Berkhamsted Castle

Time Line

1966 The 900^th anniversary of the submission of the English to William the Conqueror was celebrated with a large pageant held in the castle grounds. Until recent years many Bank Holiday fêtes were held annually. Concerns about damage from metal pegs for marquees and health and safety regulations mean that fêtes now have to be held elsewhere, on Kitchener’s Field.

1066    Battle of Hastings. William crowned king. Robert of Mortain was granted the Manor and Honour of Berkhamsted and started work on the castle.

1087    At the death of William the Conqueror in 1087 the succession of his son, William Rufus was disputed among others by Robert Mortain, who was consequently dispossessed of Berkhamsted. Later reinstated, he was one of the few nobles to remain loyal at Henry I’s accession. However, his son William Mortain was later in dispute with Henry I, was dispossessed and ended his life in captivity.

1123 Henry I held court at the Castle. During the reigns of Henry I and Henry II, the castle was in the hands of chancellors, first Randulph and later Thomas à Becket.

1135-54 It is unclear what happened to Berkhamsted Castle during the complicated history of Stephen’s reign.

1156 Henry II granted a royal charter to the merchants of Berkhamsted, which confirmed the laws and customs enjoyed under Edward the Confessor, William I and Henry I, and freed them from all tolls and dues. The charter also decreed that no market could be set up within seven miles of the town. During the time of Thomas à Becket (1155-1164) entries in the Pipe Rolls indicate extensive building works.

1191 Richard I began the royal tendency of disregarding the castle when he gave it to his queen, Berengaria. She lived here until Richard’s death in 1199.

1204 King John granted the Honour to his queen, Isabella, who remained in residence until 1216. Geoffrey fitz Piers, Earl of Essex, one of the occupants of the castle, was instrumental in the building of St. Peter’s Church.

1216 Prince Louis of France laid siege to the castle, which held out for only two weeks.

1227 Richard, Earl of Cornwall, younger brother of Henry III, was granted the castle. He made it one of his main residences and was the administrative centre of the Earldom of Cornwall. Each year at Michaelmas the stewards from the different Manors came to Berkhamsted to present their accounts.

1270 Richard and his son, Edmund, who had been born at the castle founded a religious house at Ashridge and installed a small order of monks, the Bonhommes to manage it.

1291 Edward I held a parliament at Ashridge. Edward I granted Berkhamsted to his second queen, Margaret of France. On her death, Isabella, queen of Edward II, succeeded to the Manor.

1337 Edward III gave the castle to his son Edward, the Black Prince, as part of the newly created Duchy of Cornwall. The castle remains part of the Duchy of Cornwall to this day.

1356 King John of France was imprisoned in the castle after the battle of Poitiers.

1361 The Black Prince married Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, and they honeymooned in Berkhamsted. The castle had an extensive deer park, which was a favourite hunting ground for the prince. Ashridge monastery was richly endowed by the Black Prince in 1376.

1389 Geoffrey Chaucer was appointed Clerk to the Works at Berkhamsted Castle and other royal properties.

1399 On his accession Henry IV granted the castle and estates to his son and heir, later Henry V, from whom it then passed to Margaret of Anjou, queen to Henry VI.

1469 Edward IV granted Berkhamsted to his mother Cicely, Duchess of York, who lived here for the last 26 years of her life. She was mother also of Richard III. Cicely suffered the tragedy of the death of her son Edward IV in 1483 and then two of her grandsons in the Tower of London. Two years later Richard III was killed at the battle of Bosworth. After Cicely’s death it appears the castle was no longer lived in and gradually fell into ruins.

1503 We can see from the royal records that the royal connection remained. The Under Keeper sent a buck to Windsor for the queen of Henry VII and the Manor of Berkhamsted was granted in turn to three of Henry VIII’s wives, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, but they did not live there.

1580 Elizabeth I leased the Manor of Berkhamsted, which included the ruined castle and the deer park, for the nominal rent of one red rose to Sir Edward Carey, Keeper of the Queen’s Jewels. He built Berkhamsted Place on the hill above the castle using many bricks and stone from the ruins. It is thought that the present entrance to the castle was cut through at this time.

1616 Although in ruins the castle continued to be a focal point of the town. The Prince of Wales, later to be Charles I made an official visit to the Manor of Berkhamsted and heard an address in Latin given at the Grammar School.

1700s There are a number of 18^th century prints, showing courting couples sitting under trees and it was a favourite theme for poetry, notably by Sarah Littleboy, the Quaker, and the Rev. J. R. Crawford a Headmaster of Berkhamsted School.

Late 1850s We know that a Grand Bazaar was held in the grounds to raise money for the new Town Hall, that musket practice took place there in the early twentieth century and both cricket and golf were played on the bailey.

June 1864 The Duke of Cornwall had granted Earl Brownlow ‘the Site and Remains of Berkhampstead Castle…at £1 per annum…Lord Brownlow has no actual benefit from the property, he merely maintains it for the recreation of the inhabitants of Berkhampstead.’

1913 Army dirigible, ‘Gamma’ captained by J.N. Fletcher, an old boy of Berkhamsted School (now Berkhamsted Collegiate School) landed in the castle grounds.

June 1935 After visiting both the Girls’ School and the Boys’ School, the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, visited the castle where he met a large assembled gathering of ex-servicemen, Girl Guides and Boys Scouts, children from the elementary schools and other representatives of the community.

1922 The twentieth century was notable for the pageants which were held in the castle grounds, the first of these was in 1922 to mark the 700^th anniversary of the consecration of St. Peter’s Church. This pageant was written by the eminent historian, G.M. Trevelyan, a local resident, who played the part of Chaucer. The same pageant was repeated in 1931.

1939-45 For the duration of the Second World War a number of London statues were brought to Berkhamsted for safe keeping and stood against the background of the castle ruins.

Late 1920s The castle was put into the care of the Ministry of Works. It was this act that helped save the castle from complete ruin. The Ministry had trees removed that were threatening the remaining masonry and had that masonry stabilised. It also had an archaeological survey carried out which helped determine the layout of the castle's foundations.