Wingfield Castle

In 1384 records show that Michael de la Pole, 1st Earl of Suffolk applied for royal licence to crenellate his manor house. The need for the old castle had already ceased to exist by this time and kings were not pleased to see such strongholds built, so Wingfield Castle is a cross between a fortress and a standard moated manor house.

The grandson of Catherine Wingfield, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, married Alice Chaucer, granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer, in 1430 and lived at Wingfield Castle. The castle became a prison several times for Charles, Duke of Orléans (father of Louis XII), who had been captured by the English at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Despite his family offering money for his release, he remained in captivity for many decades until 1440. This was due to Henry V forbidding his release, due to him being in the line of succession for the French throne and he was deemed too important to have his liberty.

Wingfield Castle passed out of the ownership of the family upon Charles Brandon's fourth marriage to Katherine Willoughby. Henry VIII wanted the Duke to have his base outside East Anglia, due to tensions with his near neighbour, the Duke of Norfolk. Henry suggested Charles make his base in Lincolnshire, where his new wife owned properties. With Brandon moving to Lincolnshire, he gave up several of his Suffolk properties, including the old family residence, Wingfield Castle.

The castle passed into the hands of Sir Henry Jerningham in 1544 and then into the hands of the Catlin family from Norwich. In 1702, Sir Nevill Catlin died there and his widow Mary carried the manor to her second husband Sir Charles Turner, 1st Baronet, of Warham who died in 1738.

In 1886 a Lord Berners sold the Castle to the Adair family. Lady Darrell, a descendant of Lord Berners, sold the castle in 1981 to a Mr. Wingrove. Two years later it was sold to a Mr. Gerald Fairhurst, who spent time in refurbishing it prior to its sale to a London businessman in 1987; and in 1989 it was again sold, this time to barrister Michael Lyndon-Stanford.{{Cite web |title=Wingfield Castle |url=https://wingfieldfamilysociety.org/manors/wingfield-castle/ |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=Wingfield Family Society |language=en-US}}

The old Manor House and part of the fortifications were dismantled in 1510 and the present domestic quarters were constructed in about 1540 in the south west corner of the remaining fortifications. At that time the existing Tudor brick merlons on top of the south curtain wall were added.

The south facing battlement wall rises to a height of {{convert|42|ft}} above the moat, and is 45 – 50 inches thick. The entrance gateway is approached over a bridge, which still bears the grooves of the former gate, drawbridge and portcullis. The walls are built of flint cobbles with stone for the coigns and windows. The plan of the site is quadrilateral, almost square, the west side being a little longer than the east, an enclosure of about an acre and a half. Besides the almost perfect front, the foundations of the north and east walls and two more towers are traceable. A brick bridge now leads up to the noble gatehouse where the fine depressed pointed archway, deeply recessed and moulded, still shows the portcullis groove and the old oak gates. On either side of the archway are sculptured stone panels depicting the coat of arms of de Wingfield and de la Pole.

The two main towers rise to a height of {{convert|60|ft}} and the octagonal corner towers rise to {{convert|50|ft}}. The whole castle wall was apparently intact at the beginning of the 20th century, but the north and east walls had been demolished by 1945. A drawbridge still spans the eastern side of the moat. It has been extensively reconstructed, but retains some of the original timbers.{{PastScape |mname=Wingfield Castle |mnumber=390625 |accessdate=2011-03-08}}

The castle was the inspiration for Godsend Castle, the home of the Mortmain family in the 1949 novel I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith.Introduction to the Vintage Books edition by Valerie Grove, 2003

In the 1980s, the castle was up for sale and was viewed by several musicians including Elton John and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, with one wag noting that "the de la Poles would surely be interested to know that Wingfield Castle was echoing again to the beat of heavy metal.” As it turned out, Wingfield wasn't bought by a rock musician. Nowadays it is privately owned and not open to the public.

• Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
• List of castles in England

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/3442.html Bibliography of sources relating to Wingfield Castle]

Category:Castles in Suffolk

Category:Wingfield family

Category:Country houses in Suffolk

Category:Grade I listed buildings in Suffolk

Category:Grade I listed houses