Reigate Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Reigate.
In the historic county of Surrey.
Modern Authority of Surrey.
1974 county of Surrey.
Medieval County of Surrey.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ25205035
Latitude 51.23860° Longitude -0.20789°

Reigate Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Reigate Castle was probably constructed soon after 1088 when William de Warenne was created Earl of Surrey and received a grant of Reigate from the King. It was strongly fortified by the Earl of Arundel in the late 14th century. However, by 1441 the houses within the castle were ruinous. It was briefly occupied by both sides during the Civil War but a Parliamentary Order of 1648 requiring it to be made indefensible, no doubt completed the ruin. The mock antique gateway was erected in 1777. Reigate Castle occupies a natural sand-hill, which has been artificially scarped, forming a plateau. At the foot of the scarp is a ditch, of varying widths. The crest of the scarp had a stone wall round it at one period. This formed the inner ward of the castle. The entrance was to the east, by the causeway, perhaps once broken by a drawbridge, across the ditch. Outside the north-western part of the ditch, up the hill, was an extensive outwork. From this outwork or barbican a wet ditch ran eastwards and then southwards in a curve. From the northern outwork or barbican a wall was carried round the west and south sides of the castle on the outside of the dry fosse round the inner ward, making a narrow outer ward here also. The caverns are under the western part of the inner enclosure. There is an entrance from the middle of the castle, and another, perhaps more recent, from the western ditch. The caverns were in all probability dry cellars and storehouses to begin with and enlarged later on. No structural remains exist of the original castle buildings. Some old stonework is visible in garden walls to the south of the castle but there is no indication that it is in situ. On the north side of the castle site are the remains of a moat now cemented into an ornamental sheet of water. (Surrey HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005947, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number su61
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1188787
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 400306.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1039.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 310
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Surrey (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 20-1
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 242
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 466
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 283
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 291
  Hooper, 1945, Reigate, its Story through the Ages (Guildford) p. 44-9
  Malden, H.E. (ed), 1912, VCH Surrey Vol. 4 p. 397
  Clinch and Montgomerie, 1911, Malden, H.E. (ed), VCH Surrey Vol. 3 p. 230-1 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. 98-9 online copy
  Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol. 1 (London) p. 278-81 online copy
  Walford, 1848 Brayley (ed), History of Surrey (London) Vol. 4 p. 35-6
  Manning and Bray, 1804, The History and Antiquities of Surrey (London) Vol. 1 p. 293-4
Periodical Articles
- 2001, 'Archaeology in Surrey 2000' Surrey Archaeological Collections Vol. 88 p. 346 online copy
  1996, 'Archaeology in Surrey 1992-3' Surrey Archaeological Collections Vol. 83 p. 197 online copy
  1992, 'Archaeology in Surrey 1990' Surrey Archaeological Collections Vol. 81 p. 152 online copy
  Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 143 p. 318
  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)
  1897, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London Vol. 16 p. 177
  1842, The Gentleman's Magazine Part 2 p. 38-40 (underground chamber) 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.)
- Flower, C.T (ed), 1925, Curia Regis Rolls Vol. 2 3 John - 5 John (1201-1203) (HMSO) p. 264
  Stubbs, W. (ed), 1880, The Minor Works comprising the Gesta regum with its continuation, the Actus pontificum, and the Mappa mundi, by Gervase, the Monk of Canterbury (London: Longman Rolls series 73) Vol. 2 p. 420 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. 445
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Surrey County Council, 2006, Extensive Urban Survey - Surrey (English Heritage) Download copy

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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.

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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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