Eye
Eye castle seems to have been founded in the initial conquest of
East
Anglia from 1067 to 1069, although it might have been founded as late
as the early 1080s. By the time of the Domesday survey in
1086, the market town of Eye was a prosperous settlement worth
£27 8s 12d, a £12 increase from the £15 it was
worth in 1066. Somewhat surprisingly the castle, like Chepstow castle, was mentioned in the survey as a financial asset. No other fortresses than these were mentioned as such.
The early history of the Malet family is obscure. William
Malet (d.1069/71) would seem to have fought at the battle of Hastings where later reports stated
that William the Conqueror (d.1087) gave him the duty of burying King Harold's body and the
battlefield as he had an English mother. What evidence there
is suggests she had held Alkborough in Lincolnshire and that William
appears to have paid geld there during the reign of King Edward
(1042-66). By 1086 Alkborough was held by Ivo Taillebois
(d.1094/97) of Appleby and Kendal, the husband of Lucy Bollingbroke (d.1138), who is recorded as
the niece of Robert Malet (d.1106), who in turn was recorded as the son of William Malet (d.1069/71).
This William Malet witnessed a charter for the Conqueror concerning
Peterborough abbey in 1067 and was with his king in London in the
spring of 1068. Before 1070 King William sent a notification
to William, apparently as sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk.
Presumably this was before he was made castellan of York in
1068. The next year he was forced to send an urgent message
to his king that he would have to abandon his northern charge if
William could not immediately send him massive
reinforcements. On 12 September 1069 he was captured at York
and seems to have died within 2 years, being buried at Preaux
abbey in Normandy. It has been suggested that he died in the Ely campaign
of 1070-71, but there is no contemporary evidence to support that assertion.
William was succeeded by his son, Robert Malet (d.1106), who was sheriff in Suffolk by
January 1071. In 1075 he was part of the archbishop of
Canterbury's army which occupied Norwich castle for the king.
Despite this Roger (Bigod of Framlingham?) seems to have been made sheriff of Norfolk,
while Robert continued to be sheriff of Suffolk, as they were recorded
such on 2 April 1080. Before 1087
Robert founded Eye priory as a Prior Hubert was first mentioned in the
Conqueror's reign. The priory was founded for the souls of
King William and Queen Matilda as well as for those of his parents,
William Malet and Hesilia. The charter also mentioned
Robert's castle at Eye as well as many of the places that belonged to
the honour.
Robert seems to have fallen foul of King William Rufus (1087-1100) and by 1096 Eye
was in the hands of Roger Poitou (d.1123).
Robert Malet (d.1106) first appears during the reign of King Henry I (1100-35) as one of those
who witnessed Henry's crowning in August 1100. He was again
found with the king witnessing a charter at Marlborough probably in
October 1100. As he appeared low down the list of witnesses,
it is to be presumed that his lands were still held by Roger
Poitou. By 3 September 1101 Robert was again witnessing an
important charter for his king and this time he appeared midway down
the witness list. It would seem likely that the English Malet lands
including Eye and its castle were returned to Robert in the July to
September campaign against the followers of Earl Robert Belleme in
Britain. One of these was Belleme's brother, Roger Poitou, who
was stripped of his English lands. While the king was at
Hereford, probably during his campaign against Bridgnorth castle that
summer, Robert Malet witnessed a royal precept ‘to Roger
Bigod and Ralph Passelewe and all of Norfolk and Suffolk' concerning
Thetford see. That Robert was the only recorded witness
probably indicates that he was again lord of Eye. Robert's
return to his East Anglian inheritance is confirmed when, on 25
December, either 1102, 1103 or 1104, the king wrote ‘to
Bishop Herbert of Norwich, Roger Bigod and Robert Malet and all his
lieges of Norfolk and Suffolk'. Malet was
with King Henry at Westminster for Christmas 1105, but by 16 April 1106 he was dead. On that day, King Henry notified Bishop Herbert of Norwich and Ralph Beaufou and
all his barons of Suffolk that he had restored to St Peter's of Eye the
manor of Stoke Ash and all the lands which the monks can show
‘they held on the day when Robert Malet was alive and
dead'. The fact that the king now controlled the barony of
Eye is confirmed by a precept probably of 1109 when King Henry ordered
Ralph Beaufou and Hubert Montchesney to allow the monks of St Peter of
Eye to have their property as they held it ‘during the time
of Robert Malet'. Obviously that time was now over and the
king was looking after the affairs of Eye.
