Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:07:28.127Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Missing Link: a Reappraisal of the Date, Architectural Context and Significance of the Great Tower of Dudley Castle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2010

Malcolm Hislop
Malcolm Hislop*
Affiliation:
Malcolm Hislop, Birmingham Archaeology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The great tower of Dudley Castle, in the West Midlands, is re-examined in order to situate it within the evolutionary sequence of great tower designs. In so doing, it is argued that the origins of its plan are to be found in the works of the early to mid-thirteenth century, and that the tower itself was probably begun during the 1260s. Furthermore, it is asserted that the tower represents a milestone in the thinking that underpinned the redevelopment of castle mottes, and that it is to be seen as the prime connection between the circle-based plans that dominated motte redevelopments in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and later developments that led, ultimately, to the radically different, but architecturally successful scheme adopted by the builder of the donjon of Warkworth Castle in Northumberland.

Résumé

La grande tour du château de Dudley, dans la région de West Midlands, est réexaminée dans le but de la situer dans la séquence évolutionnaire des grands modèles de tours. Ce faisant, on soutient que les origines de son plan pourront se trouver dans les travaux exécutés entre le début et le milieu du treizième siècle, et que la tour elle-même avait probablement été commencée au cours des années 1260. En outre, on affirme que la tour représente un point marquant des idées à la base de la restructuration des mottes de châteaux, et qu’on peut la voir comme lien primordial entre les plans basés sur le cercle qui dominaient les restructurations des mottes au douzième et au treizième siècles, et les développements ultérieurs dont l’aboutissement final est le plan totalement différent, mais néanmoins une réussite au niveau de l’architecture, adopté par le bâtisseur du donjon du château de Warkworth au Northumberland.

Zusammenfassung

Der Großturm der Burg von Dudley in der Grafschaft West Midlands wird erneut untersucht um ihn in eine Entwicklungsabfolge von Großturmdesigns einzuordnen. Demzufolge sind die Ursprünge seines Grundrisses in den Arbeiten des frühen bis mittleren dreizehnten Jahrhunderts zu finden und der Turmbau wurde wahrscheinlich um 1260 begonnen. Darüber hinaus wird behauptet, daß der Turm ein Meilenstein in der Denkweise war, die zur Wiederentwicklung von Turmhügelburgen führte, und daß es als ein wichtigers Verbindungsglied zu den kreisförmigen Plänen fungiert, die für die Wiederentwicklung von Turmhügelburgen im zwölften und dreizehnten Jahrhunderten typisch war und späteren Entwicklungen, die zu radikal verschiedenen Entwürfen führten, und von den Erbauern des Burgfrieds der Warkworth Burg in der Grafschaft Northumberland übernommen wurde.

Type
Articles
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 90 , September 2010 , pp. 211 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Primary sources

CCR, 1261–4, 1279–88, 1288–96Google Scholar
CIPM Edward I, ii, nos 16 and 813Google Scholar
CPR 1258–66, 1272–81, 1281–92, 1292–1301, 1307–13, 1370–4Google Scholar
SRO D. (W.) 1721/1/11, 207Google Scholar

