History of Stafford
Castle
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The history
of Stafford Castle dates from the period following the Norman Conquest in
1066. Lands held by the defeated
Saxons were shared among the followers of William the Conqueror. As a result, the estates to the west of
Stafford, formerly held by Earl Edwin were awarded to Robert de Tosny, a
member of a powerful Norman family. On the east
side of his large estate Robert built a castle overlooking the town of
Stafford -the castle which we know today as Stafford Castle. In the traditions of the time, it would
have been a 'motte and bailey' castle, constructed of earth and timber. There would have been a mound (or motte)
with a ditch around it, and a courtyard (or bailey) also surrounded by a bank
and ditch. In some instances a castle
might have two baileys; this happened at Stafford. Earth from the ditches was
used to make the motte and the bank around the outside of the bailey. Palisades of timber would have defended
the castle. Over the next
two hundred years Stafford Castle suffered a gradual period of decline, but
all was to be changed by the career of Ralph Stafford who succeeded to his
father's estates in 1323. Ralph's
friendship with Edward III, his leading role as a soldier during the Hundred
Years' War, and the inheritances gained through two marriages brought him
great wealth and influence. In 1348
he was chosen as one of the founder members of the Order of the Garter, and
in 1351 he was created the first Earl of Stafford. It was in
1348 that Ralph contracted with John of Bicester to build a stone castle “on
the motte in the manor of Stafford". The castle was to have “towers, halls, chambers, spiral
staircases, windows, doors and gates". The resulting castle was rectangular in shape, with octagonal
towers on each corner, and survived, with the addition of a fifth tower,
until the Civil War nearly three hundred years later. By the
seventeenth century, however, the structure of the castle was, in the words
of a contemporary diarist, “somewhat ruined”. But it was still occupied by Lady Isabel
Stafford, who supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War. The town of
Stafford fell to the Parliamentarians in 1643, and after a brief period of
resistance the castle also fell. The local Parliamentary Committee shortly
afterwards ordered that “Stafford Castle be forthwith demolished”. In 1783 the Stafford Estate was inherited
by Sir William Jerningham, a Norfolk gentleman. He uncovered the foundations of the medieval keep, and following
his death his son, Edward Jerningham, was instrumental in 1813 in rebuilding
the keep in a Gothic manner on the original medieval foundations "after
the style of Edward III”. During the twentieth century the keep fell into
decay, and was donated to Stafford Borough Council by Lord Stafford in
1961. Subsequently a programme of
archaeological and historic research has been carried out, and in May 1991
the Visitor Centre was opened. |
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