Beaumys Castle

Beaumys Castle
Swallowfield, Berkshire, England
Beaumys Castle
Coordinates 51°22′34″N 0°58′53″W / 51.3760°N 0.9813°W / 51.3760; -0.9813Coordinates: 51°22′34″N 0°58′53″W / 51.3760°N 0.9813°W / 51.3760; -0.9813
Grid reference grid reference SU710646
Type Fortified manor house
Site information
Condition Earthworks

Beaumys Castle, also known as Beams Castle, was a 14th-century fortified manor house in the parish of Swallowfield in the English county of Berkshire.

History

Beaumys Castle was a manor in the parish of Swallowfied, given to Sir Nicholas de la Beche in 1335.[1] De la Beche received a licence to crenellate in 1338 and produced a fortified manor house.[2] The castle was rectangular, protected by earthworks approximately 130m by 110m across, surrounded by a water-filled moat, with the castle accessed from an entrance to the north-west.[3]

De la Beche died, leaving the manor to his wife Margery, who in turn remarried,[2] to Thomas Arderne.[4] On Arderne's death in 1347, however, John de Dalton and a small group of followers broke into the castle, where they killed Michael de Poynings, an important nobleman; terrified Lionel, the son of Edward III who was staying there at the time; stole £1,000 worth of goods, and seized Margaret, whom, as a wealthy widow, was forced to marry John.[4][5]

The surrounding manor was broken up in 1420; the surviving earthworks are a scheduled monument.[6]

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Beaumys Castle, Gatehouse website, accessed 13 June 2011.
  2. 1 2 Mackenzie, p.170.
  3. ↑ Beaumys Castle Monument No. 237298, National Monuments Record, English Heritage, accessed 18 August 2012.
  4. 1 2 Ford, David Nash (2011). "Margery Poynings (d. 1349)". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  5. ↑ Mackenzie, p.170; Beaumys Castle, Gatehouse website, accessed 13 June 2011.
  6. ↑ Beaumys Castle, National Monuments Record, English Heritage, accessed 13 June 2011; Beaumys Castle, Gatehouse website, accessed 13 June 2011.
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