Penstowe Castle, also called Kilkhampton Castle, was a medieval

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

built near

Kilkhampton Kilkhampton ( kw, Kylgh) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in northeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is on the A39 road#Atlantic Highway, A39 about four miles (6 km) north-northeast of Bude. Kilk ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, possibly during the years of the civil war in the 12th century known as

the Anarchy The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legiti ...

History

The precise date of Penstowe Castle's construction is uncertain, but it was built during the years of

in the mid-12th century, either by

Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147 David Crouch, 'Robert, first earl of Gloucester (b. c. 1090, d. 1147)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200Retrieved ...

, feudal baron of Gloucester, who was certainly the

tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as op ...

of the manor of Kilkhampton, or by his tenants and relatives the Grenville family (possibly Sir Richard I de Grenville (d.post 1142) of

Neath Castle Neath Castle ( cy, Castell Nedd) is a Norman castle located in the town centre of Neath, Wales. Its construction was begun by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the nominal Lord of Glamorgan, at a date estimated between 1114 and 1130. It is also ref ...

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

), which held the manor of Kilkhampton and the

manor of Bideford The Manorialism, manor of Bideford in North Devon was held by the Grenville family between the 12th and 18th centuries. The full Lineal descendant, descent is as follows: Anglo-Saxons Ubba, Hubba the Dane was said to have attacked Devon in the a ...

in Devon from the

Honour of Gloucester Honour (British English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of socia ...

. Stowe House was the Grenvilles' residence at Kilkhampton, demolished and rebuilt in grand form in 1679 by

John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath PC, 29 August 1628 – 22 August 1701, was an English landowner who served in the Royalist army during the First English Civil War and was rewarded for his services after the 1660 Stuart Restoration with a title ...

(1628-1701). Kilkhampton Castle was built to a

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortification ...

design, positioned on a knoll and protected by steep slopes on the north and south sides. The motte today is shaped as an oval, by across and between and high; the inner bailey is by , and the outer bailey is by .; The configuration of baileys is unusual, although similar to nearby Eastleigh Berries Castle. A D-shaped building was located on top of the motte. Archaeological excavations were carried out in 1925 and in the early 1950s. In the 21st century the site is protected under law as 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 ...

References

;References ;Bibliography * {{cite journal , last1 = Preston-Jones , first1 = Anne , last2 = Rose , first2 = Peter , title = Medieval Cornwall , journal = Cornish Archaeology , year = 1986 , volume = 25 , number = , pages = 135–185 , jstor = Castles in Cornwall Scheduled monuments in Cornwall

History

See also

References