Warwick Castle - The splendour and horror and the ghosts
The castle possesses all the characteristics of a medieval fortress of great strength and grandeur, and may be selected as one of the best examples in England of the castle of ancient days which played no inconsiderable part in the civil strife and in the political revolutions of the country's annals.
An Anglo-Saxon burh was established on the site in 914; with fortifications instigated by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. The burh she established was one of ten which defended Mercia against the marauding Danes. Its position allowed it to dominate the Fosse Way, as well as the river valley and the crossing over the River Avon. Though the motte to the south-west of the present castle is now called "Ethelfleda's Mound", it is in fact part of the later Norman fortifications, and not of Anglo-Saxon origin.
After the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror established a motte-and-bailey castle at Warwick in 1068 to maintain control of the Midlands as he advanced northwards. Building a castle in a pre-existing settlement could require demolishing properties on the intended site. In the case of Warwick, the least recorded of the 11 urban castles in the 1086 survey, four houses were torn down to make way for the castle.
A motte-and-bailey castle consists of a mound on which usually stands a keep or tower and a bailey, which is an enclosed courtyard. William appointed Henry de Beaumont, the son of a powerful Norman family, as constable of the castle. The castle passed into the hands of succession of kings and nobles. The title, Earl of Warwick has been created four times in the history of the castle. In 1088, 1447, 1618 and 1759. Source. Wikipedia. Warwick Castle.
In 1449 the castle passed to the Neville family as a result of the death of Anne de Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick. Through his wife's inheritance of the title, Richard Neville became the next Earl of Warwick and in 1469 rebelled against King Edward IV, imprisoning him at the castle. After a brief attempt at ruling in the kings name, Neville was forced to release him and was killed in the battle of Barnet in 1471. George Plantagenet, Neville's son-in-law inherited the castle next but was executed in 1478.
The castle then became property of the crown since George's son, Edward, was just 2 years old when George died. Nevertheless, Edward later made a claim to the throne and as a result was imprisoned by Edward IV. He was held in the tower of london eventually executed by King Henry VII in 1499 for High Treason. This spelled the end of the line for the title of Earl of Warwick of its first creation.
Warwick Castle was repaired and renovated while in the care of the Crown, but fell into disrepair due to its age. In 1547, Warwick was granted to John Dudley, with the second creation of the Earl of Warwick title. Queen Elizabeth I visited the castle twice during her progresses. When Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, died in 1590 the Warwick title once again became extinct.
Then there was Robert Dudley, brother of John and Ambrose Dudley. When Queen Elizabeth came to the throne of England she gave the grant of Kenilworth Castle to her favourite courtier, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. He married Amy Robsart. In 1560 she was found dead. Was she murdered? Was Dudley responsible for the tragedy?
The Greville era.In 1604 Warwick Castle was converted into a country house by Sir Fulke Greville who was given the house by King James I. In 1618 the title Earl of Warwick was created for the third time. Fulke Greville was created Baron Brooke in 1621. 16041628. Sir Fulke Greville was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth, the most intimate friend of Sir Philip Sidney, raised to the peerage by James I, as Lord Brook. He also obtained from King James the grant of Warwick Castle which had been confiscated to the crown on the downfall of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Lord Brook was murdered when already dying by Ralph Heywood, a servant who was angered at finding that he had not been remembered in the master's will. Fulke died on 1st Sep-tember 1628. The Brooks barony and the Warwick castle with all the other estates passed to Robert Greville.
Renovation began on the castle by the Greville family, and in 1642 the castle's defences were fortified in preparation for the English Civil War. Warwick Castle came under siege by Royalist forces which eventually ended on August 23 when they retrea- ted to Worcester. After the Battle of Edgehill, prisoners were held at Warwick. Further improvements were made during the 18th century and in 1759, Francis Greville, 8th Baron Brooke, was created Earl of Warwick, the fourth creation of the title. In 1871 the castle caught fire. The loss was irreparable. Many of the costly treasures and priceless works of art had been destroyed. The Great Hall was no more. Queen Anne's bedroom and other apartments, with their ancient and modern treasures had become things of the past. Fulke Greville. Created Baron Brooke in 1621. 16041628.
The Greville family remained the owners of Warwick Castle until 1978, when it was purchased by the Tussaud's Group. Madame Tussaud's, the famous waxworks company bought the castle for 1.5m Pounds from Lord Brooke in 1978. He, David Robin Francis Guy Greville, the Eighth Earl of Warwickhas been criticized for years for selling its art treasures and later on for selling the castle itself. Tussauds invested heavily in the castle, restoring the building and its grounds ready to be opened to the public.
