GATEHOUSE
The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
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Beckington Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Ravenscroft School

In the civil parish of Beckington.
In the historic county of Somerset.
Modern Authority of Somerset.
1974 county of Somerset.
Medieval County of Somerset.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST79995150
Latitude 51.26230° Longitude -2.28803°

Beckington Castle has been described as a Masonry Castle but is rejected as such.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

This is not a castle but a house which has been given a fanciful history stretching back to 1140 and a pageant of important owners including two of Henry VIII's wives. The builder was probably William Long, a wealthy Wiltshire clothier who died in 1558; and it was the home of the first two earls of Marlborough in the early seventeenth century. Not until 1839 was it called Castle House. All the rest of the nonsense stems from that silly piece of Victorian 'romanticism and pretence'. (Dunning 1995)
Comments

Whilst not a castle the three storey crenellated, mid C16, porch does show the enduring fascination with militaristic symbolism.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

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Sources of information, references and further reading
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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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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:21:27

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