HARTLEBURY CASTLE

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Bishop's palace begun about 1255 and granted a licence crenellate in 1268. Most of the present building is 15th century in date, with late 17th and mid to late 18th century extensions, remodelled in the 1960s. The moat has been mutilated by landscaping, with only the west arm surviving intact. The site was captured in 1646 and the buildings largely demolished. Rebuilding work began in the late 17th century. The present house is U-shaped in plan, built of sandstone ashlar and brick with slate and tile roofs.

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[SO 8360 7124] Hartlebury Castle [T.I.]
Moat [G.T.] (1)

Hartelbury Castle was built in the reign of Henry III and in 1268 licence was granted to fortify it. A survey of 1648 records a water-filled moat around the castle. (2)

The Hall, Chapel and apartments west of it and a fragment of the kitchen wall appear to date from the 15th C. but are much altered.The East arm of the moat, now filled in, was once spanned by a drawbridge. The interior seems to have been enclosed by a wall, of which the North-west bastion alone remains. It probably dates from the 13th C.
The park, exant c 1540,was finally dis parked 1841. (3-4)

The exterior of Hartlebury Castle has a comparatively modern appearance. A notice states that the site has been the home of the Bishops of Worcester for over 1,000 years, and the house is open to the public. The moat has been mutilated by gardening, etc., and the West arm alone remains apparently intact. Published survey of moat (25" 1927) has been revised. (5)

Grade I: A bishops' palace, or fortified house, since the 13th century, drastically rebuilt in 1680. (6)

Hartlebury Castle. Bishop's palace. C15 with late C17 and mid to late C18 extensions and 1960s remodelling. C18 work by Henry Keene and James Smith of Shifnal. Grade I (see list for details) (6).

Little remains of a castle begun about 1255. Much was done in the C15, but in 1646 the castle was almost destroyed. Rebuilding begun in the late c17 and continued into the late C18. (7)

Additional reference. (8)

Listed by Cathcart King. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 25" 1927.

( 2) General reference

History of Worcester I, 1781, 568 (T Nash)

( 3) edited by William Page and J W Willis-Bund 1913 The Victoria history of the county of Worcester: volume three

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)382

( 4) by Evelyn Philip Shirley 1867 Some account of English deer parks with notes on the management of deer

English Deer Parks 1867 162 (E P Shirley) Page(s)162

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JHW 16-AUG-62

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

DOE (HHR) District of Wychavon, Hereford and Worcester, 1985 43-4

(7) ny Nikolaus Pevsner 1968 Worcestershire

The buildings of England Page(s)190-1

( 8) English Heritage Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest in England

Hereford and Worcester (November 1986) Part 20

( 9) David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the Islands. Volume II : Norfolk-Yorkshire and the islands

2 Page(s)507

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MONUMENT NO. 867208
HARTLEBURY

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Landscape park and sunken garden at Hartlebury Castle. The park was first licenced, as a deer park in 1339 and later landscaped. The sunken garden ha...

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