According to a record of 1212, King William I (d.1087) had granted the
honour of Eye to Robert Malet (d.1106), who held it through the reigns
of the Conqueror and Rufus (d.1100). Afterwards the honour
came into the hands of Henry I (1100-35) who held it for 7 years
(1106-1113) before he granted it to Stephen Blois (d.1154), his nephew
who held it for 22 years as count and king [1113-35 - this calculation
misses the 19 years while Stephen was king (1135-54)]. King Stephen was
certainly found of Eye and made several charters while staying
there. It also seems likely that Stephen granted custody of the honour to William Ypres of Orford
(d.1164) early in his reign and then Earl Hervey of Wiltshire in 1139,
before resuming the lordship in 1141 after Hervey abandoned Devizes
castle to the Angevins. After Stephen the honour was held by his
son Count
William Warenne (d.1159) for 3 years (1154-57) who died in the Toulouse
campaign (1159), after which King Henry II (1154-89) held it for 30
years (1159-89). After Henry's death King Richard (1189-99) gave the
honour to the duke of Lorraine (dux Lohereng) with Count William's
niece as the nearest heirs. He therefore held the honour in right of his wife for the
service of 80 knights. As can be seen by the dates in
brackets the years given by the inquest were pretty accurate, although
the last sentence has several problems. Certainly King
Richard gave the honour to Godfrey Louvain (d.1226) whose elder
half-brother was duke of Lower Lorraine until 1222. However,
Godfrey's wife was Alice, the only daughter and heiress of Robert
Hastings (d.1195) of Little Easton. The Hastings had no known
link to the Warennes or the house of Blois. Godfrey was
recorded as lord of Eye castle on 26 March 1208. At his death
in 1226 the castle probably reverted to the Crown, certainly it was not
in the possession of his son, Matthew Louvain, when he died in
1261.
Of the castle itself during the later part of the twelfth century
little of interest occurred. In the first few months of 1153
the young Duke Henry of Normandy, soon to be King Henry II of England
(d.1189), granted and confirmed to Earl Ralph of Chester (d.1153) Count
Roger of Poitou's honour of Blyth and all the honour of Eye just as
Robert Malet, the uncle of Ralph's mother (Lucy Bollingbroke, d.1138), held
it. As Ralph died the same year the grant proved abortive and
Count William of Boulogne, Warenne and Mortain remained in
occupation. This ownership of Earl William of Boulogne is
confirmed by his confirmation of the land in Occold (Acolt) and Stoke
just as his father (King Stephen) had confirmed them to Eye.
Soon after King Henry II had resumed the castle from William in 1157 he
granted it to Archbishop Thomas Becket (d.1170) who confirmed the
ancient donations of Robert Malet as authorised by Bishop Herbert of
Norwich. Becket's tenure did not last long for he went into
voluntary exile in 1164 and the castle, together with Berkhamsted which had been granted with Eye, were resumed by the
Crown. In 1173 the castle was sacked by Earl Hugh Bigod of
Norfolk.
After Godfrey Louvain's death in 1226, King Henry III granted the
honour to his younger brother, Earl Richard of Cornwall
(d.1272). In 1265 the castle was sacked during the Barons
revolt, nearly 100 years after its first sacking. On the
death of Richard's son, Earl Edmund of Cornwall in 1300, the castle
again reverted to the Crown. In 1337 the estate was granted
to the Robert Ufford (d.1369), when he was made earl of
Suffolk. From them it passed in 1382 to the de la Poles,
although at the death of Earl Robert in 1369 the castle had been
assessed as worthless.
Description
The castle site has been much encroached and built upon. The
remaining earthworks show that it consisted of a large motte (40' high,
with a 55' diameter summit and 180' basal diameter) to the east and an
elongated D shaped bailey to the west (350' east to west by 270' north
to south). The ward was constructed on a natural hillock that
had been scarped and had a rampart raised around the periphery which
was up to 10' high. The scarp varies from 15' to the north and
west to only 6' to the south.
The bailey remains have been almost obliterated by later buildings, but
parts of the curtain wall are visible along the north-eastern side of
the bailey raising up to the motte. This survives in 3
discontinuous sections built largely of mortared flint rubble with some
squared blocks of clunch. The 90' longest section has a
rectangular tower at the western end with 3 narrow chambers in line
adjoining it. This structure only projects 3' beyond the
curtain to the north in a manner which is generally considered to be an
early, pre 1100 style, ie. before the science of flanking was considered
necessary. Similar barely projecting towers exist at Lewes,
Lydney, Old Sarum and Oxford. The chamber within the tower at Eye is
9' by 8' with walls only 5' thick, although they are still standing in
places up to 10' high. The small chambers are only 6' wide,
but 16', 9' and 12' long respectively and walls only 4'
thick. No apertures remain in these buildings, so probably
they are all simply basements, with their superstructures now lost.
East of the chambers at the base of the motte stand the remnants of
another rectangular tower with internal dimensions of 6' by 5' with
walls some 6' thick. An excavation in 1987-88 found evidence
for a further chamber south of the tower. Moving up the motte
to the east, near the summit, where the curtain wall probably abutted
the keep, are the remains of yet another narrow chamber, 12' long by 5'
wide and with walls only 5' thick. There is a similar chamber in the lower keep wall at Wigmore castle. The inner walls in this Eye chamber do not
appear to be bonded to the outer ones. Excavations suggested
that the masonry fortress was demolished in the fourteenth century.
Copyright©2021
Paul Martin Remfry