Castle of Expensive Stay
Kirtling Tower, from a series of picturesque views of the residences of nobles and gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, 1840. Morris F. O. (Francis Orpen), 1810-1893. Harold B. Lee Library
Beautiful old castles.
Battlements of their gray towers
As if pouring a little visible light,
And he is strange and terrible,
Silent fire of past victories
Their proud face is decorated.
Drawbridges and ditches, -
Closed domains
Here at night you can hear the cry of an owl,
Ghosts roam here.Konstantin Balmont "Castle of Jane Valmore"
Battlements of their gray towers
As if pouring a little visible light,
And he is strange and terrible,
Silent fire of past victories
Their proud face is decorated.
Drawbridges and ditches, -
Closed domains
Here at night you can hear the cry of an owl,
Ghosts roam here.Konstantin Balmont "Castle of Jane Valmore"
People and castles. Judging by the comments and letters from readers, they are interested in the topic of castles. The ancient castle of Broch collected 12 views, Eltz Castle - 647, an article about a cat - collected 13 (and some also write - “why bother with cats” (the most popular topic, judging by the number of views!), so, although “cats are more interesting”, “the theme of castles” also “sounds”.
It’s just difficult to write about them. Photographs, as a rule, are all copyrighted. Public domain photos are rare. Not all locks have websites, and if they do, they are inconvenient to use. Finally, even in the archives of castles posted on these sites, their plans are not always available. Or there are, but they need to be redrawn, and this is very expensive - you need to order it from an artist!
On the contrary, some castles in England are written about in such detail that our reader doesn’t even need to. So we have to make something interesting out of this whole “hodgepodge of the national team”. For example, today we will go to Kirtling Castle. He has a very curious and informative story, but there are only one or two photographs of him missing.
But there is something to read about him! For example, I have never read such an entertaining story about how a castle passed from hand to hand. Usually a lot is missed. The most significant figures remain. But in the history of Kirtling, all the owners are listed one after another. But this is precisely what is attractive!
I personally came across such a detailed history of how this castle passed from hand to hand for the first time...
The story of the change of holders...
It all started with the fact that Tegn Oswy and his wife Leofled donated Kirtling (which was then a small settlement) to Ely Abbey around the year 1000. But then it was owned by the Earl (later King) of Harold (who died, as we know, in 1066). William I the Conqueror gave it to his niece Judith (d. after 1086), whose youngest daughter and co-heir Alice married Ralph de Toney in 1103 (d. c. 1126). Then part or all of these lands probably belonged to the Englishman Fravine of Kirtling.
Ralph de Toney was followed by his son Roger and in 1162 Kirtling passed to the king as his guardian's guardian. In 1168 it was considered a royal estate, and in 1177, Baron Roger de Toney received it. He was succeeded by his son Ralph (d. 1239). Who again had a son Roger and until he came of age in 1256 his lands were under the tutelage of Queen Eleanor and leased from his mother Parnell. Roger died in 1263 or 1264.
Between the battles of Lewes in May 1264 and Evesham in August 1265, the manor of Kirtling was given to Maud Clare, Countess of Gloucester, and the castle to Henry of Hastings, but in 1265 both the castle and the manor were returned to Roger's son Ralph de Toney (d. 1295). Ralph's son Robert, who came of age in 1297, died without issue in 1309.
As for the first documented reports of the Kirtling Tower (that is, the “Kirtling Tower”), they are dated 1219. Moreover, at this time the castle already had a moat and a palisade, and a tower, of course, if it was called a “tower”.
In the same 1309, Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (d. 1315), became the owner of the castle. It then passed to Alice's son Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. On his death in 1369 it passed with the earldom to his only living son, Thomas. Thomas opposed Richard II and was punished - in 1397 the estate was taken away from him and transferred to the royal henchman Sir John Bussey (executed in 1399).
Henry IV restored Kirtling to Thomas in 1399, but he died in 1401 and Kirtling was in the possession of his executors for a year before being given to his widow. The widow had a successful second marriage to the Earl of Warwick, and after her death in 1407 it passed to their son Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (d. 1439), whose son Henry died in 1446.
The property went to his young daughter Anna, but she soon died. The child's heir was her father's sister, also Anna, the wife of Richard Neville. The couple settled in Kirtling in 1466. And after Richard’s death in 1471 (we’ll talk about his tragic fate later), the inheritance passed in 1472 to their eldest daughter Isabel and her husband George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence.
After the death of Isabella in 1476 and the execution of Clarence, who was drowned for treason in a barrel of malvasia, the castle and lands were given to their young son Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick in 1478, and his guardians successively were Edward IV, Richard III and Henry VII. He apparently gave Kirtling in 1487 to Edward Plantagenet's grandmother Anne Neville, and she returned it to the king.
The Crown retained Kirtling until 1514, when Henry VIII leased it for £336 to his courtier John Sharp. Sharpe left the estate in his will in 1519 to his friend Isabel Damme. After 1526, Sharpe's surviving heir, his nephew Robert Browne, purchased Isabella's life share for an annuity, and in 1533 sold the estate to the courtier Edward North.
