Brandon
The history of this site is much maligned due to it generally
having been taken from tertiary works of dubious nature. This
false history is admirably summed up by Wikipedia and is commented on
at the end of the article. In brief, Brandon castle seems to have
been founded by the earls of Warwick before or at the very beginning of
the Anarchy (1136-54) and only ceased to be occupied towards the end of
the fourteenth century at the latest.
During the reign of Edward the Confessor
(1042-66), Brandon - consisting of half a hide and a wood 4 furlongs by
2 in size and worth 25s, the mill adding an additional 26d - was held
by Turchil [Warwick]. He was still holding the vill in 1086, by
which time his tenant was Wlsi. The overlordship subsequently
passed from Turchil to the earls of Warwick who held the castle during
the Anarchy (1136-54). In 1235 it was recorded that Rose Verdun
(d.1247) held Brandon for half a fee and in 1242 she held the same half
fee, although this time it was mentioned that she held this of the earl
of Warwick. The other lands she was recorded as holding from him
were, Bruntingthorpe (Brentingestorp), Avon Dassett (Avendercet), Bretford (Bereford), Sheldon (Scheldon), Thurlaston (Thurlaweston), Bourton on Dunsmore (Burton), Lillington (Lillinton), Ashow (Hassesho) and Caldecote (Caldecot).
In total, including Brandon, this gave her 8 fees, although most of the
places were held by tenants. We can see from this, that sometime
between 1086 and 1235 Brandon was subinfeudated to the Verduns.
The date of this act can be further refined.
At some point before 1153, Earl Roger of Warwick (d.1153) made a
charter of which an imperfect copy has come down to the present
age. As far as can be understood from this imperfect copy, the
earl informed all of his faithful barons that he had given his daughter
Agnes in wife to Geoffrey the Chamberlain by the consent of the king,
the bishop of Worcester, the earl of Warenne as well as his brother
Robert and his men. As a part of this marriage treaty the earl
had granted with her the service of 10 knights of the 17 who held of
him in fee. These 10 knights were to be quit and free of all
services including those that pertained to the custody of Brandun.... and if the king went on an expedition within England then these 10 knights at his castle would join in that campaign (hii x milites ibunt ad castrum mea in expeditione).
If this has been copied correctly, it seems clear that Brandon castle
was the fortress where these 10 knights owed service and that this
fortress, just 11 miles northeast from Warwick castle,
belonged to the earl. It can therefore be seen from this that the
castle would therefore have to have been founded by either Earl Henry
Beaumont of Warwick (d.1119) or his son, the Earl Roger Beaumont of
Warwick (d.1153) who made this charter. Quite clearly this gift
did not include Brandon castle itself, merely the services of 10
knights who did service there.
The recipient of the earl's gift and daughter was Geoffrey Clinton,
chamberlain to the king. The first Geoffrey Clinton was still
living in 1130, but apparently died a little before 1 August
1133. He founded Kenilworth castle
and priory before 1122 and had been in the king's service since 1108 at
the latest. Further, it is noticeable that Brandon and Kenilworth
castles have something in common, rectangular keeps and sizeable water
defences. However, the man who married the earl of Warwick's
daughter was Geoffrey's son, the second Geoffrey Clinton
(d.1166). As Geoffrey's son and successor, Henry Clinton
(d.1216), seems only to have come of age in 1176, meaning he was born
in 1155, Agnes' marriage must have been before that date and obviously
before Earl Roger died in 1153. Further, the implication of the
king going on expeditions within England would indicate that this was
probably during the latter part of the reign of King Stephen
(1135-54) when the bulk of England was again held by that king.
The terms of the charter too indicate that the earl and Clinton had
been in dispute and that this marriage was a way to settle their
disagreement. The charter also seems clear in that Brandon castle
did not pass to the control of the Clintons. This is upsetting
for the suggestion often made that the castle came to the Verduns
through the Clintons. This charter tends to disprove this
traditional grant as the sister of Geoffrey Clinton (d.1166), Lasceline
Clinton (d.1182+) had married Norman Verdun before 1140. This
fact can be ascertained as their son, Bertram Verdun (d.1192) was under
age in 1152 and only seems to have received his lands in 1159.
This suggests that he was born in 1138 and therefore that the marriage
must have taken place before this date. Quite clearly then,
Brandon castle, that was still held by Earl Roger of Warwick in the
late 1140s or early 1150s, could not have passed as a marriage portion
to Norman Verdun in or before 1138. Therefore the similarities of
Kenilworth and Brandon castles in both
having rectangular keeps and extensive water defences is merely chance
- and the fact that both are in the low lying, flat Midlands plain.
