Monument record 130/4 - Brackley Castle

The earthwork remains of Brackley Castle, comprising a motte mound 3 metres high and approximately 40 metres in diameter with an outer bailey to the east. Archaeological excavation has revealed evidence of a ditch defining the perimeter of the bailey. Two fishponds originally lay outside the ditch but have subsequently been infilled. Brackley Castle was constructed soon after 1086 and may have gone out of use in 1147. Documentary evidence that it was destroyed by Henry II in 1173. The site was later granted to the Hospital of St John. Scheduled.

{4}No buildings standing;

{2}Castle was deserted early as site is mentioned in reign of Henry II;

{3}Castle deserted by time of Henry III as Roger de Quincy remitted 20s to hospital of Brackley for castle site & upper vivary or fishponds; during reign of Henry VI master of hospital demied to John Thorne close called 'The Castle';

{5} SP 5818 3645. The earthwork remains of Brackley castle, comprising a motte mound 3 metres high and approximately 40 metres in diameter with an outer bailey to the east. Archaeological excavation has revealed evidence of a ditch defining the perimeter of the bailey. Two fishponds originally lay outside the ditch but have subsequently been infilled. Brackley Castle was constructed soon after 1086 and may have gone out of use in 1147. The site was later granted to the Hospital of St John. Scheduled.

{6}No trace of castle has been discovered;

{7}No trace of castle has been discovered;

{8} The castle lay on the south west edge of the medieval town and may have been the first monument to be constructed outside the old town in the period immediately following the conquest, well before the foundation of the new town. Investigations in the early 1990s in the Castle Lane area demonstrated that the castle ditch lay at the western end of the lane, straddling the boundary of the Castle Close and showed activity from the 11th to the 13th century. Although not mentioned in 1086, the castle could perhaps have been constructed immediately after the conquest by Earl Aubrey. However, on the basis of the very limited ceramic evidence it seems more likely that the castle was built by the Earl of Leicester, in the late 11th century.
It is to be expected that the castle became the capital messuage of the manor of Brackley cum Halse, which represented a combination of the two Domesday manors. Leland states that ‘Master Paynell told me that he saw at Brackley…….. Manifest tokens that it had bene a wallyd toune, and tokens of the gates and tours in the walles by the halfe cirkles of the foundations of them’. The town was certainly never walled and Leland continues that he ‘sowght diligently, and could find no tokens of wales or diches’, but that ‘there hathe bene a castel, the dyke and hills whereof do yet appere (I saw the castle plott)’. Elsewhere he says ‘There was a fayre castle in the south west end of the Towne on the left hand or ripe of the riveret. The site and hille where it stode is yet evidently sene, and benthe the name of the Castle Hill, but there is not sene any peace of a waull stondinge.’ Today a mutilated motte and a much denuded bailey earthwork are visible in the former Castle Close.
The northern line of the moat of motte and bailey may be defined by the present Hinton Road, which must presumably be a later medieval creation. On the east, at least from the Oxford road eastward, there was an extensive area of boggy ground in the 11th century.
The castle’s location seems to have been determined by two factors. Firstly the defensive position which could be easily surrounded by water yet was not too closely overlooked by high ground. Secondly, it was positioned close to the point at which the main Oxford to Northampton road crossed the small stream, and so controlling this nationally important route way. Two other castles were set along this road, at Towcester and Middleton Stoney, with major castles at Oxford and Northampton. The castle was not set back to accommodate tenements along Castle Lane, for these were not constructed until the later 12th century. The motte was positioned to take advantage of the natural limestone knoll at the western end of the site. With an area of approximately 11 acres, the motte and bailey compares favourably with other castles of the period.
The castle may have been destroyed, together with that at Leicester, after the 3rd Earl joined the Baron’s Revolt in 1173, as a result of which all his estates, including Brackley, were seized by the crown.
The property was returned to the Earl in 1177 but by 1206 the Brackley estate had passed to the Earls of Winchester, providing another alternative context for the abandonment of the castle. However the castle may still have been in use in 1215 because in that year the army raised by the Barons, including the Earl and his supporters, marched to Brackley to confront the King who was then at Oxford. Brackley may have been chosen because of the presence of a castle held by one of the leaders of the revolt. It is possible that the castle was destroyed when the Earl lost his estates following his defeat in arms against Henry III in 1217. The castle had certainly gone out of use by the 1230s when the ‘site’ of the castle was granted to the Hospital of St. John in Brackley. The area is first described simply as Castle Close in 1396 and then in successive rentals. Whenever exactly the castle was abandoned, it would seem that the seigneurial residence was transferred to the nearby hamlet of Halse (see report).
The castle was probably constructed by the Earl of Leicester or his predecessor as a residence at an important estate centre. The first Earl was the second most important layman in the reign of William II and his son was similarly important under Stephen. The in 1153 he supported Henry and was left in charge of the kingdom. It is not therefore perhaps surprising to see his castles, at Brackley as at Lilbourne and probably at Long Buckby, were also probably intended to control nationally important roads, in this case that from Oxford to Northampton, which crossed the stream immediately to the south east of the castle.
There are several reasons for considering that this area focussed on the castle may have been the original nucleus of the town, in addition to the obvious expectation that the town would be founded outside the castle gates as is the case elsewhere.

