Newbury Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
castrum Neubiriae

In the civil parish of Newbury.
In the historic county of Berkshire.
Modern Authority of West Berkshire.
1974 county of Berkshire.
Medieval County of Berkshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU47296721
Latitude 51.40196° Longitude -1.32156°

Newbury Castle has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a Masonry Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

The site of a castle built in 1152 which was a fragmentary ruin by 1626-7. It was completely demolished circa 1723 when the canal basin was constructed, which has now been filled in. (PastScape)

David Nash Ford- probably from Higgot, 1998, writes probable Hamstead. Higgot's hypothesis apparently built upon;
a) the total lack of any archaeological evidence for a castle on Newbury Wharf;
b) the only reference to the castle relates to a siege by King Stephen in 1152 - mentioned in a poem on the life of the William the Marshall (unpublished work by Pail Cannon in 1990 refuted all other sources cited by Walter Money);
c) William the Marshall owned Hampstead Marshall; d) the existence not only of castle remains at Hampstead Marshall but also siege works. ergo - if the Marshall was besieged in the Newbury area it is most likely to be in his own castle - which was almost certainly besieged in the period. (info from Phil Wood)

Comments

The evidence of siege works at Hampstead Marshall can be questioned but the tenurial history is highly suggestive that the 'Newbury' castle besieged in 1152 was Hampstead Marshall (actually Henry of Huntingdon states 'taken' so may well not have been besieged at all). However, this does not mean that there was not a medieval manorial centre of some sort at Newbury itself, presumably based on the Saxon thegnal burh from which the town must take its name, which may represent the 'castle' located by Money. What is clear is that the sources do NOT state the castle was built in 1152; wherever it was it existed before 1152.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 233079.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MWB3425.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Britannia America's Gateway to the British Isles since 1996
  David Nash Ford's Historic Buildings of Berkshire
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 144
  Purton, P.F., 2009, A History of the Early Medieval Siege c. 450-1220 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) p. 276
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 21
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 13
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 253
  Page, Wm and Ditchfield, P.H. (eds), 1924, VCH Berkshire Vol. 4 p. 133 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. 175-6 online copy
  Money, W., 1887, History of Newbury (map in frontispiece)
Periodical Articles
- Higgot, Tony, 1998, 'Is Newbury's Mediaeval Castle at Hamstead Marshall?' Transactions of the Newbury District Field Club Vol 14 No. 2/3 p. 28-29
  Money, W., 1872-5, Transactions of the Newbury District Field Club Vol. 2 p. 252-54
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Arnold, Thomas (ed), 1879, Henrici Archidiaconi Huntendunensis Historia Anglorum (London: Rolls series 74) p. 284 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Cannon, P., 1990, Newbury Castle - a Reassessment of the Historical Evidence (Unpublished document / SWB12757)

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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.
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