What can be said with some confidence is that sometime, probably during the reign of King Henry II
(1154-89), Bertram Verdun (d.1192) acquired Brandon castle as a fee of
the earl of Warwick. Quite when this happened and under what
circumstances is impossible to say. In the 1170s and 1180s
Bertram Verdun spent a lot of his time as an itinerant judge for King Henry II (1154-89). He then, probably aged around 50, joined King Richard I
(1189-99) in the third crusade. During this he died in 1192 and
was buried at St Bartholomew's church in Acre. Before this, he
would seem to have been in contact with the old Clinton foundation of Kenilworth
as the first witness in his 1176 foundation of Croxden abbey was Prior
Robert of Kenilworth. This might suggest Bertram already held
Brandon.
After Bertram's death in 1192 his estates were seized by the Crown in the chaos following King Richard's
capture on his return from the Crusade. As a result of this,
William Fitz Richard was holding the land of Bertram Verdun in custody
for the Crown until the spring of 1195 when Thomas Verdun came of age
and had his lands returned to him. William Fitz Richard recorded
at this time that he had claimed for keeping knights and sergeants in
Alton (Auueton) castle for
half a year as well as £7 for his custody of Brandon castle for
the same period. He had also spent £14 3s 4d on 64
sergeants costing ½d each a day for 104 days. Presumably
this was during the disturbances that ended with King Richard storming Nottingham castle in 1194. The castle, along with Thomas' other lands, were returned to him that spring for a fine of 300m (£200).
Thomas Verdun was killed in Ireland early in the reign of King John (1199-1216) and control of Brandon castle passed to his younger brother, Nicholas (d.1231). Nicholas loyally followed King John
on his 1214 Poitou campaign, but then rebelled, the king issuing an
order to pass all his lands on to William Cantilupe (d.1239) on 10
September 1216. Nicholas made his peace with the Crown and
received all his lands back on 15 June 1217. To this end various
sheriffs and Faulkes Breaute was ordered to ensure that he was reseised
of his lands in Warwickshire and Leicestershire, Oxfordshire,
Buckinghamshire, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Wiltshire and
Hertfordshire. Amongst the Warwickshire lands was no doubt
Brandon castle, if he had lost it during this period. He was in
Ireland for some time after 15 February 1219 and on 27 January 1223,
was associated with his daughter Rose when they were ordered to hand
the son and heir of William Perceval of Sumy over to the earl of
Chester who had been given the custody and marriage of the boy.
In 1226 the monks of Combe abbey, a Camville foundation which lies just
north of Brandon castle, obviously complained to Nicholas about the
state of their waterworks around the castle. Consequently
Nicholas Fitz Bertram Verdun gave permission:
for the monks to repair the breaches (breccas) of the mill pond of Perimulne whereof one of the breaches was between the ditch of my castle of Brandon and my meadow of Sprowsam and the other was at the old pond bays (baias).
He also granted them leave to carry earth across his land to affect the
repairs. Possibly the abbot went too far in this work and this
led to Nicholas taking action. On 29 September 1227, the king ordered 4
local men to take an assize at Coventry concerning the complaint of
Abbot Michael of Combe that Nicholas Verdun, William Ferrers, Samson
Despensor, Helias Walecot and William Coterel had destroyed a pond in
Brandon. The same year on 1 September 1227, Nicholas had been
granted a Tuesday market at his manor of Bretford, as well as free
warren in his manors of Brandon, Warwickshire, and Alton (Alveton), Staffordshire.
Nicholas Verdun served in the Welsh war of 1231 and probably died due
to that conflict before 23 October 1231. He was little more than
52 and left 2 daughters, one by each of his wives. The younger,
Rose (d.1247), already a widow since 1222, inherited the bulk of his
estates including Brandon on paying the large fine of 700m (£466
13s 4d). On 25 August 1242, it was recorded that Rose held 8 fees
of the recently deceased Earl Thomas of Warwick. Included amongst
these must have been Brandon castle, which was held for half a
fee. Rose was also responsible for having Castle Roche
built in Ireland. On her death on 10 February 1247, Brandon
castle passed to her underage eldest son, who chose to call himself
John Verdun (d.1274).
John Verdun met his end with 13 of his knights apparently by
poisoning. As a result on 12 November 1274, a jury found that he
held Brandon and its members in Warwickshire for 4½ fees of the
earl of Warwick and that the members included Bretford and
Flecknoe. Brandon castle then passed to his widow, Eleanor Bohun
(d.1278/91) according to an agreement made on 25 November 1275.
