Bletsoe Castle was a late medieval fortified

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 ...

in the village of

Bletsoe Bletsoe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the A6, and about eight miles north of Bedford. The village has a small park, the former site of Bletsoe Castle and a church. Nearby places are Sharnbrook, Milton Ernest, ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

Details

Bletsoe Castle was created by John Pateshull, who received a

licence to crenellate In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within the ...

an existing manor house on the east side of Bletsoe in 1327. Pateshull had owned the manor of Bletsoe since 1313, but with the death of his mother, in 1324, he inherited additional lands, allowing him to acquire permission to crenellate the property. In 1421 the house descended to

Margaret Beauchamp Margaret Beauchamp (1404 – 14 June 1467) was the eldest daughter of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and his first wife, Elizabeth de Berkeley. As the eldest child of a family without male issue, Margaret was expected to inherit from h ...

who married Sir Oliver St John. On his death in 1437 she remarried

John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, 3rd Earl of Somerset, KG (25 March 1404 – 30 May 1444) was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He was the maternal grandfather of Henry VII. Origins Born on 25 ...

and had one daughter,

Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: or ; 31 May 1441/43 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. A descendant of ...

, who was born in the house on 31 May, although it remains in dispute whether she was born in 1441 or 1443. Margaret Beaufort later became the mother of

Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort ...

. The house later passed down in the St John of Bletsoe family. In the late 16th or early 17th century, a new building was erected around the castle, quadrangular in design with three or four storeys and gable windows. Much of this later building was pulled down, leaving a much smaller building, still incorporating parts of the older castle, within the older medieval earthworks. Today the castle is 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 ...

and a Grade II*

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 ...

. The medieval

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

has a diameter of , is on average wide and deep. The moat is water-filled in parts though the south side has been destroyed by the construction of agricultural buildings over it.

References

Bibliography

*MacKenzie, James Dixon. (1896/2009) ''The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure.'' General Books LLC. . *Rickard, John. (2002)
The castle community: the personnel of English and Welsh castles, 1272-1422.
' Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. .

External links

Investigation History
{{Authority control Castles in Bedfordshire Scheduled monuments in Bedfordshire Grade II* listed buildings in Bedfordshire

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See also

References

Bibliography

External links