Castle of Croydone (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle of Croydon

In the civil parish of Gloucester.
In the historic county of Gloucestershire.
Modern Authority of Gloucestershire.
1974 county of Gloucestershire.
Medieval County of Gloucestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO833188
Latitude 51.86742° Longitude -2.24435°

Castle of Croydone has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Medieval castle is said to have been situated near the south end of Hare Lane, Gloucester. (PastScape)

(SO 833188) 'Castel of Croydone', near the south end of Hare Lane. Reason for name is not known (Fullbrook Leggatt).
This may be confused with the original Norman timber and earthwork castle situated a little to the East of the later castle (Heighway). (PastScape)

Archdeacon Furney says, from the Abbey Registers or Chronicles, as presumed, "Without the Upper North-gate, on the West side, was the Castle of Croydon, standing in Hare-lane." (Apud Rudder p. 205) Dun assuredly means an elevated Tump ; and Croy, according to Ingulphus, in his etymology of Croy-Iand, signifies Cruda et caenosa terra, moist, stiff ground. The misfortune is, that there is neither tump, mound, or foss, upon the spot, only the plot of a building; but it might be deemed eligible to fill up the ditches, that water and weeds might not collect: or the earth of the tump might be carried off in the civil wars to form the works between Kingsholm and the Oxlease, marked out in Hall and Pinnel's map. (Fosbroke and Bigland 1819)

Comments

Baddeley suggests this was the site of a C9 Danish camp and that Hare Lane is a corruption of Here (War Host). It's entirely possibly this camp was fortified in the Danish manner and that these earthwork survived until the C14 when the name Castle of Croydone was, apparently, given to them. It is unlikely they had any use after the C9. The VCH for Gloucester has a good history of the Saxon period but does not mention this site. The earlier history of Fosbroke and Bigland is speculative and has inaccuracies but does mention this as a site of a building. The location, just outside the gates of the Roman town, may be that of a Roman mausoleum and the site may, in fact, take it's name from some Roman remains. Confusion with the actual castle of Gloucester by any early writers, who give a clear location as outside the north-gate, seems unlikely.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 115489.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Herbert, N.M. (ed), 1988, 'Anglo-Saxon Gloucester: c.680 - 1066' VCH Gloucestershire Vol. 4 (Oxford: OUP for the Institute of Historical Research) p. 5-12 online transcription
  Heighway, Carolyn, 1985, Gloucester: a history and guide p. 48
  Fullbrook Leggatt, L.E.W.O., 1952, Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Gloucester
  Fosbroke, T.D., and Bigland, R., 1819, An original history of the city of Gloucester p. 25 online copy
  Rudder, S., 1779, A new history of Gloucestershire p. 205 online copy (large file)
Periodical Articles
- Baddeley, St Clair, 1917, 'Some early Artists of Gloucester' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol. 40 p. 149 online copy

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Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
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