BRAMPTON BRYAN CASTLE

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A late 13th or early 14th century castle, constructed of sandstone rubble and ashlar, with 16th and 17th additions to hall range. Beseiged in 1643 and 1644 by the Royalists and taken on the second occasion. Subsequently ruined. The gatehouse and twin towers of the barbican survive. There is also a mutilated mound which may be the remains of an earlier motte and bailey. A view by Buck in 1731 shows little more standing than at present. The castle is scheduled and the hall and castle listed separately.

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(SO 370725) Castle (NR) (remains of). (1)

The existing remains of Brampton Bryan Castle are those of the building begun c 1309. A tower is noted in 1295, (a). To the E 14thc belong the remains of the great hall and the inner part of the gatehouse which appears to have projected inwards from the curtain wall. The outer part of the gatehouse was added very shortly afterwards. Extensive alterations seem to have been made to the building in the 16thc, and the NE wing of the modern (Georgian) (3) house incorporates work of this date. In 1643, and again in 1644, the castle was besieged by the Royalists, being taken on the second occasion and subsequently ruined. Buck's view of 1731 shows little more standing than at present survives. The ruins have been repaired in recent years. Grade I. (2-4)

As described. Work has just started to consolidate the remains.
Published survey (25") correct. (5)

SO 370726. A mutilated mound, probably the remains of a large, low motte. Fragmentary remains of a later stone castle; no part of tower noted in 1295 survives. Gatehouse and twin-tower barbican of 14th century date. Ordered to be held against [Owain] Glendower in 1403. Besieged 1643, taken 1644 (a). (6)

In view of the stylistic parallels with the (?post 1283) hall at Ludlow Castle [SO 57 SW 2], it is possible that the remains of the hall range and inner Gatehouse are the work of Bryan de Brampton (d.1295), dating from 1284-94. Extensive remodelling undertaken during L16th or E17th century destroyed during the sieges of 1643-4. A two-floored house of seven bays under a hipped roof, under construction 1662-63, is shown on a plan of 1722 before incorporation into the present 18th century mansion. The inner Gatehouse, which is contained within rather than projecting from the line of the curtain wall was probably the Tower mentioned in 1295, with the outer Gatehouse and Barbican designed largely as a frontispiece. The ditch noted by Pevsner [Source 3] separating the Hall from the inner Gatehouse is a path cut within the last hundred years for the convenience of tennis players. (7)

Castle ruins. Early and late 14th c. sandstone rubble with dressings of the same. Probably formerly three storeys. Hall, formerly three storeys and now ruinous, early 14th c. with 16th c. additions. Sandstone rubble and ashalr. Castle and Hall listed grade I. (8)

Additional references. (9-10)

SO 3703 7260. The motte described by authority 6, and possible traces of a bailey, are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and have been mapped by RCHME's Marches Uplands Mapping Project. (11)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

Ordnance Survey 6" map sheet 1963.

( 2) Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England 1934 An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire. Volume III: north-west

Page(s)19-21

( 2a) General reference

Calendar Inquisitions p.m., iii, 189. (No.291)

( 3) by Nikolaus Pevsner 1963 Herefordshire

The buildings of England Page(s)82

( 4) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

DOE (HHR) Leominster and Wigmore Hereford July 1953 5

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

First OS Archaeology Field Investigator DRB 15-MAY-72

(6) by David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery

1 Page(s)202

(6a) Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club : transactions

(Rev J D La Touche) (1881-82) Page(s)189-92

(7) Royal Archaeological Institute The archaeological journal

(H Gordon Slade) 138 (1981) Page(s)26-9

(8) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

DOE (HHR) District of Leominster, 19th February 1987, 18

(9) Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club : transactions

(R H George) 23 (1918-19) Page(s)216-19

(10) by Ron Shoesmith 1996 A guide to castles and moated sites in Herefordshire

Monuments in the landscape1 (1994) - vol.2 Page(s)55-63

(11) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

CUCAP BM 51

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BRAMPTON BRYAN PARK
BRAMPTON BRYAN

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Deer park at Brampton Bryan dating from the late 16th century. It was first documented in 1577 and contains late 17th century ornamental tree planting...

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