Maurice de Gaunt (before 1200 - 1230) was the founder of

Beverston Castle Beverston Castle, also known as Beverstone Castle or Tetbury Castle, was constructed as a medieval stone fortress in the village of Beverston, Gloucestershire, England. The property is a mix of manor house, various small buildings, extensive gar ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He began the construction c. 1225 without royal licence, and completed the project in 1229 with the granting of a licence for the final

crenellation A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

. Beverston Castle was further enlarged in the mid fourteenth century and saw action in 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 ...

. The castle is in partial

ruin Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

with occupancy as of 2006. He was the grandson of

Robert Fitzharding Robert Fitzharding (c. 1095–1170) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman from Bristol who was granted the feudal barony of Berkeley in Gloucestershire. He rebuilt Berkeley Castle, and founded the Berkeley family which still occupies it today. He was a wea ...

, the founder of St Augustine's Abbey, which was the forerunner of

Bristol Cathedral Bristol Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. Founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148, it was originally St Augustine's Abbey but after the Dissolu ...

. Maurice de Gaunt was the founder, together with his nephew Robert de Gournay, of St Mark's Hospital in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, otherwise known as Gaunt's Hospital. The church of St Mark's Hospital later became the

Lord Mayor's Chapel St Mark's Church is an ancient church on the north-east side of College Green, Bristol, College Green, Bristol, England, built c. 1230. Better known to mediaeval and Tudor historians as the Gaunt's Chapel, it has also been known within Bri ...

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*Barker, W.R. St Mark's or The Mayor's Chapel, Bristol, formerly called the Church of the Gaunts. Bristol, 1892 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaunt, Maurice De 1230 deaths 13th-century English nobility Year of birth uncertain

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