Ashby de la Zouch Castle is a ruined fortification in the town of
Ashby-de-la-Zouch,
Leicestershire, England. The castle was built by
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
,
Lord Hastings
Baron Hastings is a title that has been created three times. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in 1290, and is extant. The second creation was in the Peerage of England in 1299, and became extinct on the death of the first holder in ...
, a favourite of
Edward IV, after 1473, accompanied by the creation of a
park. Constructed on the site of an older
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
, two large towers and various smaller buildings had been constructed by 1483, when Hastings was executed by
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
,
Duke of Gloucester. The Hastings family used the castle as their seat for several generations, improving the gardens and hosting royal visitors.
During the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
of the 1640s,
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
, a younger son in the Hastings family, became a
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...
commander in
the Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...
. He based himself out of the castle until he was forced to surrender it after a long siege. A fresh rebellion occurred in 1648, leading
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
to
slight the castle in order to prevent it being used militarily: the two towers were badly damaged with
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...
and
undermining. Parts of the remaining castle were turned into a new house and continued to be used by members of the Hastings family for many years, although they moved their main residence to
Donington Hall
Donington Hall is a mansion house set in parkland near Castle Donington village, North West Leicestershire. The Hall and Estate was purchased in April 2021 by MotorSport Vision, which also operates the neighbouring Donington Park racing circu ...
.
The castle became famous after it featured in Sir
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
's novel ''
Ivanhoe'' in 1819, and its owner,
Francis Rawdon
Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, (9 December 175428 November 1826), styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762, Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783, The Lord Rawdon from 1783 to 1793 and The Earl of Moira b ...
, opened the ruins to visitors. Restoration work was carried out over the course of the next century, but by 1932 the Rawdon family could no longer afford to maintain the castle. It passed into the guardianship of the
Ministry of Works, who carried out extensive repairs and opened the castle gardens. In the 21st century, the castle is managed by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
as a tourist attraction, receiving 15,164 visitors in 2015. The historian
John Goodall
John Goodall (19 June 1863 – 20 May 1942) was a footballer who rose to fame as a centre forward for England and for Preston North End at the time of the development of the Football League, and also became Watford's first manager in 1903. He ...
considers the site to be an "outstanding example of a late medieval castle", with its grounds forming "one of the best-preserved and most important" examples of an early
Tudor garden.
History
11th–15th centuries
![Ashby de la Zouch castle fireplace detail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Ashby_de_la_Zouch_castle_fireplace_detail.JPG)
A
manor had existed at
Ashby-de-la-Zouch from at least 1086, when the location was known as Ascebi.
The lands were acquired by
Robert de Beaumont, the
Count of Meulan
The county of Meulan, in Normandy, France, appeared as an entity within the region of the Vexin when the otherwise unknown Count Waleran established an independent power base on a fortified island in the River Seine, around the year 1020. Waleran' ...
and later
Earl of Leicester
Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837.
Early creatio ...
, in 1100. He established the Belmeis family there as his tenants and, after the Belmeis family line died out in 1160, the earls of Leicester reassigned the estate to the le Zouch family, from whom the manor took its later name.
[; ]
At some point during this period, a
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
was constructed on the same site as the later castle, with a
hall and a
solar.
A settlement grew up alongside the house and, by 1334, the town was probably the sixth-largest in the county. By the mid-1300s, the manor house reportedly included a hall, a chamber, a long house containing service facilities, and was surrounded by a
dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...
, orchard and a rabbit warren, accompanied by a
deer park. The hall and solar were rebuilt by the le Zouches during the second half of the 14th century, but the building remained what the historian
Norman Pounds
Norman John Greville Pounds (23 February 1912 – 24 March 2006) was an English geographer and historian. He wrote over 30 books, primarily on the history and geography of Europe from several different time periods.
Early life and career
P ...
has called a "rather modest manor house".
The le Zouch line died out in 1399, leaving the inheritance of the family estates uncertain.
The manor probably passed to Sir Hugh Burnell and, around 1420, onto
James Butler, the
Earl of Ormond and
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
.
[; ] The
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...
broke out in England during 1455 between the rival supporters of the
Lancastrian and
Yorkist
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...
factions. James, a Lancastrian, was captured at the
Battle of Towton
The Battle of Towton took place on 29 March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, near Towton in North Yorkshire, and "has the dubious distinction of being probably the largest and bloodiest battle on English soil". Fought for ten hours between ...
by the Yorkist leader Edward IV in 1461 and executed;
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
seized his estates, including the manor of Ashby de la Zouch.
Ashby de la Zouch was converted into a
castle by
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
,
Lord Hastings
Baron Hastings is a title that has been created three times. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in 1290, and is extant. The second creation was in the Peerage of England in 1299, and became extinct on the death of the first holder in ...
