Brampton Bryan
Brampton Bryan castle
was probably founded by Richard Barre, a sub-tenant of the Mortimers of Wigmore
castle in the late eleventh century. The fortress probably
subsequently passed to the family of Unspac who then took the surname Brampton
from their new fortress. Brampton Bryan is in fact a corruption of the
name Brampton Barre which was used to distinguish this Brampton from the many
others with abound in England. By the thirteenth century the Bramptons had
risen considerably in status and this was reflected when John Brampton married
Matilda Braose, the widow of Prince Gruffydd ap Rhys of Deheubarth. Their
son, Brian Brampton, was a veritable old warhorse, finally being ordered home by
Edward I from the muster at Worcester as too old to go into battle against Llywelyn
ap Gruffydd in 1277. By this time Brian had been campaigning for at least
sixty years and must have been in his 80s! Indeed he appears to have been
fatally ill in the November of 1262, only a Welsh uprising
in Maelienydd raising him from what appeared to be his deathbed for another
fifteen years of campaigning which included the battles
of Abergavenny, Clun and Evesham.
Brian's grandson, probably died unsuccessfully defending Cefnllys castle from the Welsh during the uprising of 1294. He was succeeded by his two infant daughters, the elder of whom, Margaret, took the castle and mesne-barony to the Harley family. One of the quirks of fate is that the initial Harley collection, which later went on to form the basis of the British library in London, was stored within Brampton Bryan castle. In 1644 the castle was twice attacked and finally forced to surrender after its walls had 'been battered level with the ground' and the library destroyed. The castellan, the redoubtable Lady Brilliana Harley, had earlier died at her post 'of a bad cold'. By their surrender the garrison secured their lives, rather than meeting the horrible fate of the defenders of nearby Hopton castle some little while before. In the aftermath of the siege the castle was rebuilt as a ruin on a new site, a late seventeenth century mansion replacing the earlier fortress and including some of its fabric within its sturdy walls.
The ruins today consist of a twin-towered
barbican backing onto a rectangular gatehouse. Behind this is a hall block
hiding intricate secrets. Lying next to the castle in the rebuilt church
are the wooden roof which appears to have come from the castle hall so
extensively damaged in 1644 and the tomb effigy of the Lady Margaret Harley, nee
Brampton.
Brampton Bryan Castle, 1066 to 1309, and the Civil War, 1642 to 1646 (ISBN 1-899376-33-X) [1997] is available for £9.95 and can be ordered through the PayPal basket below.