In May 1276, the king commented that Eleanor had had to litigate for
her dower against her stepson, Theobald Verdun (d.1310), in the
lordships of Weobley, Ewias Lacy and Ludlow
in England and Dyveleck in Ireland. It would seem that Eleanor
was living in Brandon castle in 1278 when the Warwickshire Plea Roll
records that in the New Year:
Countess Ela of Warwick
appeared against Eleanor, the widow of John Verdun, William Purfray,
and William the Provost of Brandon, in a plea that whereas the said Ela
had sent to Brandon castle John the Provost of Claverdon with a letter
of quitclaim for 10m (£6 13s 4d) in which Theobald Verdun was
bound to her for the relief of his manor of Brandon (Brondon),
the said William and others together with Eleanor... had imprisoned the
said John within Brandon castle for one night and had taken away from
him by violence the said letter without having paid a farthing of the
said 10m.
The defendants did not appear, and the sheriff was ordered to distrain
and produce them during May. The next year a royal record
mentions the castle and park of Brandon. After the death of
Eleanor before 1291, Theobald reclaimed the castle and held it until
his death in 1309. On 9 September 1309, it was found that he held
Brandon castle with it's members, Bretford and Flecknoe, of the earl of
Warwick by the service of 1 fee. Theobald's son, another
Theobald, died aged just 37, a little before 30 July 1316. He
left 3 daughters aged 13, 10 and 7 and a pregnant wife. The last
child also turned out to be a girl, which thus ended the second Verdun
family line. The inquest on Theobald found that in Warwickshire
he had held Brandon with its members of Flecknoe and Bretford for 1
fee. However, the jurors added that Geoffrey Clinton (d.1133) had
enfoeffed the nuns Seburga and Aoemy of 150 acres of demesne in
Bretford and of a meadow between Bretford and the millpond of Merstone and all the land between Musewellesshiche and the Foss and between the River Avon and the grove of Burtele
with the common at Brandon for all their necessities. Afterwards
the nuns with Geoffrey's assent enfeoffed the prior of Kenilworth who
delivered the lands to Richard the clerk of Bretford for life, Richard
rendering 1m (13s 4d) yearly. Then, by collusion, Richard
delivered to the lord of Brandon of that time, all the above, which of
right belonged to Kenilworth church. The jury refused to budge
from this story, although the escheator noted that Theobald and his
father had held Bretford as their inheritance without any rival claim
put forward. As the history put forward in this article shows,
the jurors seem to have been mistaken about this and probably this is
where the much later story comes from that Geoffrey Clinton built
Brandon castle.
Despite the jurors' claim, Brandon, with its members worth £7 17s
6d per annum, was passed on to Theobald's widow, Elizabeth Clare
(d.1360) on 6 December 1316. She then married as her third
husband, Roger Damory, who was executed at Tutbury
in March 1322. Elizabeth subsequently retained Brandon as her
dower until her death on 4 November 1360. Then it was found that
she had been holding Brandon manor with Bretford hamlet in dower by the
endowment of Theobald Verdun and that this was held of the earl of
Warwick for 1 fee. It was also found that Flecknoe should revert
to William Ferrers (d.1343), kinsman and one of the heirs of Theobald
Verdun (d.1316). In fact William was son in law to Theobald
(d.1316), having married Elizabeth and Theobald's daughter, Isabell
(1317-49). Brandon and Bretford, however, were to pass to
Bartholomew Burghersh (d.1369), the son and heir of Elizabeth Verdun,
the daughter of Theobald (d.1316) and Matilda Mortimer
(1286-1312). This partition agreement had been made in 1344 and
had valued Brandon manor with the hamlet of Bretford and all its
members and appurtenances at £50. A far cry from the
£7 17s 6d of 1316.
Later Brandon castle passed through the families of Pavely, Delves,
Arundell, St George and Willoughby before 1465. During this
period of change the castle was probably allowed to fall into ruin and
was demolished, possibly to help build Wolston bridge. Certainly
by the 1530s Leland found Brandon castle ‘now desolated', just as
he found the neighbouring fortresses of Brinklow and Baggington. He also noted that Elmley castle,
35 miles to the southwest, had been demolished to help build Pershore
bridge. Maybe there is a pattern here. When Dugdale visited
the castle in 1656 found merely 'moats and heaps of rubbish'.
