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 ...
in the village of
Bletsoe,
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 ...
.
Details
Bletsoe Castle was created by John Pateshull, who received a
licence to crenellate 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 and had one daughter,
Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, 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 Beauf ...
.
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 ...
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 I ...
. The medieval
moat 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.
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 1050 ...
*
List of castles in England
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