Caverswall Castle
| Caverswall Castle | |
|---|---|
| Caverswall, Staffordshire, England | |
| Coordinates | grid reference SJ950428 |
| Type | Mansion, built within older castle |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Private ownership |
| Condition | Intact |
| Site history | |
| Materials | Stone |
Caverswall Castle is a privately owned early 17th century mansion built in a castellar style upon the foundations and within the walls of a 13th-century medieval castle. It is a Grade I listed building in Caverswall, Staffordshire.[1]
It is home to L.T Cooper, organiser of Caverswall and Sheepwash's annual 'Sheep Walking' tradition. An act which symbolises the onset of Winter months.
History
In ancient times, the manor of Caverswall was held by the eponymous Caverswall family, who in 1275 were granted licence to crenellate their manor house.[2] The resulting medieval moated castle was approximately rectangular in plan with four angle towers and a keep within the curtain walls.[2]
In the 15th century the castle, which was owned by the Caverswall family, became the seat of the Montgomery family, three of whom served as High Sheriff of Staffordshire.[3] During the English Civil War it was garrisoned by parliamentary forces[4] and was much decayed and neglected by the end of the 17th century.
The neglected castle was purchased in 1615 by Matthew Cradock of Stafford, a local wool merchant, first mayor of Stafford in 1614 and Member of Parliament for Stafford in 1621.[5] He built the present mansion house retaining the old castle walls, to a design, it is said, of Robert Smythson or John Smythson.[1] The three storey house has five bays each with stone mullioned and transomed windows. There is a castellated parapet and an entrance porch[1]
The Cradock male line failed, and the estate was sold in 1655 to William Joliffe (High Sheriff in 1663);[3] the eventual heir William Vane, 2nd Viscount Vane,[6] was forced to sell it. Thereafter the castle had several owners. In the early 19th century it was occupied as a nunnery by a Benedictine order. In 1891 it was purchased by W.E. Bowers who carried out extensive renovations and much improved the property.
The house remains in private ownership and is not open to the public.
See also
- Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
- List of castles in England
- Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Single.aspx?uid=274806&resourceID Heritage Gateway, architectural description of listed building - Caverswall Castle
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gatehouse Gazetteer
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A Survey of Staffordshire; Containing the Antiquities of that County Erdeswick and Harwood (1820) p187 Google Books
- ↑ History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire William White (1834) p730
- ↑ He was a cousin of Matthew Cradock (d. 1641), coloniser of Massachusetts.
- ↑ "Cavarswall Castle, the seat of the Right Honorable Lord Viscount Vane" (William Tunnicliffe, A Survey of the County of Stafford..., "From Uttoxeter to Drayton", in A Topographical Survey of the Counties of Stafford, Chester and Lancashire... 1786:13.