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BEDFORD CASTLE

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The remains of an early 12th century castle, which was destroyed in 1224. The castle was built on the site of Mid Anglo-Saxon occupation.

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[TL 05264968] Castle [G.T.] (site of)
Castle Hill [G.T.] (1,2)

A motte and bailey castle erected c. 1100-1130; the castle sustained sieges in 1132, 1137, 1145 and 1153 prior to its demolition in 1224; this was thoroughly carried out and only a portion of the motte remains with a slight section of its surrounding ditch, together with a second mound to the north - now covered with buildings. (3-6)

Remains as described above. The second mound is situated at TL 05264979 within the lines of the former inner bailey and doubtless held a corner tower. Published survey of motte and attendant ditch (25" 1926) correct, mound to be supplied by Field Surveyor. (7)

TL 053496. Bedford Castle occupied a far larger space than appears from the present remains, for the outer bailey extended along the river front to where a postern and causeway communicated with an island, and followed the line of High Street where it touches the bridge, the whole areea being enclosed by a moat (8).

Renn (9) states that the remains consist of a flattened motte with traces of the bailey near the Ouse Bridge.
Scheduled. (8-10)

Rescue excavations and trial trenches were carried out in the Castle area between 1969 and 1973. Occupation layers and masonry buildings were found in a number of places overlying pits and postholes containing Anglo-Saxon pottery. The inner bailey ditch was sectioned and found to be up to 12.5m wide with a bridge abutment on the south side.

The ditch on the west side of the motte was also excavated and found to have a stone lining on its inner side. Mangonel shots were found in the bottom. The footings of the north curtain wall were located, and the south curtain wall was also found with a later gate or wall tower inserted into it.

Two timber buildings were found south of No.17 Castle Lane. Beds Archaeol Journ 6 (Authority 12) states that these were Saxon, but Medieval Archaeology 15 (Authority 16) states that they were contemporary with the castle. It is not known whether they were within the castle bailey.

Small scale excavations were carried out in the north-east quadrant of the Castle in advance of the construction of a new block for Bedford Museum. Features of early middle Saxon date were sealed by Saxo-Norman deposits. Pits and dwarf wall probably belonging to the Castle period were found. The complete absence of later Medieval and post-Medieval evidence suggests the area was abandoned until the construction of the brewery in the C19th. (11-18)

Full report of 1969-73 excavations. (19)

Although officially a royal castle, it was in the custody of the Beauchamp family throughout the 12th century. In 1215, William de Beauchamp joined the rebellion against King John, and the castle was captured by Fawkwes de Breaute, who held it for the next 9 years. The castle was greatly strengthened with John's approval, during the course of which the parish church was demolished because it overlooked the ward, its materials being used to build the castle towers and walls. In 1224, Breaute refused to surrender the castle to the young King Henry III and broke into open rebellion. Following a 2 month long siege, the castle was captured in August 1224 and ordered to be levelled. Following this slighting, it cesed to have military significance. (20)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 25" 1926

( 2) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1960

( 3) Externally held archive reference

"History of Bedford" (Undtd) pp.10-30, (TA Blyth)

( 4) Externally held archive reference

"The Great Siege of Bedford Castle" 1906 (AR Goddard)

( 5) Externally held archive reference

"Old Bedford" 1926 pp.27-31 (CF Farrar)

( 6) edited by H Arthur Doubleday and William Page 1904 The Victoria History of the county of Bedford, volume one

The Victoria history of the counties of England Article by AR Goddard. 1, 1904 Page(s)285

( 7) Field Investigators Comments

F1 FDC 04-JUN-1962

( 8) edited by William Page 1908 The Victoria history of the county of Bedford, volume two

The Victoria history of the counties of England 2, 1912 Page(s)24-28

( 9) by Derek Renn 1973 Norman castles in Britain

Page(s)104-105

(10) Scheduled Monument Notification

DOE (IAM) List Ancient Monuments 3 1978 8

(11) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

Article by DH Kennett. 4, 1969 Page(s)85

(12) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

Article by DH Kennett. 6, 1971 Page(s)81

(13) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

Article by DH Kennett. 7, 1972 Page(s)89

(14) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

Article by DH Kennett. 8, 1973 Page(s)139

(15) Medieval archaeology : journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology

DM Wilson and DG Hurst. 14, 1970 Page(s)175

(16) Medieval archaeology : journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology

Article by DM Wilson and S Moorhouse. 15, 1971 Page(s)145

(17) Medieval archaeology : journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology

Article by LE Webster and J Cherry. 16, 1972 Page(s)179

(18) Medieval archaeology : journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology

Article by LE Webster and J Cherry. 17, 1973 Page(s)159

(19) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

Article by D and E Baker. 13, 1979 Page(s)7-64

(20) R Allen Brown, H M Colvin and A J Taylor 1963 The history of the King's Works, volume 2 : the Middle Ages

Page(s)558-9

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