Barnwell Castle

Barnwell Castle

A castle built around 1266 by Berenger Le Moyne, with some building work possibly carried out within the castle during the 16th century. It is constructed of squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings.

The castle follows a rectangular concentric plan with round corner towers of two stages. The entrance front faces east and features a gate-house positioned at the far left of the curtain wall, with flanking semi-circular towers. The gate-arch has a triple-chamfered profile with a pointed head and polygonal responds. Inside the gate-house is a semi-circular, single-chamfered doorway. The interior of the gatehouse contains a pointed tunnel vault with grooves for a portcullis. A large square-head window opens above the gate-arch. The flanking towers have cross slits at ground floor level and rectangular openings to the upper level. A similar corner tower stands to the left, whilst the north-east tower to the far right is arranged as a trefoil formation of round towers, with cross slits to both upper and lower stages.

The north and south elevations have blank curtain walls between the towers. The west elevation, to the rear of the entrance front, contains a semi-circular south-west corner tower with a 2-light stone mullion window to its upper stage, and a trefoil arrangement of round towers at the north-west corner with a narrower quadrant centre linking tower. Both corner towers have cross slits. A section of curtain wall between towers has been rebuilt. To the left of this section is a postern gate with a 2-centred arch head. The courtyard elevations have been stripped of their facing stone in certain areas.

The courtyard elevation to the rear of the gatehouse has small doorways with semi-circular heads providing access to the gatehouse towers. A small doorway with a semi-circular head to the right gives access to the south-east tower. Similar angled doorways in the corners provide access to the other towers from the courtyard. Evidence of a fireplace to the right of the postern gate and a cross wall in the east elevation of the courtyard, with traces of plaster recorded, suggest domestic accommodation within the castle walls. The curtain walls are approximately 3.6 metres thick, except for the rebuilt section in the west elevation which is approximately one metre thick.

The gate-house towers each contain two bays of single-chamfered rib vaults at ground floor. A rectangular chamber over the gateway was originally accessible from a flight of steps immediately north of the inner gate-arch. The upper rooms of the gatehouse towers have square-head windows with inner pointed arches. The south-east tower retains the remains of a pointed rib vault at ground floor. The south-west tower contains a staircase off the entrance passage leading to a square room above with a 2-light stone mullion window and a fireplace, and a further room above this chamber also had a fireplace and window. In the north-east and north-west towers the centre towers of the trefoil arrangement contained spiral staircases. The north-east tower also has a garderobe chute. The towers and curtain walls were originally probably higher and would have had a castellated parapet.

The building date of 1266 derives from a jury statement of 1276 recording that Berenger Le Moyne had built a castle ten years earlier. The Rector of Barnwell agreed in 1257 to a Chapel existing at Barnwell Castle. An inquiry discovered no licence had been obtained to build the castle, and Berenger Le Moyne was required to return the Manor to the Abbots of Ramsey, who had held it before 1120 and retained it until the dissolution. It was then granted to Chief Justice Sir Edmund Montagu. In 1540 Leyland describes "the meane house of a farmer" within the castle. Camden, writing in 1586, mentions the "little castle which now of late Sir Edmund Monacute hath of late repaired and beautified with new buildings", though it is unclear whether this refers to 16th-century domestic buildings within the castle, of which evidence is suggested, or to Barnwell Manor. The castle was probably used as a farmyard during the 18th and 19th centuries, with access through the break in the west curtain wall. Barnwell Castle passed from the Duke of Buccleuch's estate in 1913 and was sold in 1938 to Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. The castle is scheduled as an Ancient Monument.