, a favourite of
Edward IV; as a minor nobleman he had fought alongside Edward at Towton, but was then knighted and later became the
chamberlain
Chamberlain may refer to:
Profession
*Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure
People
*Chamberlain (surname)
**Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...
of the royal household and the
Lieutenant of Calais. William acquired extensive estates across the
Midlands during the wars, much of them confiscated from his enemies.
Amongst these was Ashby de la Zouch, which was given to William in 1462. His father, Sir Leonard, had maintained the family seat at nearby
Kirby Muxloe
Kirby Muxloe is a large village and civil parish that forms part of the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. Located to the west of Leicester, its proximity to the city has resulted in its inclusion in the Leicester Urban Area. The Le ...
, but after 1471 William began to use Ashby de la Zouch as his primary residence.
In 1474, Edward granted William the
right to crenellate, or fortify, four of his manors and to build deer parks around them. William set about developing the old manorial complex at Ashby de la Zouch with new buildings, and was authorised to create a huge park around it. His intent appears to have been to construct a substantial castle, similar to the royal fortifications at
Tutbury
Tutbury is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is north of Burton upon Trent and south of the Peak District. The village has a population of about 3,076 residents. It adjoins Hatton to the north on the Staffordshire–Derby ...
and
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
, with four huge towers. Work appears to have already started on the site the year before permission was formally given, although it is uncertain whether this referred to the construction of the castle's
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
, or if William had already begun work on the first tower, gambling that the King would subsequently approve it.
Edward IV died in 1483, leaving the kingdom to his young son,
Edward V, but his uncle,
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
,
Duke of Gloucester, had his own ambitions for the throne. Lord Hastings was unwilling to support the deposition of Edward V and, as a consequence, Richard summarily executed him that June, ahead of his own coronation. Ashby de la Zouch Castle, only partially completed, and Lord Hastings' other estates were then restored to his widow,
Katherine
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria.
In the early Christ ...
.
16th–17th centuries
![Ashby de la Zouch castle Hastings tower](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Ashby_de_la_Zouch_castle_Hastings_tower.JPG)
The castle passed to William's son,
Edward Hastings, who appears to have spent little time at the property, although he hosted a visit from
Henry VIII in 1503. It was then inherited by his son,
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
, who was a royal favourite of Henry VIII and made the
Earl of Huntington in 1529, which led to him rebuilding parts of the castle in brick and redesigning the gardens.
Henry Hastings inherited the castle in 1560, where he maintained a household of 77 servants.
[; ] Henry Hastings used it to imprison
Mary Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Sco ...
in 1569 after she was accused of plotting against
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
, although he spent most of his time at York, where he led the
Council of the North
The Council of the North was an administrative body first set up in 1484 by King Richard III of England, to improve access to conciliar justice in Northern England. This built upon steps by King Edward IV of England in delegating authority in the ...
.
It passed onto his younger brother,
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
, who entertained
Queen Anne,
Princess Elizabeth, and
Prince Henry there on 22 June 1603. The
Countess of Derby was welcomed in August 1607 with the ''
Masque at Ashby Castle''. His grandson,
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
hosted
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
three times between 1612 and 1617, and
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
in 1634. The gardens were redeveloped, probably to provide a suitable venue for these royal visits. By now, however, several generations of excessive expenditure meant that the family estates had been much diminished, and the family was having trouble maintaining their lavish lifestyle and former prominence in the region.
In 1642, the English Civil War broke out between the supporters of Charles I and
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
. Henry Hasting briefly joined the royalist cause before his death in 1643, but his eldest son
Ferdinando, who inherited the family earldom, remained neutral during the conflict.
[; ] Ferdinando's younger brother
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
, however, became a key Royalist commander in the Midlands.
The castle was strategically well-placed, linking the Royalist territories in the north and the west of England, and giving easy access to the
River Trent
The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...
. Henry used the castle as his base of operations across the region, protecting it by establishing smaller outposts near
Donnington and
Shardlow
Shardlow is a village in Derbyshire, England about southeast of Derby and southwest of Nottingham. Part of the civil parish of Shardlow and Great Wilne, and the district of South Derbyshire, it is also very close to the border with Leice ...
. Buildings in the town of Ashby de la Zouch were pulled down to provide materiel to refortify the castle and town, tunnels were dug and an "Irish fort" constructed to help protect the castle.
[; ]
In early 1643, Parliament placed
Newark under siege, and the garrison at Ashby was sent to relieve it.
As part of a larger force under
Prince Rupert, they forced the surrender of the Parliamentary force.
