Liverpool Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

Liverpool Castle is first mentioned in 1347 among the estates of the honour of Lancaster as being moated with four towers. During the Civil War it was occupied by the Royalists in 1643, and in 1659 Parliament ordered it to be demolished. But only the gatehouse and part of the walls were pulled down. In 1725 the castle was completely demolished for the construction of St George's Church, which has since been demolished (Fishwick 1901).
In 1927 during the excavations for a public convenience in Derby Square NW of the Queen Victoria Memorial, the west moat was found.
The north moat was found during the excavations for the now (1928) Midland and National Provincial Banks. Some twenty feet from the SW corner of the latter Bank a subterranean tunnel running in a southerly direction below James Street was found. It is probable that the tunnel connected the moat or ditch with the old tower or some defences on the shore. A sewer has now been constructed along the tunnel (Larkin 1927).
A castle was built at Liverpool early in the reign of Henry III, probably by William de Ferrers. It became a Lancastrian possession and thence a royal castle in 1399. There are references to a gateway, curtain wall, chapel and interval tower or angle tower in the 15th century (HKW). (PastScape)

It has been incorrectly suggested that a Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1235 Jan 19 (Click on the date for details of this supposed licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 67505.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MME3006.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Mike Royden's Local History Pages and Mike Royden's Local History Pages
  Wikipedia entry
  Liverpool Engineering Walk
Books
- Grimsditch, Brian, Nevell, Michael and Nevell, Richard, 2012, Buckton Castle and the Castles of the North West England (University of Salford Archaeological Monograph 2) p. 103-4
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 34
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 136 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 248
  Gibson, Leslie Irving, 1977, Lancashire Castles and Towers (Dalesman Books) p. 32-34
  Davey, P.J., 1977, 'Liverpool: South Castle Street' in Archaeological excavations 1976 (HMSO) p. 138
  Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p. 706
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Farrer, William and Brownbill, J. (eds), 1911, 'Liverpool: The castle and development of the town' VCH Lancashire Vol. 4 p. 4-8 online transcription
  Hand, C.R., 1910, Notes respecting the Annals of Liverpool Castle (Liverpool: Howell) p. 6-31
  Touzeau,J., 1910, 'The Castle of Liverpool' in The Rise and Progress of Liverpool (The Liverpool Booksellers Co) Vol. 1 p. 221- , 349-358
  Hand, C.R., 1909, Liverpool Castle and its Builders
  Gardner, W., 1908, 'Ancient Earthworks:- Lancashire South of the Sands' in Farrer, William and Brownbill, J. (eds), VCH Lancashire Vol. 2 p. 551 (slight) online copy
  Fishwick, 1907, 'Castles and Fortified Houses' in Fishwick and P.H. Ditchfield (eds), Memorials of Old Lancashire (London: Bemrose and sons) Vol. 2 p. 15-17 online copy
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 198-9 online copy
  Gregson, 1824, Portfolio of Fragments Relative to the History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Lancaster (Liverpool) p. 169-70
Periodical Articles
- Nevell, Richard, 2012-13, 'Castle gatehouses in North West England' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 26 p. 258-81 online copy
  Guy, Neil, 2005, 'Liverpool Castle' Castle Studies Group Bulletin Vol. 18 p. 188-201
  Davey,P.J. and McNeil, R., 1980-81, 'Excavations in South Castle Street, Liverpool 1976 and 1977' Journal of the Merseyside Archaeological Society Vol. 4 (whole issue)
  Sale, R.M., 1977-8, 'Liverpool, Merseyside' CBA Newsletter and Calendar 1 p. 112
  Davey, P.J., 1977, 'South Castle Street 1976: Interim Report' Journal of the Merseyside Archaeological Society Vol. 1 p. 13-15
  Charwell, B., 1928, 'Liverpool Castle' Liverpool Diocesan Review Vol. 3 p. 363-366
  Larkin, F.C.,1927, 'Excavations on the Site of Liverpool Castle, 1927' Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Vol. 79 p. 175-199
  Hand, C.R., 1918, 'Liverpool Castle 1235' Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Vol. 70 p. 139 online copy
  Gladstone, R., 1907, 'A report on Liverpool castle 2nd October 1559' Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Vol. 59 p. 162-4
  Fishwick, H., 1901, 'The Old Castles of Lancashire.' Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 19 p. 61-3 online copy
  Cox, E.W., 1892, 'An Attempt to Recover the Plans of the Castle of Liverpool from Authentic records; Considered in Connection with Medieval Principles of Defence and Construction' Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Vol. 42 p. 195-254 (map, plans, diag) 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.)
- 1906, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1232-47) Vol. 3 p. 89 online copy
  Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) (lists sources for 1272-1422) p. 282-3
  B.M. Add. M.S. 32, 103, f.140 (Survey of 1346) (in Farrer, Wm (ed), 1915, Lancashire Inquests, Extents, and Feudal Aids Part III (Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society 70) p. 68)
  DL44/419 (Survey of 30 Elizabeth) The National Archives reference
  DL44/9 (Survey of 1 Elizabeth) The National Archives reference
  SP14/49/82 (Survey of 1609) The National Archives reference
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. 268
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 40 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.

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