North bought the rents due to the crown in 1535, and in 1536 received an Act of Parliament securing his title. He was knighted in 1542 and became Lord of Kirtling in 1554, after which the estate was inherited along with his title.
Edward, 1st Lord North gave Kirtling to his son Roger in 1563 and died in 1564. Roger, 2nd Lord North survived his eldest son John (d. 1597), and was succeeded by John's son Dudley on his death in 1600. Dudley, 3rd Lord North, in 1629 placed the estate in trust for his wife Frances on his death, allowing their eldest son Dudley to rent it from her for £850. He died in 1666. And then Kirtling passed to his son Charles, 5th Lord North and Gray.
The 6th Lord North had no legitimate children and the estate passed in 1762 to his cousin's son Francis North of Roxton Abbey, Earl of Guildford and 7th Lord North. He died in 1790 and was succeeded by his son Frederick, Earl of Guildford and 8th Lord North, former Prime Minister (d. 1792). His widow Anne, who received Kirtling as her dowry, died in 1797, when the estate passed to their son George Augustus North, Earl of Guildford and 9th Lord North (d. 1802). The northern barony, also Kirtling's, passed to his daughters, but Kirtling itself, Wroxton and the earldom passed in turn to George's brothers Francis (d. 1817) and Frederick (d. 1827).
Kirtling and Wroxton then passed to the 9th Lord North's eldest daughter Mary and her husband John Crichton-Stuart, Marquess of Bute. After her death in 1841 they passed to her half-sister Susan and her husband J. S. North (formerly Doyle). So Susan became Lady North. She died in 1884 and was succeeded by her son W. H. J. North, 11th Lord North (d. 1932), from whom Kirtling passed to his son W. F. J. North, 12th Lord North (d. 1938).
The execution of his will was left to a public trustee who sold the Kirtling estate in 1941 on behalf of J. D. North, 13th Lord North and grandson of the 12th Lord North, W. H. R. Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven ( d. 1966), from Anglesey Abbey. He was succeeded in the peerage by his brother H. R. Broughton (d. 1973) and the latter's son A. H. G. Broughton, who held the manor in 2001.
When the castle fell into the hands of Edward North in the 1556th century, he rebuilt it in 1558 and XNUMX with the help of the architect Francis Adams and named it Kirtling Hall. Huge volumes of soil were moved to create a raised platform for the new house, featuring Tudor architectural features such as a gatehouse, gallery, living quarters, banquet hall and garden with stunning water features and ponds.
Queen Elizabeth I stayed at the castle as the guest of Roger North, 2nd Baron North for three days in September 1578 during her tour of Cambridgeshire. The visit cost Lord North £642.
About the cost of admission...
Again, another story came into my hands for the first time, namely the story of how Lord North received Queen Elizabeth I.
Usually the reporting of this important event is limited to the above mentioned amount - 642 pounds sterling 4 shillings and 2 pence. And modern people, understanding with their minds that this is a lot, generally cannot imagine how many things could be bought with this money. And, it turns out, you could buy quite a lot with that money. However, the queen’s retinue was also decent - 2 people! And everyone had to be fed and watered for two days, tasty and satisfying, so as not to lose face in front of Her Majesty.
So, let's see how much was stored, prepared and, obviously, drunk and eaten for the queen and her retinue over these two days.
Bread – 1 manchets made from premium quality flour. In the Tudor era, it was a bread small enough to be held in the hand or with a glove. 200 loaves of chita (bread made from 3st grade flour), and another 600 rolls.
Meat: 111–112 cows, 171–172 calves, 67 sheep, and 7 lambs, 34 pigs, 96 rabbits, 8 deer, 8 hams.
Poultry: 34 geese, 363 capons (castrated roosters for special fattening!), 6 turkeys, 32 swans, 273 ducks, 1 crane, 38 young herons, 110 bitterns, 12 ducks, 1 hens, 194 pigeons, 2 lapwings, 604 godwits, 195 gulls, 68 plovers, 18 snipe, 99 Icelandic sandpipers, 8 partridges, 23 pheasant (one must think it was served to the Queen herself!), 22 bound ones - in short, the entire book "Birds of Britain"!
And in terms of fish, the choice was also solid: 3 barrels of sturgeon, 96 crayfish, 8 turbot, a cart and two horse-loads of oysters, 1 barrel of anchovies, 2 pike, 2 carp, 4 tench, 12 perch, 200 smoked herring.
Also on the list of consumed items were: 2 beef tongue, hoof and udder, 201 pounds of lard, 18 pounds of butter, 430 eggs, 2 Dutch cheeses, sugar worth 522 pounds and 6 shillings, lettuce, roots and herbs worth 16 pounds 4 shilling and 29 pence.
And they drank: 378 gallons of claret, 63 gallons of white wine, 20 gallons of sherry and 6 gallons of hypocrass.
Interesting information, isn't it?
What if one of the VO readers wants to write a novel about that time, and here is some really wonderful information about that era...
To be continued ...
Information