Astwell Castle is a manor house in Northamptonshire, England about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-west of Wappenham. It is a listed building[1] and part of the parish of Helmdon, a village 1 mile (1.6 km) west.
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The house was begun by Thomas Lovett, who acquired the estate in 1471[2][a]. The embattled gatehouse tower with the lower attachment to the left is of his time. To the west a large courtyard house with over forty rooms accumulated under later owners in the Lovett and Shirley families in the 16th and 17th centuries, of which only a fragment survives. It still has mullioned windows with arched lights, suggesting 16th rather than 17th century. Inside is a fireplace with a broad frieze of simple geometrical motifs above the four-centered arch. Early 18th century drawings show ranges added against both the west and south sides of the house which were built up to or over the moat. These may be related to infilling the moat and setting out a garden with formal terraces on the south and east sides of the house. A deer park was created in 1547. There is a memorial to Lovett in the church at Wappenham nearby.
A house was added about 1606 by George Shirley. The Shirleys, who were ennobled as Earls Ferrers in 1677, ceased to live at Astwell in the 18th century. It was sold in 1763 and most of the buildings were demolished shortly afterwards.
On 8.19am on 30 November 1943 a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, No.42-3048 from USAAF station 109 Podington of the 327th bomb squadron, 92nd bomb group, 8th bomber command crashed near the farm buildings. It had taken off on its way with the rest of the squadron on a mission to bomb the industrial complex at Solingen, Germany. All 10 crew members were killed.[3]
On 9 November 2008 Lt Col Terry Hayes, Deputy Commander of the American 422nd Air Base Group at RAF Croughton laid a special wreath and read out the names of the American airmen. The men were included in the 2008 Remembrance Service in at Helmdon parish church.
The south range of the building was altered in the 19th century and again in 1957 when the house was remodelled and the roof timbers replaced.