By late 1644, the war turned against the King, and the Parliamentary forces based at nearby
Coleorton had contained the garrison in the castle. King Charles passed through the castle in May 1645 on his way to besiege
Leicester, but the following month his forces were defeated at the
Battle of Naseby
The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, destroyed the main ...
; the King briefly stayed at the castle once again as he retreated west.
By now, the Royalist cause was largely lost.
Henry returned to the castle from Leicester in September, where another 600 Royalist soldiers soon joined him and its 60-man garrison, carrying out raids on Parliamentary convoys and the garrison at Coleorton.
Plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pe ...
broke out at the end of the year, forcing the besiegers to retreat to Leicester, while the garrison temporarily abandoned the castle buildings and occupied the neighbouring park. Once the epidemic passed, Parliament began to raid the town and Henry worked through Ferdinando to agree the surrender of the castle on good terms: this was achieved in February 1646, and allowed for the release of himself, the garrison and their weapons.
In May 1648, a
Royalist rebellion broke out in Kent. There were fresh Parliamentary concerns about Henry Hastings and fears grew that he might reoccupy Ashby de la Zouch Castle.
Lord Grey – a rival of the Hastings family in Leicestershire – was put in charge of the castle in August, which was used to hold Royalist prisoners, including
James Hamilton, the
Duke of Hamilton. Parliamentary worries about the security of the castle persisted and, possibly because of Henry's involvement in the recent rebellion, William Bainbrigg was ordered in November to
slight the castle to put it beyond military use. He carried out his orders immediately, demolishing one side of the Great Tower and the Kitchen Tower,
undermining the foundations and deploying
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...
charges.
The Hastings family suffered financially as a result of the war, and Ferdinando was imprisoned for debt in 1653. The family moved to
Donington Hall
Donington Hall is a mansion house set in parkland near Castle Donington village, North West Leicestershire. The Hall and Estate was purchased in April 2021 by MotorSport Vision, which also operates the neighbouring Donington Park racing circu ...
, although some of the remains of the castle were repaired to form a house called Ashby Place, which lay on the north side of the site in the old outer court.
Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, lived there after 1746.
With the deterioration of the castle and the departure of the Hastings, the neighbouring town also fell into decline. With the death of
Francis Hastings in 1789, the castle was inherited by
Francis Rawdon
Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, (9 December 175428 November 1826), styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762, Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783, The Lord Rawdon from 1783 to 1793 and The Earl of Moira b ...
, who later became the
Earl of Moira
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
.
18th–21st centuries
![Engraving of Ashby de la Zouch Castle, 1831](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Engraving_of_Ashby_de_la_Zouch_Castle%2C_1831.png)
In 1819, Sir
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
's novel ''
Ivanhoe'' featured a scene involving a
tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
at Ashby de la Zouch Castle; the novel was immensely popular and made the location famous.
Edward Mammatt, Francis Rawdon's agent, repaired the castle ruins and opened them to visitors, whom Rawdon hoped to attract to the
Ivanhoe Baths which he opened nearby.
Ashby Place, which had become used as a
House of Industry, was pulled down in 1830 and a new house, Ashby Manor, was built in its place.
Work continued throughout the 19th century to repair the castle ruins, although they remained mostly covered in
ivy
''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...
.
A local architect, Thomas Fosbrooke, carried out the first
archaeological investigation of the site in 1900, and extensive restoration work took place the following years. The Rawdon family were given a government grant for further repairs in 1912 and they began to start charging visitors for entry.
The family found themselves unable to afford to maintain the castle, and by the early 1930s the walls had become unstable and dangerous. The castle was placed into the guardianship of the
Ministry of Works in 1932, who carried out repairs, replacing some stonework and opening up the surrounding grounds to visitors.
In the 21st century, the castle is managed by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
as a tourist attraction, receiving 15,164 visitors in 2015. An archaeological investigation of the castle gardens was carried out in 2006.
The site is protected under UK law as a
Grade I listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
and a
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
.
Architecture and landscape
Architecture
![Diagram of Ashby de la Zouch Castle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Diagram_of_Ashby_de_la_Zouch_Castle.png)
The ruins of Ashby de la Zouch Castle are located close to the centre of the modern town, and comprise two large towers and associated buildings arranged around a court, with formal gardens to the south. Lord Hastings probably intended his castle to ultimately have four large towers, enclosing the interior buildings with a
curtain wall to a regular design, but only half of these towers were completed by the time of his death. The outer court that lay to the north of the surviving complex has been lost; having been converted into first Ashby Place, and then Ashby Manor, it is now occupied by the Manor House Preparatory School. The historian John Goodall considers Ashby de la Zouch to form an "outstanding example of a late medieval castle".
