More information : ASTLEY CASTLE (GT)
MOAT (GT). (1)
Astley Castle is surrounded by a moat and defensive wall. It is built of red and grey sandstone and has a semi-castellated appearance. Though in the form of its window and details the house would seem to belong to the middle of the 15th. cent., in its general plan and design this evidence is not born out. The explanation of this difference between plan and detail is probably that the materials of the older house that stood here was re-used in Queen Elizabeth's time in its re-erection. (2)
The outside of Astley Castle gives one the impression of an early 19th cent. imitation castellated structure; there are parts of the masonry, chiefly on the west side, which appear to be medieval, and within, some of the walls are of considerable thickness and probably ancient.
It stands on an island with a wide, deep moat, a short distance north of the Collegiate Church of Astley. There was a manor house here from quite early times and the Astleys took their name from the place, living here from the reign of Henry II until after the battle of Evesham. (3)
Astley Castle, now a hotel, as previously described. The Md. work cannot be identified in the fabric which exhibits many periods of construction. See photographs. To the north-west of the castle is a small fish-pond complex. Moat and pounds only resurveyed at 1/2500. (4)
Astley Castle, country house. Originally a fortified house. C13th and C14th origins, altered in the C15th-C17th, remodelled as a country house ca.1820. The bridge, gatehouse and curtain walls are C13th-C14th, altered in the early C19th. Grade II*. (5)
Additional references. (6-8)
Listed by Cathcart King. (9)
The castle is associated with three Queenns of England: Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV, her daughter Elizabeth of Yoprk, married to Henry VII, and Lady Jane Grey, who `rigned' for nine days in 1553. It was badly damaged by a fire in 1978 and is now in a perilous state. As much as is reasonablypossible to retain of the original fabric will be retained in a restoration to the design of Witherford, Watson and Mann. (10) |