Description
Brandon castle was a moated site consisting originally of at least one
great moated island set alongside the River Avon. This was later
divided into 2 or 3 separate islands. The main work was about
500' east to west by some 180'-200' deep with moats between 50' and 60'
wide. The eastern portion of this island has been largely
separated from the larger enclosure to the west to make an inner
ward. This roughly D shaped enclosure to the east is about 80'
east to west by 110' north to south and is shifted slightly northwest
of the larger enclosure. The larger western ward is about 200'
square when the central island, about 50' east to west by 80', had been
cut from it to make a small ward for the keep.
The layout would suggest that the castle overlies natural hummocks that
have been shaped to make the castle earthworks. The proximity of
the site to the River Avon, some 200' to the south, made the use of
water defences logical and may have been the reason for the castle's
founding here in the first place. A sluice runs off the river
opposite the inner ward and winds its way westward past the lower half
of the castle and no doubt once fed its moats, as did the stream that
enters the main moat from the northeast. The sluice reenters the
Avon at Wolston Mill some 1,200' southwest of the castle keep.
Part of the castle moat on the north side is still water filled,
although some of this appears to be relatively recent digging to make a
pond. The channel that enters this ‘pond' from the north
has already been mentioned. At the southwest corner of the site a
straight bank, with a 50' wide ditch to the south, runs for some 500'
before turning to the north. Possibly this was a flood defence at
the edge of the Avon flood plain, although it might also have been
defences for a putative vill. Certainly the current town of
Brandon seems to have no age and yet there was a mayor of the place
mentioned in 1278.
The larger, western ward of the castle has been mutilated in antiquity
with a narrow ditch, that was probably once water filled, being driven
northwards from the River Avon side for about 120'. The moat
dividing the 2 main wards has also been dug into from the east, making
the eastern portion of the lower ward nearly into an island.
Within this stand the lonely remains of the castle keep stand towards
the northwest corner. This was excavated in 1947 and found to be
a rectangular keep about 52' by 40' with walls up to 15' thick.
This was built of well dressed Kenilworth sandstone and had twin deep
indentations to east and west, which were identified as the base of
garderobe chutes from the upper floors. A stepped plinth of some
4 or 5 courses was exposed to the northwest while the southwest corner
of the tower contained a 45 degree passageway that may have led to a
spiral stair in the southwest corner of the tower. Some remnants
of this tower still stand some 3' high and a break in the wall core
suggested to the excavators that there may have been a first floor
doorway to the north. Finds from the dig included pottery, iron
objects and coins apparently from the thirteenth century. The
excavators found that the basement had been divided into 2 rooms, which
they rather oddly thought must have been the hall and kitchen of the
castle set in the keep basement! Excavation within the eastern
ward suggested it was contemporary with the keep, while digging in the
larger western ward found ornamental ridge tiles and pottery. A
further masonry building can be traced in the west ward.
Presumably the ridge tiles came from this.
Wolston Bridge
Oddly Wolston bridge is said to be eighteenth century. It
apparently belonged to the destroyed manor house which lay west of
Wolston church and was standing on this site before 1630.
The bridge is 13' wide and built of Kenilworth sandstone ashlar with a
slight splay at each end. It has a wider, moulded segmental
central arch flanked by 2 smaller arches. The parapets have been
replaced with red brickwork as has the arch nearest the castle,
possibly from being broken down in the civil war. This is exactly
what happened to Upton on Severn bridge as was recorded at the battle
of Upton in 1651. This rather suggests the bridge predates the
civil war of 1642. As such it could well be constructed from the
castle ruins.
Wikipedia and History
After completing this tour of the castle's actual, recorded history and
looking at some of the owners over the centuries, it is worthwhile
taking a look at what that den of iniquity, Wikipedia, has to say of
the site. This is always a worthwhile task as it acts as a
warning not to take anything on trust, especially ‘facts' supplied by
a government run ‘institution'.
It was originally a
12th-century earthwork motte and bailey fortress founded by Geoffrey de
Clinton. Around 1226 the de Verdon family founded the stone castle
consisting of the keep and a large outer enclosure. It is said to have
been 'pulled down' (slighted) by the baronial troops from Kenilworth Castle in 1265 because John de Verdon was an active supporter of the king.
So to take the ‘facts' listed by Wikipedia in turn: it may have
been twelfth century, or eleventh; it was not a motte and bailey castle
having no motte; it was not founded by Geoffrey Clinton, it was not
founded as a stone castle by the Verdun family around 1226; and finally
although John Verdun was an active supporter of the king and there were
baronial troops in Kenilworth, there is no evidence that Brandon was
pulled down in 1265. This gives Wikipedia a score of about a
half, or even one if you are feeling generous, out of five for
historical fact. Such warnings cannot be reiterated enough.
Copyright©2023
Paul Martin Remfry