Elmley Castle (castle)

Elmley Castle, located 1/2 mile south of the village of Elmley Castle and 12 miles south-east of the city of Worcester, in Worcestershire, was a late 11th century earthwork and timber castle which received stone additions in the 12th and possibly 13th centuries. Nothing but the earthworks survive.

Elmley Castle
Elmley Castle, Worcestershire
Remains of Elmley Castle
Elmley Castle
Coordinates52.06107°N 2.03204°W / 52.06107; -2.03204
Grid referencegrid reference SO979403
TypeMotte and bailey
Site information
Open to
the public		No
ConditionEarthworks only survive
Site history
MaterialsTimber
Earthworks of Elmley Castle
Arms of Beauchamp of Elmley, later Earls of Warwick: Gules, a fesse between six cross crosslets or

History
See also: History of Worcestershire

The ruins of this important Norman and medieval castle, built within the former manor of Elmley, are located on the flanks of Bredon Hill, 1/2 mile to the south of the village to which it gives its name. The site is likely to have been an Iron Age camp, close to other Conderton.[1] The castle is believed to have been built by Robert le Despenser d'Abetot,[2] Steward to King William II. Robert died childless in about 1098, when his sole heir was his brother Urse d'Abetot (c.1040 –1108), first feudal baron of Salwarpe in Worcestershire, Sheriff of Worcestershire in about 1069, whose daughter Emmeline married Walter de Beauchamp. It remained the seat of the Beauchamp family until 1268 when William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick inherited the Earldom of Warwick together with Warwick Castle from his maternal uncle William Maudit, 8th Earl of Warwick.

Thereafter, Elmley Castle remained a secondary possession of the Earls of Warwick until it was surrendered to the Crown in 1487. In 1528 the Castle seems to have been still habitable, as Walter Walshe was then appointed constable and keeper. In 1544, prior to its grant by the Crown to Sir William Herbert and Christopher Savage, a survey was made of the manor and castle of Elmley which found that the castle was completely uncovered and in decay. John Leland wrote at about this time:

"Ther stondithe now but one tower, and that partly broken. As I went by I saw carts carienge stone thens to amend Persore (Pershore) Bridge about ii miles of. It is set on the tope of a hill full of wood, and a townelet hard by."

Only earthworks now survive, which are designated as a Scheduled Monument.[3] The outline of the former medieval deer park surrounding the castle survives.

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See also

References
  • Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, The David & Charles Book of Castles, David & Charles, 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3
  • Department for Culture, Media and Sport (24 May 1951). "Elmley Castle". Historic England. Retrieved 19 July 2018.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Thomas, Nicholas (2005). Conderton Camp, Worcestershire: A Small Middle Iron Age Hillfort on Bredon Hill. CBA Research Reports. 143 (Illustrated ed.). Council for British Archaeology. ISBN 9781902771502.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Notes
  1. Thomas 2005
  2. 'Parishes: Elmley Castle', A History of the County of Worcester: volume 3 (1913), pp. 338-346
  3. Department for Culture, Media and Sport 1951


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