Burwell Castle
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox military installation
|name = Burwell Castle
|location = Burwell, Cambridgeshire, England
|coordinates = {{coord|52.2693|N|0.3244|E|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
|gridref = {{gbmapping|TL587660}}
|image = 225px
|caption = Earthwork remains of Burwell Castle (May 2003)
|map_type = Cambridgeshire
|map_size = 200
|map_alt =
|map_caption = Shown within Cambridgeshire
|type = Enclosure castle
|materials =
|height =
|condition = Earthworks
|ownership = Burwell Parish Council
|open_to_public =
|battles =
|events =
}}
File:Burwell Castle mound - geograph.org.uk - 1133176.jpg
Burwell Castle was an unfinished medieval enclosure castle{{Cite journal|last1=Wright|first1=Duncan W.|last2=Creighton|first2=Oliver|last3=Trick|first3=Steven|last4=Fradley|first4=Michael|date=2016-01-02|title=Power, conflict and ritual on the fen-edge: the Anarchy-period castle at Burwell, Cambridgeshire, and its pre-Conquest landscape|journal=Landscape History|volume=37|issue=1|pages=45|doi=10.1080/01433768.2016.1176434|issn=0143-3768|url=https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/512/1/Wright_power%20conflict%20and_2016.pdf}} in Burwell, Cambridgeshire, England.
Details
Burwell Castle was built near the village of Burwell in 1143 by Stephen I of England, on the site of a former Roman villa.Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Burwell, pp.15, 23. It was constructed during the civil war of the Anarchy, a long running dispute between the supporters of Stephen, and his Angevin rival, the Empress Matilda. The baron Geoffrey de Mandeville was dispossessed of his castles by Stephen and rose up in revolt immediately afterwards, taking up a position near Ely in the Fens and threatening Cambridge Castle and the route south to London; Burwell Castle was built as part of a chain of castles to protect the region, including fortifications at Lidgate, Rampton, Caxton, Swavesey and possibly Knapwell.Creighton, p.59. Stephen appropriated the village of Burwell, which was constructed on a raised area of land of Roman origin, and proceeded to commence building the castle. It consists of a sub-rectangular mound measuring {{Convert|60 by 30|m}} and surrounded by a rectangular ditch up to {{Convert|30|m|adj=}} wide.{{Cite journal|last1=Wright|first1=Duncan W.|last2=Creighton|first2=Oliver|last3=Trick|first3=Steven|last4=Fradley|first4=Michael|date=2016-01-02|title=Power, conflict and ritual on the fen-edge: the Anarchy-period castle at Burwell, Cambridgeshire, and its pre-Conquest landscape|journal=Landscape History|volume=37|issue=1|pages=33|doi=10.1080/01433768.2016.1176434|issn=0143-3768|url=https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/512/1/Wright_power%20conflict%20and_2016.pdf}}
Geoffrey de Mandeville attacked Burwell in 1144 when the castle was still unfinished, but during the operation he was hit by a crossbow bolt; he retired to nearby Mildenhall, where he died from the injury.Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Burwell, pp.23-4. After Geoffrey's death the castle was never completed, although a stone gatehouse was completed on the site, suggesting a period of further occupation.Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Burwell, p.24; Pettifer, p.11. The Abbot of Ramsey built a chapel on the site around 1246, and the site was finally abandoned in the 15th century.Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Burwell, p.24.
The archaeologist T. C. Lethbridge excavated the site in 1935.Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Burwell, p.15. At the time portions of stone walling survived but were later destroyed during testing of a fire hose.{{Cite journal|last1=Wright|first1=Duncan W.|last2=Creighton|first2=Oliver|last3=Trick|first3=Steven|last4=Fradley|first4=Michael|date=2016-01-02|title=Power, conflict and ritual on the fen-edge: the Anarchy-period castle at Burwell, Cambridgeshire, and its pre-Conquest landscape|journal=Landscape History|volume=37|issue=1|pages=29|doi=10.1080/01433768.2016.1176434|issn=0143-3768|url=https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/512/1/Wright_power%20conflict%20and_2016.pdf}} The castle site was bought by the Burwell Parish Council in 1983.Malim, p.2 The University of Exeter conducted a geophysical and topographical survey of the castle in the 2010s.{{Cite journal|last1=Wright|first1=Duncan W.|last2=Creighton|first2=Oliver|last3=Trick|first3=Steven|last4=Fradley|first4=Michael|date=2016-01-02|title=Power, conflict and ritual on the fen-edge: the Anarchy-period castle at Burwell, Cambridgeshire, and its pre-Conquest landscape|journal=Landscape History|volume=37|issue=1|pages=26|doi=10.1080/01433768.2016.1176434|issn=0143-3768|url=https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/512/1/Wright_power%20conflict%20and_2016.pdf}} Today only the unfinished earthworks remain of the castle, which have scheduled monument status.[http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/134.html Burwell Castle], Gatehouse website, accessed 22 May 2011.
See also
Bibliography
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120304173013/http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/8D12D531-55A4-4559-AC01-F0757E51EA45/0/EUSECambsBurwell.pdf Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Burwell. Draft Report 22/05/2003.] Cambridge: Cambridge County Council.
- Creighton, Oliver Hamilton. (2005) Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England. London: Equinox. {{ISBN|978-1-904768-67-8}}.
- Malim, C. (2001) [https://web.archive.org/web/20120319202231/http://www.lhi.org.uk/docs/ee10_Burwell_castle_leaflet.pdf Burwell Castle, Cambridgeshire]. Cambridge: Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeological Field Unit.
- Pettifer, Adrian. (2002) [https://books.google.com/books?id=47iheRUGKIEC English Castles: a Guide by Counties]. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. {{ISBN|978-0-85115-782-5}}.