Bridgnorth Castle

Bridgnorth Castle is a castle in the town of Bridgnorth, Shropshire. It is a scheduled monument, first listed in 1928.

The castle was founded in 1101 by Robert de Belleme, the son of the French Earl, Roger de Montgomery, who succeeded his father as Earl of Shrewsbury, possibly on the site of a Saxon burh built by Æthelflæd in 912. One year later in 1102, King Henry I took control of the castle from Robert de Belleme and Henry built another temporary castle on Panpudding Hill. Much of the outer building, which consists of shattered walls, dates to a period of construction that is believed to have occurred between 1105 and 1113.

Around 1120, Henry I re-plastered the walls of the castle and replaced them with better quality stone. Its principal feature, a square great tower, was built during the reign of Henry II in 1160 and the castle was extended between 1166 and 1174. In the early 13th century, construction to extend the castle continued.

A turret or mural tower, present in 1160, was extended in 1226 and the barbican, with a drawbridge, was built in 1212 and was first mentioned in 1221. In 1242, the outer bailey, which does not survive today, was legally made part of the town and in 1261, the sheriff of Bridgnorth was ordered to roof and repair the houses within the bailey of the castle. By 1267, the castle had begun to lose its significance and it was in disrepair by 1281.

In 1321, the barons who rebelled against King Edward II of England during the Despenser War took control of the castle but by the mid 14th century, the castle had lost most of its strategic importance again due to the Black Death and it was largely forgotten about by the 15th century.

It was noted as being in disrepair during the start of Henry VIII's reign (1509 – 1547) and it was partially repaired around 1530. John Leland visited Bridgnorth Castle in 1540 and his description of Bridgnorth Castle is as following:

The Walles of it be of great height. There were 2 or 3 stronge wardes in the castle, that now goe totally to ruine. I count the castle to be more in compasse than a third part of the town. There is one mighty gate by north in it, now stopped up, and a little posterne made of force thereby through the wall to enter into the castle. The castle ground and especially the base court, hath now many dwellinge houses of tymbre in it newly erected.

Text adapted from “Bridgnorth Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Bridgnorth Castle ranks #3,273 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #220 of the 333 mapped in England. Founded 1101, it is older than 86% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 564 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,131 times in the last 60 days, more than 52% of the atlas. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Birmingham, 35 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