Caverswall Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Caverswell; Carswell; Cavereswelle; Careswell

In the civil parish of Caverswall.
In the historic county of Staffordshire.
Modern Authority of Staffordshire.
1974 county of Staffordshire.
Medieval County of Staffordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ95084281
Latitude 52.98254° Longitude -2.07459°

Caverswall Castle has been described as a probable Masonry Castle, and also as a certain Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

There was a manor at Caverswall mentioned in Domesday, and Walter de Caverswall was bailiff during the reign of Henry I (1100-1135 AD) (Johnston).
Licence to crenellate was given in 1275. The castle is a roughly oblong enclosure with four polygonal angle towers which, with the walls, do not stand to full height. The towers were terminated by balustrading, c1615, when Matthew Cradock built a house into the castle. A fine building, high and even, three-storeyed and fully symmetrical. The top balustrade was replaced in the 19th century by crenellation (Pevesner).
It is not possible to say how much of the present dry moat belongs to the original castle. The moat was entirely sunk from the natural surface of the land and its sections have in recent years been moulded for the formation of the pleasure grounds (VCH, 1908). (PastScape)

Castle, later country house. C13 foundation to superstructure of circa 1615, enlarged, altered and refitted circa 1890. The work of 1615 has been attributed to Robert and John Smythson. Red sandstone ashlar; flat roofs largely invisible behind crenellated parapets with multishafted C19 side stacks; the gatehouse and angle towers have tiled roofs and balustraded parapets. Built in a castellar, supra-vernacular style with a foretaste of Bolsover and echoes of Longleat (and strangely reminiscent of Castle Drogo by Lutyens). The house is set to the north side of a square retaining enclosure surrounded by an excavated moat which opens out to lower ground level on the west, forming a prospect which was never used. The lower parts of the walls (approx. 9m high) appear to be the only remnant of the medieval castle. (Listed Building Report)

A Royal licence to crenellate may have been granted in 1230/31 (Click on the date for details of this supposed licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1275 Nov 7.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1038000
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 77795.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 06066.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
  Caverswall Castle
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Staffordshire Past-Track for old photographs.
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 278, 476-7
  Cooper, Nicholas, 1999, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680 (Yale University Press) p. 338n28
  Salter, Mike, 1997, Castles and Moated Mansions of Staffordshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 16-7
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 226
  Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p. 37
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 449-50
  Pevsner, N., 1974, Buildings of England: Staffordshire (London, Penguin) p. 95
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Lynam, Charles, 1908, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm. (ed), VCH Staffordshire Vol. 1 p. 352-3 (plan) online copy
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 390-1 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 233, 403 online copy
  Grose, Francis, 1785 (new edn orig 1756), Antiquities of England and Wales (London) Vol. 5 p. 39-40 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Charles Hollwey, 2015-16, 'From Chilham via Caernarfon to Thornbury: The rise of the polygonal tower' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 29 p. 263-85
  2005-6, 'Caverswall Castle, Staffordshire' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol 19 p. 122-3
  Cantor, Leonard, 1966, 'The Medieval Castles of Staffordshire' North Staffordshire Journal of Field Studies Vol. 6 p. 38-46
  Johnstone, J.D., 1950, Transactions of North Staffordshire Field Club Vol. 84 p. 121
  Blizzard, 1937-8, Transactions of North Staffordshire Field Club Vol. 72 p. 49-61
  Tipping, 1911, Country Life Vol. 29 p. 886-95
  Masefield, 1888, Transactions of North Staffordshire Field Club p. 59-61 (slight history)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- C143/2/43 (Chancery: Inquisitions Ad Quod Damnum, Henry III to Richard III c1216-c1485) online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1901, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward I (1272-81) Vol. 1 p. 109 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 443
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1909, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 4 p. 129 online copy ; Vol. 5 p. 19 online copy

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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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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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