Kimbolton Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Kinnibantum

In the civil parish of Kimbolton.
In the historic county of Huntingdonshire.
Modern Authority of Cambridgeshire.
1974 county of Cambridgeshire.
Medieval County of Huntingdonshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL100677
Latitude 52.29555° Longitude -0.38716°

Kimbolton Castle has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are no visible remains.

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

Description

It is uncertain when exactly the first castle was built in Kimbolton. There is a mound in the Great Park that is called Castle Hill, ... If the castle existed in the mid-12th century it does not appear to have been permanent. Towards the end of the century, Geoffrey Fitz Piers (later Earl of Essex) became the lord of Kimbolton, and he built a manor house here by 1201. The first reference to a castle is in 1217, and it was attacked in 1221. The survey of 1279 refers to it as a 'forcelet', being something less than a fully developed castle. Kimbolton continued its passage from lordship to lordship throughout the mediaeval period, and under such circumstances the development of the town and castle depended on the attitude of which ever family happened to hold it. In the 15th century it was rebuilt by Anne, Duchess of Buckingham, and again in 1523 by Sir Richard Wingfield, who used stone from Higham Ferrers Castle. It was in this version of the castle that Catharine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII died in 1536. There is a map of 1582 showing the layout at the time. In 1615 the estate passed to the Montague family, and the castle was rebuilt in 1617–20 and again in 1699. The gatehouse was added in 1766. It was during the 17th century that the Great Park was created, incorporating and replacing two earlier parks in the vicinity that had existed since 1248. The house was kept in the hands of the Montagues until 1950 when it became the home of Kimbolton School. (Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Kimbolton)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1221022
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 363151.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00412.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry (slight)
  Kimbolton School
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 385, 413, 474
  Lowerre, A.G., 2007, 'A GIS Analysis of the Location of Late-Eleventh-Century Castles in the Southeastern Midlands of England' in' Clark, J.T. and E.M. Hagemeister (eds.) Digital Discovery. Exploring New Frontiers in Human Heritage (Archaeolingua) p. 239-252 online copy
  Lowerre, A.G., 2005, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd: BAR British Series 385) p. 237-8 (mention)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 20
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 264
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 13 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 225
  Pevsner, N., 1968, Buildings of England: Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough p. 276
  Page, Wm, Proby, Granville and Ladds, S. Inskip (eds), 1936, VCH Huntingdonshire Vol. 3 p. 77-80
  RCHME, 1926, An inventory of the historical monuments in Huntingdonshire p. 170-3 no. 2 (plan) online transcription
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 317-18 online copy
  Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol. 2 (London) p. 245-7 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Various, 1967, 'The History and Archaeology of the Cambridge Area' Archeaological Journal Vol. 124 p. 247-50
  Archdale, M., 1966, Country Life Vol. 140
  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)
  Tipping, 1911, Country Life Vol. 30 p. 440-6, 474-82 (only on modern structure)
Guidebooks
- Burkett, P.R., Kimbolton Castle (published by Kimbolton School)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) (lists sources for 1272-1422) p. 257-8
  The National Archives E36/150 Survey of the lands late of Edward, duke of Buckingham, attainted online details
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. 239
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 2 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Lowerre, A.G., 2004, Placing Castles in the Conquest. Landscape, Lordship and Local Politics in the South-Eastern Midlands, 1066-1100 (PhD thesis: Boston College) p. 504-5
  Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Kimbolton. Draft Report 03/03/2003 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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