Secondary sources

Ashbee, J 2005. Goodrich Castle, London: English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Ashbee, J 2006. ‘Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and the great gatehouse of Dunstanburgh Castle’, English Heritage Hist Rev, 1, 28–35Google Scholar
Avent, R Miles, D 2006. ‘The main gatehouse’, in R Turner and A Johnson (eds), Chepstow Castle: its history and buildings, 51–62, Logaston: Logaston PressGoogle Scholar
Boland, P 1984. ‘Dudley Castle archaeological project: first interim report’, West Midlands Archaeol, 27, 1–20Google Scholar
Boland, P 1985. ‘Dudley Castle archaeological project: summary report 1984–1985’, West Midlands Archaeol, 28, 23–30Google Scholar
Boüard, M de 1973–4. ‘De l’aula au donjon: les fouilles de la motte de la Chapelle à Doué la Fontaine (xe–xie siècle)’, Archéologie Médiévale, 3–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brakspear, H 1914. ‘Dudley Castle’, Archaeol J, 71, 1–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, H 1936. The English Castle, London: BatsfordGoogle Scholar
Briggs, M S 1927. The Architect in History, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Brown, R A 1976. English Castles, 3rd edn, London: BatsfordGoogle Scholar
Brown, R A, Colvin, H M Taylor, A J 1963. The History of the King’s Works, 2 vols, London: HMSOGoogle Scholar
Cockayne, G E 1910–59. The Complete Peerage, new edn, 13 vols, London: St Catherine’s PressGoogle Scholar
Coldstream, N 2003. ‘Architects, advisers and design at Edward I’s castles in Wales’, Architect Hist, 47, 19–36Google Scholar
Curnow, P E 1989. ‘The tower house of Hopton Castle and its affinities’, in C Harper Bill, C J Holdsworth and J L Nelson (eds), Studies in Medieval History Presented to R Allen Brown, 81–102, Woodbridge: BoydellGoogle Scholar
Curnow, P E Thompson, M W 1969. ‘Excavations at Richard’s Castle, Herefordshire, 1962–1964’, J Brit Archaeol Ass, 3rd ser, 32, 105–127Google Scholar
Darlington, J (ed) 2001. Stafford Castle: survey, excavation and research 1978–1998. I: The surveys, Stafford: Stafford Borough CouncilGoogle Scholar
Detsicas, A (ed) 1981. Collectanea Historica: Essays in Memory of Stuart Rigold, Maidstone: Kent Archaeological SocietyGoogle Scholar
Dixon, P W 1990. ‘The donjon of Knaresborough: the castle as theatre’, Château Gaillard, 14, 121–139Google Scholar
Dixon, P W 1992. ‘From hall to tower: the change in seigneurial building on the Anglo-Scottish border after c 1250’, in S Lloyd (ed), Thirteenth Century England, 4, 85–107Google Scholar
Dixon, P W 1993. ‘Mota, Aula et Turris: the manor-houses of the Anglo-Scottish border’, in G Meirion-Jones and M Jones (eds), Manorial Domestic Buildings in England and Northern France, 22–48, Soc Antiq London Occas Pap, new ser, 15, London: Society of AntiquariesGoogle Scholar
Dixon, P W 2008. ‘The influence of the White Tower on the great towers of the twelfth century’, in Impey 2008, 243–275Google Scholar
Emery, A 2000. Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500. Volume II: East Anglia, Central England and Wales, Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Fairclough, G 1980. ‘Edlingham Castle: the military and domestic development of a Northumbrian manor: excavations 1978–89: interim report’, Château Gaillard, 10, 375–387Google Scholar
Fairclough, G 1984. ‘Edlingham Castle, Northumberland’, Trans Ancient Monuments Soc, new ser, 28, 40–59Google Scholar
Faulkner, P A 1963. ‘Castle planning in the fourteenth century’, Archaeol J, 120, 215–235Google Scholar
Goodall, J 2006. Warkworth Castle and the Hermitage, London: English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Harris, R B 2008. ‘The structural history of the White Tower, 1066–1200’, in Impey 2008, 29–94Google Scholar
Harvey, J H 1944. ‘The western entrance of the Tower’, Trans London Middlesex Archaeol Soc, new ser, 9, 20–35Google Scholar
Harvey, J H 1984. English Mediaeval Architects, rev edn, Gloucester: Alan SuttonGoogle Scholar
Higham, R A 1977. ‘Excavations at Okehampton Castle, Devon. Part I: the motte and the keep’, Proceed Devon Archaeol Soc, 35, 108Google Scholar
Hislop, M J 1991. ‘The date of the Warkworth donjon’, Archaeol Aeliana, 5th ser, 19, 79–92Google Scholar
Hislop, M J 1993. ‘Master John of Burcestre and the castles of Stafford and Maxstoke’, Trans South Staffs Archaeol Hist Soc, 33, 14–20Google Scholar