That same year, it became a member of the Treasure Houses of England, a consortium consisting of ten privately owned stately homes with the aim of marketing themselves as tourist attractions. In 2001 the castle was named one of Britain's top 10 historic houses and monuments by the British Tourist Authority. Today Warwick Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument reflecting its signifi-cance as a historic building. It is also a Grade I listed building. Tussauds Group. 19782007 Merlin Entertainments Group. 2007 present
In 2005, the castle became the home of the record breaking Trebuchet. At 18 metres tall and weighing 22 tonnes, it is one of the world's largest working siege engines. On August 21st 2006, the Trebuchet entered the record books as the most powerful cata-pult in the world, breaking the previous Dutch record by sending a 13kg projectile 249 metres at up to 260 km/h.
The Splendour and horror
It houses the finest private collection of arms and armour in Britain. The castle is a setting of a paradox, offering an insight into some of the grimmest as well as some of the most impressive aspects of Englands past. On the one hand, generations lived royally at the castle.
On the other, in its torture chambers and dangeon, other, poorer people died or languised. Two seperate rooms in the castle - the torture chamber and the gungeon - provide vivid and stark illustrations of the ways in which those accused of crimes in England's early days were punished. Iron bars remain to seal off the prisoners and stocks implanted in walls were used to hold prisoners upside down. For a serious offence, a man might be hung in chains near the place of the crime until his body rotted away entirely.
The official description of one tiny area - the obliette - that was used for solitary confinement says it was drained by only the open gulley in the floor, ventilated by one small shaft and hardly lit at all. Prisoners intended for the harshest treatment were placed in this small and damp pit below an ironwork grill. Prisoners left here were often forgotten and left to die.
In the torture chamber, the instruments on display are reconstructions based on contemporary engravings. The instruments give some idea of the systematic and cruel ways in which confessions were forced to those who punished. Among the instru- ments are iron foot screws and iron body belts. The latter were used to restrain prisoners undergoing torture. With the roman rack, a common form of torture, the victim was bound by the wrists and anckles and then unmercifully stretched across the top of this cruel machine, which caused bruising and dislocation.
But beyond its symbols of pain, Warwick castle also provides a sampling of the richness of the life of England's high aristocracy. Over the years, the families that have held the earldom include the Beauchamps, Nevilles, Plantagenets, Dudleys, Riches and Grevilles. Among the regal features of the castle are the State rooms and Great Hall - the richly furnished main rooms of the castle - and an area known as the private apartments. The apartment area now features a re-creation in the 12 rooms, using wax figures of an 1898 house party.
The Gatehouse and Barbican illustrate the time and lives of the 14th and 15th century Beauchamps of Warwick; the Armoury contains and exhibition of rare military hardeware, including pistols, swords and muskets; and the Watergate Tower, also known as the Ghost Tower, includes a recording that recounts the history of the tower.
Guy's Tower, the Rampart Walk and Clarence Tower provide panoramic views of the castle, Warwick and the surrounding country- side. Atop the tower, the ancient notched battlements remain. The once were used by soldiers to hide behind as they fought an enemy. The castle grounds, as seen from the towers, include the neatly shaped Victorian Rose Garden; the 18th century style conser- vatory fronted by the quiet, formal Peacock Gardens; the River Island, from which there is a giant view of the massive river front of the garden; and a tranquil woodland area along the river, the Foxes Study and Cedar Walk.
Ghosts - Who are the ghosts of warwick Castle?
"Guy" a prehistoric figure, is the oldest of the alleged spook inhabitants of the citadel. The three ghosts are an ancestor, a soldier killed in the battle of Edgehill during the civil war and a serving girl who was murder- ed by her boyfriend.
According to tradition the great Earl of Warwick, who was known as the "king maker," is still uneasy in his mind because of the part he took in the dethronement of his former friend, Edward IV, whom he made king. So at night, when all the castle is asleep the ghost of Richard Neville stalks through the great armour, takes down its buckler and its sword and with martial tread and changing armour, walks up and down till dawn. The ghost of Sir Fulke Greville, who was murdered by a discontented manservant, is said to haunt the tower in which he lodged.
In 2009 When contractors started clearing out a site for the new dungeon, which would include a "torture chamber," they spotted some strange activities which left them terrified. Site manager Paul Woodfield was left petrified when he spotted a strange figure in the hallways at the site. He was so scared he immediately upped tools and ran away in fear. He saw a tall, slim man wearing some kind of tunic and trousers walking out toward the doorway. Two mediums also reported seeing a woman hovering around one of the doorways in the area of the castle where the new dungeon attraction would be situated. They believed the woman could have been the ghost of Frances Daisy Greville, the Countess of Warwick and mistress to King Edward VII who died in 1938.