Pembridge Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Newland; Penebrug

In the civil parish of Welsh Newton.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO48811927
Latitude 51.86980° Longitude -2.74478°

Pembridge Castle has been described as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

Former border castle, now farmhouse. Late C12 or early C13 keep, C13 foundations to gate house, curtain walls and undercroft to chapel, C17 domestic buildings, substantially restored and rebuilt early C20. Coursed and squared sandstone rubble, ashlar dressings, slate roofs. Rectangular in plan with curtain walls and gate house to south angle, circular keep to west, chapel block and small circular tower to north and further quadrant-shaped tower to east with bartizan, the domestic buildings towards west of courtyard with hall block to north-west and kitchen block to south-west. Gate house: two storeys and basement. Segmental pointed arch to entrance with chamfered jambs and grooves for portcullis flanked by two round towers with lancet windows. Four storey keep with two moulded string courses, C20 crenellated parapet, loop windows, small projecting garderobe, now with inserted C20 window. Chapel block: two storeys with undercroft, two (4-light C17 square-headed wooden framed windows, one with chamfered mullions, the other with ovolo moulded mullions (probably imported). Hall block to north-west: two storeys with projecting porch and tall 2-light traceried window with traceried transom lighting staircase to right. Curtain walls with C20 crenellated parapet, mainly loop embrasures and cruciform loops to north-east wall. Corbelled circular bartizan to east. Interior: C15 fireplace with moulded jambs and square head, herringbone brickwork to back in north-west wall of upper room of gate house. Chapel contains imported furnishings, wooden screen and panelling. Moated site. The castle belonged to the Wakes and then the Mortimer family in the C14 and C15. It was Royalist during the Civil War and suffered greatly during the siege of 1644 when largely ruined. During the early C20 the castle belonged to Thomas Bartlett, a doctor and antiquarian and bishop of a little known Anglo-Orthodox sect, who restored it to its present state. (RCHM, p 250). (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1001773, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number he35
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1224913
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 107602.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2246.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Jeff Thomas's Castles of Wales
  Herefordshire Through Time
  Paul Martin Remfry
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Shoesmith, Ron, 2009 (Rev edn.), Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press) p. 276-80
  Phillips, Neil, 2005, Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250 (University of Wales) p. 287-8 (slight) Download from ADS
  Salter, Mike, 2000, Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 54-5
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 476
  Remfry, Paul Martin, 1995, Pembridge Castle, 1090 to 1646 (SCS Publishing: Worcestershire)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 100-1
  Stirling-Brown, R., 1989, Herefordshire Castles (privately published) p. 21
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 209-10
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 274
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 273
  Pevsner, N., 1963, Buildings of England: Herefordshire (Harmondsworth) p. 269
  RCHME, 1931, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire Vol. 1: south-west p. 250-2 (plan) online transcription
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Gould, I. Chalkley, 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Herefordshire Vol. 1 p. 255
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 113-14 online copy
  Robinson, C.J., 1869, The Castles of Herefordshire and Their Lords (London: Longman) p. 111-15 online copy
Periodical Articles
- 1995, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 63 p. 13-14 (plan)
  Archaeological Research Section Woolhope NFC, 1994, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 62 p. 10, 27-31
  Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 116 p. 71-132
  1927, Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club p. lxxxix-xc
  1913, The Builder Vol. 104 p. 571
  1900, 'Notes upon Pembridge Castle' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club p. 20-1 (pre-restoration photographs)
  Bagnall-Oakeley, 1895-7, 'Pembridge Castle' Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol. 20 p. 97-9 online copy
  Wakeman, T., 1859, 'Pembridge Castle' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 15 p. 153-9 (plan) online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1901, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1216-25) Vol. 1 p. 358 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*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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