The Kitchen Tower stands on the north-west corner of the castle and was intended to supply Lord Hasting's large household. The tower only had two storeys, as the ground floor kitchen had a very high, high
vaulted
In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...
ceiling, and its walls were thick and made of yellow
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
. The well-lit kitchen had several
hearths and an oven for cooking, a well and a cellar for storage.
Above the kitchen was a large room, probably used as a winter
parlour
A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...
. One wall of the tower was slighted in 1648.
An underground passage, probably dating from the English Civil War, links the Great Tower with the Kitchen Tower.
Alongside the tower, separated for fire safety by a roofed passageway, was a two-storey service range, including a
buttery and
pantry
A pantry is a room or cupboard where beverages, food, and sometimes dishes, household cleaning products, linens or provisions are stored within a home or office. Food and beverage pantries serve in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen.
Etymol ...
. The castle's Great Hall was adapted from the medieval original, and would originally have been subdivided by a line of arches.
It was heated by a central heath and the lord and his guests would have eaten on a raised
dais
A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)[dais]
in the Random House Dictionary< ...
at the far end of the hall.
The building was raised in height, given new windows and reroofed in the second half of the 17th century.
The Great Chamber was a two-storey building, originally with a parlour on the ground level, with a chamber above it used for entertaining guests.
Running north from the Great Chamber was a range of buildings used by the senior household staff.
The large
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
, and built of grey sandstone, lies alongside the Great Chamber, and would originally had an
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
on a dais at the north end. One corner of the chapel remains in use as a burial site by the modern Hastings family.
An inner, or chapel, court would have been formed by a range of buildings, since lost, stretching between the chapel and the Great Tower. The historian Anthony Emery notes that the castle would have formed a "palace fortress", with the sizeable chapel and adjacent towers constituting symbols of Hastings' power and authority.
The Great Tower was a large structure of grey sandstone, tall, formed of a four-storey tower, internally, linked to a smaller seven-storey tower or turret, across. The ground floor contained the basement and the entrance-way, protected by a
portcullis. The first floor held the kitchen, and had a fire-proof stone-vaulted roof.
The upper floors consisted of a parlour and a separate great chamber for the lord, with a withdrawing chamber to one side, all with grander windows than the lower levels, with excellent views of the gardens and the parkland beyond. A treasure chamber, accessible only from the upper storeys using a ladder, was built into the first floor.
Emery considers the "richness of the upper rooms and the tower's planning and design qualities" to be outstanding, and likens it to the
Yellow Tower of Gwent at
Raglan Castle
Raglan Castle ( cy, Castell Rhaglan) is a late medieval castle located just north of the village of Raglan in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales. The modern castle dates from between the 15th and early 17th centuries, when the succ ...
.
File:Ashby de la Zouch castle front building as seen from the tower.JPG, The Kitchen Tower
File:Ashby de la Zouch Castle large hall as seen from tower.JPG, Great Hall
File:Ashb de la Zouch Castle main hall as seen from the tower.JPG, Great Chamber
File:Ashby de la Zouch castle chapel as seen from tower.JPG, and chapel, as seen from the top of the Great Tower
Gardens and parkland
![Earthworks at Ashby de la Zouch Castle - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Earthworks_at_Ashby_de_la_Zouch_Castle_-_geograph.org.uk_-_796687.jpg)
The current gardens to the south of the castle date from around 1530; they occupy , and include two sunken areas, separated by a walkway.
[; ] The eastern area may have been intended to imitate defensive
bastion works, and it originally featured a circular brick tower in the middle of it. The site would originally have had a brick wall running all the way around it, of which only the south-east edge survives.
Two brick towers survive at the southern corners, one resembling a clover-leaf, the other with an octagonal design, and would have originally been used as
banqueting house
In English architecture, mainly from the Tudor period onwards, a banqueting house is a separate pavilion-like building reached through the gardens from the main residence, whose use is purely for entertaining, especially eating. Or it may be b ...
s. Beyond the gardens would have been an area planted with trees, called "the
wilderness", and smaller compartmented garden and ponds.
A triangular building called "the Mount" was built in the wilderness in the early 17th century, and is now a private house.
John Goodall considers them to be "one of the best-preserved and most important early Tudor gardens in England".
The original park probably lay just to the south of the castle, incorporating the current gardens; it was probably expanded to around by William Hastings, and was later named the "Little Park". The original boundaries of the other two parks associated with castle to the north and west, Great Park and Prestop Park, are uncertain.
[; ]
See also
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Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 1050 ...
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List of castles in Leicestershire
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
English Heritage visitors' page
{{Authority control
Castles in Leicestershire
Grade I listed buildings in Leicestershire
English Heritage sites in Leicestershire
Ruins in Leicestershire
Scheduled monuments in Leicestershire
Ashby-de-la-Zouch