Hislop, M J 2007. John Lewyn of Durham: a medieval mason in practice, BAR Brit Ser 438, Oxford: British Archaeological ReportsCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hislop, M J Williams, G 2006. ‘The Tutbury project: an interim report’, Castle Studies Group Journal, 19, 107–149Google Scholar
Hope-Taylor, B 1950. ‘The excavation of a motte at Abinger, Surrey’, Archaeol J, 107, 15–43Google Scholar
Impey, E (ed) 2008. The White Tower, London: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Impey, E Parnell, G 2006. The Tower of London: the official illustrated history, rev edn, London: MerrellGoogle Scholar
Jope, E M Threlfall, R I 1959. ‘The twelfth-century castle at Ascot Doilly, Oxfordshire: its history and excavation’, Archaeol J, 39, 219–237Google Scholar
McKisack, M 1959. The Fourteenth Century 1307–1399, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
McNeill, T 1992. Castles, London: BatsfordGoogle Scholar
Maddison, J 1993. ‘Building at Lichfield Cathedral during the episcopate of Walter Langdon (1296–1321)’, Medieval Archaeology and Architecture at Lichfield, 83–100, Brit Archaeol Assoc Conf Trans for 1987Google Scholar
Mayes, P Butler, L 1983. Sandal Castle Excavations 1964–1973, Wakefield: Wakefield Historical PublicationsGoogle Scholar
Milner, L 1990. ‘Warkworth keep’, in E Fernie and P Crossley (eds), Medieval Architecture and its Intellectual Context, 219–228, London: Hambledon PressGoogle Scholar
Morriss, R K 1993. ‘Clun Castle reappraised’, Castle Studies Group Newsletter, 7, 23–24Google Scholar
Munby, J 1993. Stokesay Castle, London: English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Newman, J Pevsner, N 2006. The Buildings of England: Shropshire, London: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Pevsner, N 1957. The Buildings of England: Northumberland, Harmondsworth: PenguinGoogle Scholar
Pevsner, N 1974. The Buildings of England: Staffordshire, Harmondsworth: PenguinGoogle Scholar
Platt, C 1982. The Castle in Medieval England and Wales, London: Secker & WarburgGoogle Scholar
Ralegh Radford, C A 1960. ‘Tretower: the castle and the court’, Brycheiniog, 6, 1–50Google Scholar
Renn, D F 1960. ‘The keep of Wareham Castle’, Med Archaeol, 4, 56–68Google Scholar
Renn, D F 1973. Norman Castles in Britain, 2nd edn, London: John BakerGoogle Scholar
Renn, D F 1981. ‘Tonbridge and some other gatehouses’, in Detsicas 1981, 93–103Google Scholar
Renn, D F 1997. Caerphilly Castle, rev edn, Cardiff: CADWGoogle Scholar
RCHM 1931. An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Herefordshire. Vol I, London: HMSOGoogle Scholar
RCHME 1972. An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of York. Vol II: The Defences, London: HMSOGoogle Scholar
Salzman, L F 1952. Building in England down to 1540, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Saunders, A D 1980. ‘Lydford Castle, Devon’, Med Archaeol, 24, 123–186Google Scholar
Shelby, L 1972. ‘The geometrical knowledge of medieval master masons’, Speculum, 47, 395–421Google Scholar
Simpson, W D 1938. ‘Warkworth: a castle of livery and maintenance’, Archaeol Aeliana, 4th ser, 15, 115–136Google Scholar
Simpson, W D 1939. ‘The castles of Dudley and Ashby de la Zouche’, Archaeol J, 96, 142–158Google Scholar
Simpson, W D 1941. ‘The Warkworth donjon and its architect’, Archaeol Aeliana, 4th ser, 19, 93–103Google Scholar
Simpson, W D 1951. ‘Haughton Castle’, Archaeol Aeliana, 4th ser, 29, 118–134Google Scholar
Simpson, W D 1969. Castles in England and Wales, London: BatsfordGoogle Scholar
Stenton, F 1971. Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edn, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Taylor, A J 1954. ‘The date of Clifford’s Tower’, Archaeol J, 111, 153–159Google Scholar
Thompson, M W 1960. ‘Recent excavations in the keep of Farnham, Surrey’, Med Archaeol, 4, 81–94Google Scholar
Toy, S 1963. The Castles of Great Britain, 3rd edn, London: HeinemannGoogle Scholar
Twamley, C 1868. History of Dudley Castle and Priory, London: John Russell SmithGoogle Scholar
VCH 1913. The Victoria History of the County of Worcester. Vol I, London: St Catherine’s PressGoogle Scholar
West, J 1981. ‘Acton Burnell Castle, Shropshire: a re-interpretation’, in Detsicas 1981, 85–92Google Scholar