Montfichet Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

Montfichet tower possibly originated in the reign of William I, but is not documented until the 1130's. It was given to the Black Friars in 1275 and demolished soon afterwards. (PastScape ref. Weinreb and Hibbert)

A castle (probably a moated site with tower) built immediately N of Baynards Castle (041200) by William de Montfichet in or around the late C11. It fell into disuse in the C13 & was demolished after 1275 (the masonry being used to build blackfriars priory). Documentary research has shown that Montfichet's Tower was bounded by Ludgate Hill, the City Wall (roughly where Pilgrim St joins Ludgate), Creed Lane and Carter Lane, forming an oblong roughly 80m x 50M. Montfichet Tower was defended by ditches on three sides, probably with an internal rampart and wall. Inside stood a stone keep on a motte. (Greater London HER)

Stow reports the castle was destroyed by King John in 1213 after Richard Mountfichet had been exiled to France. On Richard's return he rebuilt the castle but it was totally destroyed in 1276 to make way for Black Friar's.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 405024.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 042664/00/00.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
  Heritage Daily 'London's Lost Castles'
Books
- Renn, Derek., 2014, 'The other towers of London' in Hidden histories and records of antiquity; essays on Saxon and medieval London for John Clark, curator emeritus, Museum of London (London and Middlesex Archaeology Society Special Paper 17) p. 32-5
  Osbourne, Mike, 2012, Defending London (Stroud: The History Press) p. 25
  Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 59-60
  Purton, P.F., 2009, A History of the Early Medieval Siege c. 450-1220 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) p. 174
  Impey, Edward, 2008, 'London's early castles and the context of their creation' in Impey, Edward (ed), The White Tower (Yale University Press) p. 14-26
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 51
  Schofield, J., 1995, Medieval London Houses (Yale University Press) p. 13
  Lobel, M.D. (ed), 1989, The City of London from prehistoric times to c.1520 British Atlas of Historic Towns Vol. 3 (Oxford University Press) p. 81 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 271
  Weinreb, Ben and Hibbert, Christopher (eds), 1983 (rev edn 1993), The London Encyclopeadia (Macmillian) p. 540-1
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 262
  Brooke, C.N.L. and Kier, G., 1975, London 800-1216: The Shaping of a City (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press) p. 42, 114, 215n3 online copy
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 248
  Stenton, F.M., 1934, Norman London:an Essay (Historical Association Leaflet 93)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 104 online copy
  Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol. 1 (London) p. 56 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Watson, B., 1992, 'The excavation of a Norman fortress on Ludgate Hill' London Archaeologist Vol. 6.14 p. 371-7 online copy
  Watson, B., 1992, 'The Norman Fortress on Ludgate Hill in the City of London, England, Recent Excavations 1986-90' Château Gaillard Vol. 15 p. 335-45
  Youngs, S.M., Clark, J. and Barry, T., 1986, 'Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1985' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 30 p. 127 download copy
  Brown, R. Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' The English Historical Review Vol. 74 p. 249-280 (Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 90-121) view online copy (subscription required)
  Honeybourne, M.B., 1947, London Topographical Record Vol. 19 p. 20, 50
  Kingsford, C.L., 1917, 'Historical Notes on Medieval London Houses (Part 2)' London Topographical Record Vol. 11 p. 46-7
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- William FitzStephen, c. 1180, 'A description of London' translated in Henry Thomas Riley (ed), 1860, Liber Custumarum (Rolls Series 12) Vol. 2 p. 2-15 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1906, Calendar of Charter Rolls Henry III-Edward 1 1257-1300 Vol. 2. (HMSO) p. 180 online copy
  Howlett, R. (ed), 1886, Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I (Rolls series 82) Vol. 3 p. 338 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Stype, John, 1720, A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster Vol. 1 p. 62 online copy
  Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Kingsford, C.L. (ed), 1908, A Survey of London, by John Stow: Reprinted from the text of 1603 Vol. 1 p. 44-71 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Fradley, Michael, 2011, The Old in the New: Urban Castle Imposition in Anglo-Norman England, AD1050-1150 (University of Exeter PhD Thesis) available via EThOS

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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