The Lydford Norman ringwork, sometimes termed the Norman fort, is an early medieval castle in the town of Lydford, Devon, England. It was the first castle in Lydford and formed a small ringwork built in a corner of the Anglo-Saxon fortified burh in the years after the Norman conquest of England. It was intended to help control Devon following the widespread revolt against Norman rule in 1068. The Norman fort was abandoned by the middle of the 12th century, and replaced by Lydford Castle, built in stone in a more prestigious location in the town. The earthworks of the Norman fort are owned by the National Trust and are open to the public.
History
The first castle at Lydford was built in the aftermath of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. In 1068, William the Conqueror intervened in South-West England to put down widespread Anglo-Saxon revolts against Norman rule and set about pacifying the region. William had been responsible for building urban castles across England in the former centres of Anglo-Saxon power and in Devon he constructed new urban castles at Exeter, Totnes, possibly Barnstaple and in the town of Lydford.
Lydford, then called Hlidan, was a type of fortified Anglo-Saxon town called a burh. The castle, in the 21st century called the “Norman fort”, was built on the isolated south-west corner of the burh, soon after 1068. It had a ringwork design and was only 55 metres (180 ft) by 60 metres (200 ft) in size, protected in part by the existing defences of the burh and by a probable box-rampart utilising rubble and large pieces of timber. A similar pattern of castle building within existing Anglo-Saxon burhs can be seen at Wallingford and Bedford castles. Most of the interior of the castle was used to store grain in five large timber and earth buildings, up to 7.3 m (24 ft) by 3.6 m (12 ft) in size. It is uncertain whether these storage facilities were intended for supplying Norman troops or storing grain for wider economic purposes.
This first castle was used only briefly and seems to have been abandoned by the middle of the 12th century. The grain stores were destroyed by fire, but the reason for this is uncertain. By this period, the town of Lydford as a whole was also in serious economic decline. Then, in 1195, there were widespread problems with law and order across England, including the South-West, and on the basis of this Richard I’s government decided to build a fortification for holding royal prisoners in Lydford, further along the west side of the town from the old castle, in a prestigious location next to the town’s church.
It is unclear why the decision was taken to build the new castle in a different location within the town. Lydford’s case is not unique, as a similar shift occurred at Canterbury and Gloucester; generally, such changes in castle location are associated with the destruction of the older defence or changes in political leadership. The archaeologist Andrew Saunders suggests that the new site was chosen because the Norman castle at Lydford was not owned by the Crown in 1195 and was, in any case, in disrepair.
In the 21st century, the earthworks of the Norman fort are owned by the National Trust and are open to the public.
Visiting the castle
Bibliography
- Addyman, P. V. “Devonshire, Lydford”, Medieval Archaeology. 10: 196-197
- Creighton, O. H. (2005). Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England. London, UK: Equinox. ISBN 978-1-904768-67-8.
- Higham, Robert (2010). “Afterthought: Launceston, Lydford, Richard of Cornwall and Current Debates”. The Castle Studies Group Journal. 23: 242–251.
- Huscroft, Richard (2005). Ruling England, 1042–1217. Harlow, UK: Pearson. ISBN 978-0-582-84882-5.
- King, D. J. Cathcart (1991). The Castle in England and Wales. London, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-00350-6.
- Lewis, George Randall (1908). The Stannaries: A Study of the English Tin Miner. Boston and New York, US: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. OCLC 1851721.
- Saunders, Andrew D. (1980). “Lydford Castle, Devon”. Medieval Archaeology. 24: 123–186.
- Wilson, David M.; Hurst, D. Gillian (1967). “Medieval Britain in 1966”. Medieval Archaeology. 11: 262–319.
Attribution
The text of this page was adapted from “Lydford Castle” on the English language website Wikipedia, as the version dated 10 November 2018, and accordingly the text of this page is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Principal editors have included Hchc2009 and MrStephen, and the contributions of all editors can be found on the history tab of the Wikipedia article.
Photographs on this page include those drawn from the Wikimedia website, as of 10 November 2018, and attributed and licensed as follows: “Lydford Early Norman Fort“, author Nigel Cox, released under CC BY-SA 2.0.
