Berkeley
The Domesday Book states that Berkeley castle was begun by William Fitz
Osbern (d.20 Feb 1071), who had also built castles at Chepstow, Clifford, Ewias Harold and Wigmore. The castle is unusual in having a
shell keep built around the base of a motte and not upon it.
The keep has pilaster buttresses and one of the added small towers
contains a cell said to have been site of the murder of King Edward II
in 1327. The keep wall was breached to the north-west in 1645 as a
result of a siege by parliamentarian troops. The gloriette at Leeds totally lacks a motte while more normal shell keeps on the motte top exist at Arundel, Cardiff, Carisbrooke, Clare, Kilpeck, Launceston, Lewes, Lincoln, Marlborough, Oxford, Restormal, Tamworth, Tonbridge, Totnes,
Tremarton, Tretower, Warwick, Windsor and Wiston. There are also Dungarvan and Shanid in Ireland and Chateau Sur Epte and Gisors in France.
Description
The
stone bailey lies to the south-east of the motte, although it is possible that
the original motte lay within a larger early bailey that surrounded the
keep. The curtain wall to east and south is probably twelfth century
and includes the walls of the great hall. This is said to
have a mid fourteenth century ceiling of 8 bays and tiered windbracing, as
well as a wooden fifteenth century screen brought from Wales in the 1920s
and retaining its original painted decoration. The fifteenth
century stone fireplace is said to have come from Wanswell
Court. The screens passage at the east end has 3
‘Berkeley arches' and leads to the service area which retains
an hexagonal kitchen with 3 fireplaces and an original medieval star
timber roof. The bakehouse is spanned by 2 large flat stone
arches, while upstairs is the Morning Room. This was the chapel
of St. Mary until 1923. The room has cusped arcades and
retains a painted ceiling decoration of John Trevisa's 1387 translation
of the Book of Revelation. There is a fifteenth century Long
Drawing Room, containing a wooden gallery originally from the
chapel. This has a projecting bay carved with the arms of
Henry VII. The Little Drawing Room was originally accessible
from the Long Drawing Room only via a projecting octagonal lobby on the
inner wall. The private apartments of the Berkeley family lie
beyond this and go round to the gatehouse adjoining the keep on the W
side. The curtain wall was altered here in the fourteenth
century.
The whole castle is in a good state of preservation and retains most
original features down to doors and even windows with their iron
catches. The interior is said to have been completely
remodelled 1340-50 by Thomas Berkeley. This work remained
largely unaltered until the 1920s when the eighth earl of Berkeley
modernised and altered the interior and installed many artefacts from
elsewhere, viz fireplaces and stained glass. Excavations in
1938 have located much of the castle's layout including walls and
buildings.
For more detailed descriptions of the castle see the Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucs Arch Soc:
Why not join me at Berkeley and other British castles this October? Please see the information on tours at Scholarly Sojourns.
Copyright©2016
Paul Martin Remfry