{13} A short-lived castle was built in the late C11th by the first Earl of Leicester, Robert de Beaumont (d.1118), which may have served as the original focus for a new development in the mid C12th, a planned town called the New Town to the south-west of the original village of Brackley.

{14} The castle moat could still be seen as a band of differential vegetation growth in the field of pasture to the [east of the castle]. Machine clearing in the area of the moat removed post medieval material which had accumulated to the west of the embankment. The cut was exposed to a depth of 1m but its full vertical extent was difficult to determine because of immediate flooding. Further excavation to the north failed to locate a continuation of the moat but physical obstacles precluded exhaustive investigation. The Castle Moat and fishponds were out of use by the C13th when the stone tenements were built in Castle Lane.

{15} (SP 58193646) Castle (Site of) (LB)

{16} Leland mentions the Castle, the site being on Castle Hill, no remains were standing.

{17} The published site falls on a natural pasture covered and now occupied by farm buildings. No trace of early masonry or earthworks are evident.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP53NE14 (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<2> Baker G., 1830, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.567 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77327.

<3> Green A., 1869, The History of Brackley, (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN9026.

<4> HEARNE T., 1744, Collectanea (Leland J.), (unchecked) (Series). SNN11786.

<5> English Heritage, 1992, English Heritage Scheduling Notification, (part checked) (Report). SNN47128.

<6> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.23 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<7> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.143 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<8> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, Section 2.0, 3.1.2.1 Castle (Digital archive). SNN100499.

<9> Kenyon J.R., 2008, Castles, Town Defences and Artillery Fortifications in the United Kingdom and Ireland: A Bibliography 1945 - 2006, (unchecked) (Bibliography). SNN106309.

<10> 1982, Brackley Castle survey plan, (unchecked) (Plan). SNN106543.

<11> OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGY UNIT, 1991, Brackley Castle Archaeological Evaluation 1991, (unchecked) (Report). SNN58290.

<12> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, (unchecked) (Report). SNN106655.

<13> Chapman P., 2010, A Desk-Based Assessment of Land at Brackley Grange, Brackley, Northamptonshire, p.4 (checked) (Report). SNN107020.

<14> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1983, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1982, p.176 (unchecked) (Article). SNN24591.

<15> Annotated Record Map, OS 6" 1955 (Map). SNN112961.

<16> Leland J., 1543, Itinerary (Series). SNN13988.

<17> Colquhoun, FD, 1970, Field Investigator's Comments, F1 FDC 10-FEB-70 (Notes). SNN111540.

Record last edited

Jul 21 2022 12:59PM