Montfichet's Tower (also known as Montfichet's Castle and/or spelt Mountfitchet's or Mountfiquit's) was a Norman fortress on

Ludgate Hill Ludgate Hill is a street and surrounding area, on a small hill in the City of London, England. The street passes through the former site of Ludgate, a city gate that was demolished – along with a gaol attached to it – in 1760. Th ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, between where

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

and

City Thameslink railway station City Thameslink is a London station group, central London railway station within the City of London, with entrances on Ludgate Hill and Holborn Viaduct. The station is on the Thameslink, Thameslink route between to the south and to the north ...

now stand. First documented in the 1130s, it was probably built in the late 11th century. The defences were strengthened during the

revolt of 1173–1174 The Revolt of 1173–1174 (sometimes referred to as the Great Revolt) was a rebellion against King Henry II of England by three of his sons, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their rebel supporters. The revolt ended in failure after eighteen ...

against

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

. It was demolished in 1213 by King John and the site sold in 1275 to build the great Dominican priory of Blackfriars. Archaeological excavations in 1986–90 uncovered waste pits and the remains of ditches between Carter Lane and Ludgate Hill.

Background

Today the

River Fleet The River Fleet is the largest of Subterranean rivers of London, London's subterranean rivers, all of which today contain foul water for treatment. It has been used as a culverted sewer since the development of Joseph Bazalgette's London sewe ...

has been reduced to a trickle in a

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

under New Bridge Street that emerges under Blackfriars Bridge, but before the development of London it was the biggest river in the area, after the Thames. It formed the western boundary of the Roman city of London and the strategic importance of the junction of the Fleet and the Thames means that the area was probably fortified from early times. The Normans reinforced the area by building two castles inside the Roman walls that ran north–south, giving their name to the street of

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

and then roughly following the modern Blackfriars Lane down to the Thames. Baynard's Castle was built where the wall met the river overlooking the mouth of the Fleet, roughly where the Bank of New York's Mellon Centre stands at 160 Queen Victoria Street. Montfichet's Tower was further north on

overlooking the strategic route west, through

Ludgate Ludgate was the westernmost gate in London Wall. Of Roman origin, it was rebuilt several times and finally demolished on 30th July 1760. The name survives in Ludgate Hill, an eastward continuation of Fleet Street, Ludgate Circus and Ludgate S ...

and over the Fleet, that would become

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

Construction

Little is known about the construction of Montfichet's Tower. The first documentary evidence is a reference to the lord of Montfichet's Tower in a charter of c1136 in relation to river rights. cited by Watson. The tower was probably built in the late 11th century; the name appears to derive from the Montfitchet family from

Stansted Mountfitchet Stansted Mountfitchet is an England, English village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Uttlesford district, Essex, near the Hertfordshire border, north of London. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 5,533, increasi ...

in Essex, who occupied the tower in the 12th century. A William Mountfichet lived during the reign (1100–1135) of Henry I and witnessed a charter for the sheriffs of London. The 16th-century historian

John Stow John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of History of England, English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe C ...

ascribes construction to a Baron of Mountfichet, who came to England during the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

Stow is an important source for the medieval history of London, but wrote in an era before standardisation of spelling; he spells ''Montfichet'' as ''Mountfiquit''. Montfiquet is a village in Normandy between

Bayeux Bayeux (, ; ) is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It is also known as the fir ...

and

Saint-Lô Saint-Lô (, ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy.Stansted Mountfitchet Castle at Stansted Mountfitchet, which has now been recreated as a tourist attraction; the two castles are easily confused, particularly given the variable spelling of Montfichet/Mountfitchet in documents. The last mention of the tower as a place of military significance comes in Jordan Fantosme's chronicle of the

against

. Fantosme relates how Gilbert de Munfichet (sic) strengthened his castle in London and become allies with "Clarreaus"identified as his cousin Walter Fitz Robert of Baynard's Castle, grandson of the Lord of Clare.

King John

Robert Fitzwalter Robert FitzwalterAlso spelled Fitzwater, FitzWalter, fitzWalter, etc. (died 9 December 1235) was one of the leaders of the baronial opposition against King John, and one of the twenty-five sureties of Magna Carta. He was feudal baron of Littl ...

of Baynard's Castle was the leader of the barons' revolt against King John which culminated in

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...

in 1215. Fitzwalter plotted against King John in 1212, but John got wind of the plot and exiled Fitzwalter. Fitzwalter fled to France and on 14 January 1213 King John destroyed Castle Baynard. Stow reports that Robert Montfichet was also banished in 1213 and at least one of the Montfichet castles was demolished. Fitzwalter was forgiven under the terms of the king's submission to

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III (; born Lotario dei Conti di Segni; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most power ...

in May 1213. His estates were restored on 19 July 1213 and according to Stow he was given licence to repair Castle Baynard. It is not clear to what extent either castle was rebuilt after 1213, or indeed whether the sites were amalgamated in some way. The tower was certainly in ruins by 1278, according to a deed drawn up between the Bishop of London, the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's and the Dominicans about the proposed locations of the new friary church.Watson cites a document copied into the ''Liber Pilosus'' of St Paul's, Guildhall Library MS 25,501, f107.

Blackfriars priory

In 1275Stow (1598), pp269-283. Kingsford'
notes
on Stow's text. Fitzwalter's grandson, also called Robert, was given licence to sell Baynard's Castle to Robert Kilwardby, the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

for the precinct of the great Dominican Priory at Blackfriars that started construction in 1276.Page (1923) p. 139. Montfichet's Tower was included in the sale. The building of the priory required the Roman walls to be rerouted in 1282, and the military functions of the castles were taken up by a new "tower" in the river at the end of the walls. Started under the great castle-builder Edward I, it was completed during the reign of Edward II (1307–1327) and demolished in 1502. The Bishop of London had first pick of the stones for the 'New Work' (1256–1314) reconstructing

Old St Paul's Cathedral Old St Paul's Cathedral was the cathedral of the City of London that, until the Great Fire of London, Great Fire of 1666, stood on the site of the present St Paul's Cathedral. Built from 1087 to 1314 and dedicated to Paul of Tarsus, Saint Paul ...

. The remainder were used in the construction of the new priory church.

Archaeology

The deed of 1278 mentioned above provides the best documentary evidence for the location of Montfichet's Tower. It makes it clear that the tower was between

and the river, inside the line of the city walls. Baynard's Castle lay to the south, adjacent to St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe. A 1980s study of the topography of medieval London suggested a location bounded by Ludgate Hill and Carter Lane to the north and south, and St Paul's deanery and the city wall to the east and west respectively.. Cited by Watson, see also the External Links section below. Redevelopment gave the Department of Urban Archaeology of the Museum of London the opportunity to excavate the area, between 1986 and 1990. They found two ditches running east–west on the north side of Carter Lane, between 52–66, interpreted as the southern defences of the tower. There was of an earlier ditch, estimated at deep originally, and of a later, V-shaped ditch that was about wide and deep originally. Another ditch was found on Ludgate Hill, some north of the southern ditches. It was estimated at wide and deep originally. Pits and a well were found between the ditches, interpreted as the bailey of the castle, but no sign of a keep or other masonry. Watson suggests that a motte and keep may have existed to the east of the Ludgate Hill entrance of Ludgate Square.

Notes and references

External links

* Has Mary Lobel's reconstructions of maps of the area in c1270 (Figure 4 on p36) * * {{coord , 51, 30, 49, N, 0, 6, 5, W, type:landmark_region:GB-LND, display=title Castles in London Former buildings and structures in the City of London Medieval London