest against King Henry VIII in 1536. It happened partly because the king was closing down monasteries. The rebels in Yorkshire were led by Robert Aske. In October, he asked the Percy family for help. Aske went to Wressle Castle and tried to get Henry Algernon Percy to join the rebellion. Percy was sick at the time. Even though he didn't want to at first, Percy eventually gave Aske control of Wressle Castle.
Percy had argued with his younger brothers. When he died in 1537, his only surviving brother did not inherit the castle. This was because he was in prison for his part in the Pilgrimage of Grace. In 1537, the king took control of Wressle Castle again. King Henry VIII himself visited for three nights in 1541.
A historian named John Leland visited Wressle Castle around 1540. He wrote that the castle was "one of the most proper beyond the Trent, and seemeth as newly made." He also said, "The castle is all of very fair and great squared stone, both within and without." He also gave the first description of the castle gardens. He said they were "exceedingly fair" with orchards beyond the moat.
During the English Civil War, soldiers who supported Parliament stayed at the castle. It was badly damaged then. People thought it would cost £1,000 to fix the castle and the area around it. Wressle Castle was partially pulled down several times between 1646 and 1650. In 1648, they focused on the castle's battlements (the top parts of the walls). A letter from that time said that Parliament's workers "would show no care in preserving any of the materials." They just threw stones from the battlements to the ground.
Two years later, in 1650, even more was destroyed. Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, was ordered to pull down everything except the south part of the castle. The Earl was allowed to use the remaining part as a manor house (a large country house). The damage was not just to the castle buildings. It probably also affected the beautiful gardens and landscape.
The castle stayed with the Percy family until the mid-1700s. Then it went to the Earls of Egremont. Later, the land and castle were inherited by Elizabeth Seymour. She took the name Percy and later became the Duchess of Northumberland. A tenant farmer lived at Wressle Castle. On February 19, 1796, he caused a fire while trying to clean the chimney. The fire destroyed the last remaining part of the castle. A report three months later said that "This loss was of truly national significance." The farm continued to be rented out. The farmhouse, which is still there, was built around 1810. By 1880, ivy was growing all over the castle ruins. In 1957, the castle and farm were sold to the Falkingham family, who still own the site today.
Wressle Castle is now a Grade I listed ruin. This means it is a very important historical site. It is also a scheduled monument. What is left includes earthworks (changes in the ground) that show where the moat was. Some parts of the castle still stand: the remains of two towers from the south building, and a small building that might have been a bakehouse.
Historic England says that archaeologists first looked at the site in 1993. The castle's condition got worse. In 1999, Wressle Castle was put on the Heritage at Risk Register. This list shows important historical sites that are in danger. Historic England, Natural England, and the Country Houses Foundation spent £500,000 to fix the castle. In 2015, Wressle was no longer considered "at risk" and was taken off the list. This work included surveys of the buildings and the landscape.
Castle Design and Architecture
Wressle Castle was a quadrangular castle. This means it was built with four main buildings in a square shape around a central courtyard. There was a tower at each corner. In the middle of the east side was a five-story gatehouse. The corner towers were named the Constable Tower, the Chapel Tower, the Lord's Tower, and the Kitchen Tower. The Constable Tower was where the person who managed the castle every day lived. The great hall was in the west building, across from the gatehouse. The Lord's Tower in the southwest had the owner's living space and private rooms.
Historians think Wressle Castle was built in the late 1300s. This is because it looks similar to other castles like Sheriff Hutton, Bolton, and Lumley. An architect named John Lewyn designed the big tower at Warkworth Castle. He also worked at Lumley, and both were Percy family properties. Some historians believe Lewyn also designed Wressle. They say it's hard to imagine that Lumley and Wressle were designed by different people.
Castle Landscape and Gardens
The village of Wressle was there before the castle. It was mentioned in a very old book called the Domesday Book in 1086. The castle was built at the west end of the village, on one of its main roads. We don't know if this was an important place before the castle was built. The castle was given many gardens. This probably meant some parts of the village were built over. The River Derwent flows about 180 meters (590 feet) west of the castle.
The gardens at Wressle Castle were probably made at the same time as the castle. Records show that by the late 1400s, Wressle Castle had two gardens. Both were south of the castle. One was likely between the south moat and the castle, called the Moat Garden. The other was south of the moat, called the Old Garden. A third garden, the New Garden, was made north of the castle between 1472 and 1517.
The Old and New Gardens were each about 1 acre (4,000 square meters) in size. The Old Garden had a brick wall, while the New Garden was surrounded by a wet moat. The Old Garden had an orchard and special paths for bowling and walking. These were popular activities for rich people from the 1500s onwards. It also had a two-story building from the 1400s called the 'School House'. This is where Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, would read.
A banqueting house (a building for parties) was built just inside the southwest corner of the moat. It was probably built in the 1500s, but by 1577, it was falling apart. An enclosed area called a base court was added in front of the castle's gatehouse after the main castle was built. We don't know exactly when. Wet areas south and east of the castle might have been used to look like a mere, which is a wide, shallow lake. There were also two fishponds, but their exact age is not known. When Wressle Castle was at its best in the 1500s, its gardens and beautiful landscape were as good as the newly fixed-up castle inside. They might have even been as good as gardens at the king's own homes!
