Carlisle Citadel (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Nisi Prius Court; Court House; Assize Court; Crown Court

In the civil parish of Carlisle.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY40255566
Latitude 54.89170° Longitude -2.93357°

Carlisle Citadel has been described as a certain Artillery Fort.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

The site is known as the The Citadel which refers to the earlier Henrician artillery fort located on this site. The Citadel was built in 1541-1542 to designs by Stephen von Haschenperg and consisted of a triangular enclosure with massive round towers situated at the angles. The fortress was mostly demolished to make way for the present towers in 1810 and only the lower levels of the eastern tower are original. Prior to the construction of Henry VIII's artillery fort the site was occupied by the Botcher Gate or English Gate (see NY45NW 52). The Citadel was intended to be of independent strength, which made sense given the obsolete state of Carlisle's defences. The Botcher gate was initially walled up, and it appears that a raised floor level was added with two gunports in the former gateway. On its west side, but set slightly back, was a second recangular tower mounting twin gunports. To the east and west of the resulting double tower were built curtain walls to connect with two large, round bulwarks, two storeyed, 60 feet in diameter with 12 foot thick walls. Within these were casemates mounting artillery. It was also fortified on its northern face within the city walls. A half round tower was constructed to house ordnance to command the city. This was attached to the round bulwarks by curtain walls. The construction of the Citadel nessesited the rebuilding of the adjacent walls and the creation of a new gate, the English Gate, in the west wall just north of the Citadel. By 1604 the Citadel was effectively little more than a gaol. (PastScape)

Built on top of the remain of the Citadel are 'two immense oval towers, built in 1810-1811 by Sir Robert Smirke, to a design originally by Thomas Telford. Until recently they served as the civil courts (east tower) and criminal courts (west tower). The towers are constructed in red sandstone ashlar with a partly machicolated cornice and battlemented parapets. The towers have recently undergone major restoration.' (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1196939 , 1196940
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1394195; 540490.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Visit Cumbria
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog, also, also
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
  Abaroth's World
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
Books
- Summerson, H., 2011, 'The defences of medieval Carlisle', in M. Brennand and K. J. Stringer (eds), The making of Carlisle: from Roman to railways, 85-102 (Kendal: CWAAS extra series 35)
  Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 36
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 72-3 (plan)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 38
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1
  Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works, Vol. 4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p. 670-1
  Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 62-3
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p. 101
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 115-7
  Jefferson, S., 1838, History and Antiquities of Carlisle p. 277-9 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hughes, J., 1970, 'The building of the Courts, Carlisle, 1807-1822' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 70 p. 205-20 online copy
  Oliver, G.D., 1916, 'The Citadel, Carlisle' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 16 p. 91-6 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.)
- Green, M.A.E.(ed), 1872, Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Elizabeth, Addenda 1580-1625 p. 17-18 no. 44 (Reference for for Dacre's 1580 survey of the West March) online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain online copy
  Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Celia Fiennes, 1888, Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press) Vision of Britain online transcription

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.

Data >	PastScape			Listing	I. O. E.
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio