Someries Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Summeries; Somerys

In the civil parish of Hyde.
In the historic county of Bedfordshire.
Modern Authority of Bedfordshire.
1974 county of Bedfordshire.
Medieval County of Bedfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL11922013
Latitude 51.86908° Longitude -0.37570°

Someries Castle has been described as a certain Fortified Manor House, and also as a probable Tower House.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The upstanding and buried remains of the late medieval magnate's residence known as Someries Castle. The upstanding remains include the gatehouse and chapel forming the north west wing of the magnate's residence. Although the roof has gone, the walls survive almost to a full height. The area occupied by the main block of the residence is defined by a raised platform containing low, irregular earthworks to the north east of the garden earthworks. Traces of a substantial brick wall are visible in the north east corner of the site. The name Someries Castle is derived from William de Someries, whose residence stood on the site in C13. The magnate's residence was built by Lord Wenlock, who acquired the Someries estate in the 1430s. The mansion is this thought to be one of the earliest brick buildings in England. The residence was never completed and much of the building was pulled down in 1742. It was preceded on the site by a house which was extant in the 13th century and may have been a fortified manor house or tower house. The exact location of this building is not known. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1008452, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 20458
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 362398.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 360.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  charles headey photography
Books
- Petre, James Scott, 2012, The Castles of Bedfordshire (Lavenham: Lavenham Press for Shaun Tyas) p. 95-8
  Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 353, 370
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 16
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 295
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 3-4
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 8 (rejected as a fortified site)
  Renn, D.F., 1971, Medieval Castles in Hertfordshire (Chichester; Phillimore) p. 10, 18-20, 22
  Godber, J., 1969, History of Bedfordshire (Bedford) p. 135
  Pevsner, N., 1968, The Buildings of England: Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough (Harmondsworth) p. 118-19
  James Dyer, Frank Stygall and John Dony, 1964, The Story of Luton (Luton: White Crescent Press) p. 66-7
  Page, Wm (ed), 1908, VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 2 p. 364-5 online transcription
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England Vol. 1 p. 140-1 (History confused with Luton) online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 280 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Kennett, D.H., 1994, 'Early brick houses in the South Midlands: A question of size' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 24 p. 2-3 online copy
  1993, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 23 p. 32 online copy
  Kennett, D.H., 1990, 'The destruction of country houses: Eighteenth-century Bedfordshire reconsidered' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 20 p. 14, 16 online copy
  1988, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 18 p. 26 online copy
  Kennett, D.H., 1987, 'Greens, Moats and the Great House: aspects of the Bedfordshire landscape in the seventeenth century' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 17 p. 27 online copy
  Smith, T.P., 'Someries Castle' Archaeological Journal Vol. 139 p. 43-6
  1982, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 12 p. 17 online copy
  Baker, David et al, 1982, 'Proceedings of the Summer Meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute at Bedford in 1982 (archaeology and standing buildings)' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 139 p. 43
  Smith, T.P., 1976, 'The early brickwork of Someries Castle, Bedfordshire and its place in the history of English brick building' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 129 p. 42-58
  1978, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 8 p. 37 online copy
  Smith, T.P., 1970, 'Someries Castle: some reconsiderations' Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 5 p. 109-112 online copy (large file)
  Smith, T.P., 1966, 'Someries Castle' Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 3 p. 35-51 online copy (large file)
  Manning, W.H., 1956, 'Someries Castle, Luton' Bedfordshire magazine Vol. 5 no. 36 p. 157-62
  Fowler, H., 1889, 'Someries Castle' Transactions of the St Albans and Hertfordshire Archaeological Society p. 31-45 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1909, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 4 p. 121 online copy

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.

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