Caverswall Castle is a privately owned early-17th-century English
mansion
A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...
built in a
castellar style upon the foundations and within the walls of a 13th-century castle, in
Caverswall
Caverswall is a village and parish in Staffordshire, to the south west of Staffordshire Moorlands.
In the middle of the 19th century there were about 1500 inhabitants. In the 1880s an urbanised part of the parish called East Vale was transferred ...
,
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
. It is 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 ...
. The castle is large, with a floor area of .
History
In ancient times, the
manor of Caverswall was held by the eponymous Caverswall family, who in 1275 were granted
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 ...
their manor house. The resulting medieval moated castle was approximately rectangular in plan with four angle towers and a
keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
within the
curtain walls.
In the 15th century the castle, which was owned by the Caverswall family, became the seat of the Montgomery family, three of whom served as
High Sheriff of Staffordshire This is a list of the sheriffs and high sheriffs of Staffordshire.
The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. The sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities ass ...
.
[''A Survey of Staffordshire; Containing the Antiquities of that County'' Erdeswick and Harwood (1820) p187 Google Books] It was much decayed and neglected by the end of the 16th century.
It was rebuilt in the 17th century after being purchased in 1615 by
Matthew Cradock
Matthew Cradock (also spelled Craddock and Craddocke; died 27 May 1641) was a London merchant, politician, and the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Founded in 1628, it was an organization of Puritan businessmen that organized a ...
of Stafford, a local wool merchant, first mayor of Stafford in 1614 and Member of Parliament for Stafford in 1621. He built the present mansion house to a design, it is said, of
Robert Smythson
Robert Smythson (1535 – 15 October 1614) was an English architect. Smythson designed a number of notable houses during the Elizabethan era. Little is known about his birth and upbringing—his first mention in historical records comes in 155 ...
or John Smythson.
[ The three storey house has five bays each with stone ]mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
ed and transom
Transom may refer to:
* Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar
* Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet
* Operation Tran ...
ed windows. There is a castellated parapet and an entrance porch[
The old castle walls were retained and 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 ...
it was garrisoned by parliamentary forces.
When the Cradock male line failed the estate was sold in 1655 to William Joliffe (High Sheriff of Staffordshire This is a list of the sheriffs and high sheriffs of Staffordshire.
The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. The sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities ass ...
for 1663) [ but the eventual heir ]William Vane, 2nd Viscount Vane
William Holles Vane, 2nd Viscount Vane (14 February 1714 – 5 April 1789), was a British Whig (British political party), Whig politician. He is best remembered for his devotion to his openly unfaithful wife Frances Vane, Viscountess Vane, Fr ...
, was forced to sell it. Thereafter the castle had several owners. In 1811 it was occupied as a nunnery by a Benedictine order who sold it in 1853 to Sir Perceval Radcliffe, when they then relocated to Oulton Abbey
St Mary's Abbey, Oulton is a suppressed Benedictine monastery located in the village of Oulton near Stone in Staffordshire, England. The Abbey church is Grade II* listed, and other buildings are Grade II.
History
The community was founded in ...
. In the 1880s it was rented by the Wedgwood
Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...
family. In 1891 it was purchased by W.E. Bowers who carried out extensive renovations and much improved the property. W.A. Bowers then sold it in 1933 to the Sisters of the Holy Ghost, who in turn sold it in 1965 to another convent, the Daughters of the House of Mary. When they left in 1977 the Castle was sold in various lots.
More recently the castle was bought in 2006 by property tycoon Robin MacDonald for £1.7m who spent £1 million renovating it. Since the late 1970s, numerous planning applications for various commercial uses have been submitted, but they have all been refused.
The owner was prosecuted for allowing some holiday letting use in 2013 and fined £17,000 and ordered to pay £100,000 costs. The castle has several enforcement notices preventing various uses including "events, activity days, parties, photography & romantic breaks". The local authority have refused to remove the enforcement notices on several occasions. In February 2015 the property was offered for sale with Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
for £3 million. In 2017 the owner talked about the issues he had faced from locals and the planning department:
In 2016, the Castle was put up for sale with Leading Estates for £5m. The castle has been for sale since September 2019. In October 2020, the planning department refused two applications for commercial uses. The first refuses use as a small scale hotel. The second refuses photography and groups, such as schools or historic interest groups from visiting. The enforcement notices were kept in place prohibiting the owner from having any visitors, activities and guests including having a party or an event in the Castle or grounds
The castle was sold in April 2021 for an undisclosed amount.
See also
*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 10 ...
*List of castles in England
This list of castles in England is not a list of every building and site that has "castle" as part of its name, nor does it list only buildings that conform to a strict definition of a castle as a medieval fortified residence. It is not a li ...
*Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire
There are over 9000 Grade I listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the county of Staffordshire, by district.
City of Stoke-on-Trent
Caverswall Castle, Caverswall
East Staffordshire
Lichfield ...
* Listed buildings in Caverswall
References
{{reflist
External links
Caverswall Castle
Castles in Staffordshire
Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire
Grade I listed castles