Brandon Castle is a 12th-century castle located between the villages of Brandon and Wolston, Warwickshire, England. Built in the early 12th century by Geoffrey de Clinton, it comprised a central keep with two flanking wards, close to the River Avon. A stone keep was added around 1225 by the Verdun family, who held the castle until it was slighted during the Second Barons’ War. It fell into decline and appears to have been abandoned during the 14th century.
History
Brandon Castle was probably built by Geoffrey de Clinton early in the 12th century. Since the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the county of Warwickshire had been dominated by the earls of Warwick. In 1121, Henry I became concerned about the strength of Earl Roger de Beaumont across the region. In order to counter-balance Roger’s power, he appointed Geoffrey – originally a minor official, who rose to be Henry’s trusted Chamberlain and treasurer – as the royal sheriff of Warwickshire. Geoffrey constructed a castle at Brandon in order to reinforce his authority in the county – at the time, he also owned Kenilworth Castle, which Brandon may have been designed to resemble, albeit on a smaller scale.
The castle was located near to the River Avon, at a strategic crossing point on the Fosse Way. It was probably surrounded by extensive water defences, fed from the river with the help of dams and sluices. It comprised three wards: a central ward that contained the castle keep, flanked by two wards to the west and east.
The central ward formed a raised platform, protected by a 20 m (65 ft) wide ditch. The western ward is 62 m (203 ft) square, surrounded by a ditch, with a causeway running to the central ward; it would have contained various buildings, of which only traces now survive. The eastern ward is 48 m (157 ft) by 39 m (127 ft) across, and protected by an earth bank. Another ward or enclosure lay to the north-west of the site, enclosing around 2.5 hectares (6 acres), protected by a ditch up to 16 m (52 ft) across an and earthwork bank – this may have formed some sort of flood protection for the site. A deer park alongside the castle provided opportunities for hunting.
During the civil war years of the Anarchy, Geoffrey’s son, also called Geoffrey, briefly lost control of Brandon Castle around 1138 to Earl Roger, who was determined to break the Clintons’ power in the county, but the castle was recovered shortly afterwards.
Norman de Verdun married the elder Geoffrey’s daughter, Lesceline and was given the castle; it became the Verdun family’s caput – their main power base. Norman’s grandson, Nicholas de Verdun, built a stone keep in the central ward around 1225. The new addition was built from sandstone and was approximately 15 m by 12 m (49 ft by39 ft) across, with walls 4.5 m (14 ft) thick. The keep was divided into two with a separating wall, with its floors linked by a spiral staircase int he south-west corner of the building.
During the Second Barons’ War, Brandon Castle was held by John de Verdon for the royalist faction and as a result it was attacked by the rebel leader Simon de Montfort. De Montfort slighted the fortification – deliberately damaging it to put it beyond military use – in 1265. It continued to be used as a residence for a period – Theobald de Verdon used the castle, and it was still occupied as late as 1309 – but appears to have then been abandoned. In 1656, the antiquarian William Dugdale described that only “moats and heaps of rubbish” remained.
In the 1940s, the archaeologist P. Chatwin carried out archaeological investigations on the site, of which only earthworks and the stone foundations still survive. It is protected under UK law as a scheduled monument.
Bibliography
- Doubleday, H. A. and Page, W. (1904) A History of Warwickshire, Volume 1. London, UK: Archibald Constable and Company.
- Goodall, John. (2011) The English Castle, 1066-1650. New Haven, US and London, UK: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11058-6.
- Salzman, L.F. (ed). (1951) A History of the County of Warwickshire, Volume 6. London, UK: Victoria County History.
Attribution
The text of this page is licensed under under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Photographs on this page include those drawn from the Geograph websites, as of 25 November 2018, and attributed and licensed as follows: “Remains of Brandon Castle”, author David Stowell, released under CC BY-SA 2.0.