Whittington Castle is acastle in northernShropshire, England, owned and managed by the Whittington Castle Preservation Fund. The castle was originally amotte-and-bailey castle, but this was replaced in the 13th century by one with buildings around a courtyard whose exterior wall was thecurtain wall of theinner bailey. As a castle of theWelsh Marches, it was built on the border ofWales and England very close to the historic fort ofOld Oswestry.^[1][2]

Whittington Castle
Shropshire,England
Whittington Castle in 2016
Site information
Type	Castle
Condition	Ruined
Location
Whittington Castle Shown withinShropshire.
Coordinates	52°52′23″N3°00′15″W / 52.8731°N 3.0043°W /52.8731; -3.0043
Grid reference	grid referenceSJ325311

Whittington Castle resides on a 12-acre (49,000 m²) property in the village ofWhittington, in the district of North Shropshire, in the county ofShropshire in England. It abuts Castle Road.^[2]

In 2003, a historical andarchaeological investigation by Peter Brown and Peter King identified that theouter bailey of the castle had been two elaborate gardens and surrounded by water in the 14th century. This discovery was significant in that it proved the advanced state (as compared to those of the French or Flemish) of English gardening habits. The "lavish" garden was installed by one of theFitzWarin family. The viewing mound in the centre may be the oldest of its type yet discovered in England.^[3][4]

Whittington lies on the English side ofOffa's Dyke, which in this area was the Norman boundary between England andWales. The castle of Whittington may have begun as aNormanmanor house, although there is no evidence for this. The site was fortified as a castle forWilliam Peverel, in 1138, in support ofEmpress Matilda, the daughter ofHenry I againstKing Stephen, nephew of King Henry I, and claimant to the throne duringThe Anarchy. In 1149, the lordship ofWhittington, likeOswestry, was annexed byMadog ap Maredudd and became part of theKingdom of Powys until Madog's death in 1160.^[5][6]

In 1165Henry II conferred the castle onRoger de Powys, to whom he gave funds for its repair in about 1173.^[7] Roger was followed by his son Meurig (or Maurice), he was followed by his son Werennoc. A rival claim fromFulk III FitzWarin (who apparently claimed it under the Peverels) was not recognised until 1204, leading him to rebel againstKing John.FitzWarin was pardoned, and the castle and lordship of Whittington, not includingOverton Castle was given to him. The castle then descended in theFitzWarin family, all called Fulk, until the death of Fulk XI in 1420.^{[citation needed]}

The castle was captured and destroyed byLlywelyn ab Iorwerth ofGwynedd in 1223. It was returned under the peace treaty, and was rebuilt in stone, replacing the tower keep of amotte and bailey withinner bailey with buildings along a curtain wall and five towers on a raised platform surrounded by a moat, beyond which there is an outergatehouse orbarbican.^[8] For the next forty years, the castle remained in English possession, but was ceded toLlywelyn ap Gruffudd by treaty.^[9] After the defeat of Llewelyn in 1282, the castle became a lordly residence for the FitzWarin family.^[10] However, after the death of Fulk VII in 1349, the castle went through a long period when the lords were almost always under age and usually absentees, though some repairs were carried out in about 1402. The lordship was laid waste in 1404 during the rebellion ofOwain Glyndŵr, so that the lordship was worth nothing in 1407. However, the castle was not captured.^[11]

It had been occupied during the minority of Fulk XI by his mother and her new husbandWilliam Lord Clinton, during whose time there was a dispute with the people ofOswestry who had cut down oak trees in his woods. When the FitzWarin line died out in 1420, the lordship passed to Fulk XI's sister Elizabeth, who marriedRichard Hankeford. In 1422, the castle was captured byescalade by William Fitzwaryn (presumably a cousin claiming the castle as heir male) and Richard Laken, but evidently soon restored to Lord Clinton.

Their daughter, Thomasia, married William Bourghchier, thus carrying theFitzWarin peerage into the Bourchier family. Their grandsonJohn Bourchier was madeEarl of Bath, but his sonJohn Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath exchanged the lordship and castle in 1545 withHenry VIII, for someformer monastic estates nearer the main family home inDevon.^[12]

A detailed survey of the castle was made at the time of the exchange. This describes some of the buildings as 'in decay'. The castle itself was probably never inhabited again. It passed through various hands to William Albany, a Londonmerchant taylor, but he and his descendants (from 1750 the Lloyd family of Aston near Oswestry, who still own the castle) lived atGreat Fernhill. William's grandson, Francis Albany, fell into debt and sold his wood inBabbinswood to Arthur Kynaston ofShrewsbury, who built aforge at Fernhill, using stone from the castle. In 1632, the Castle Gatehouse was let, the tenant being allowed to take 'freestone out of the castle'. By the time of theEnglish Civil War, Whittington Castle was evidently no longer defensible and there is no evidence that it played any role in that war. In 1673, the castle (or rather the gatehouse) was let as a romantic dwelling to Thomas Lloyd, a London merchant, probably retired. About 1760, one of the towers fell into the moat. This and other parts of the castle were used to make roads, probably including the newturnpike road toEllesmere in 1776, during the minority of William Lloyd.^{[citation needed]}

The castle fronts onto the old line of theHolyhead Road and was thus noticed by visitors. William Lloyd undertook the restoration of the gatehouse in about 1808, letting it as a farmhouse. This continued to be occupied as a house until the 1990s.^[13]

Whittington Castle is currently owned on a 99-year lease from 2002 by the Whittington Castle Preservation Trust, a rural community trust formed in December 1998. The trust recently completed a £1.5 million renovation project.^[2]

Every year theHistoria Normannis historical re-enactment group gathers at the castle to re-enact battles that would have happened in the area at that time of year.^[14]

One of the most prominent legends concerning Whittington Castle regards theMarian Chalice, thought by some to be theHoly Grail. According to this legend, Sir Fulk FitzWarin, the great grandson ofPayne Peveril and one in the line of guardians of the Grail andKing Arthur. A story from the 13th century states that the Grail was kept in a private chapel of the castle when Sir Fulk was there. Thecoat of arms of Fulk FitzWarin is hung above the castle archway.^[15]

It is also claimed that the castle formed part of the lordship of a noble Welshman calledTudur Trefor orTudor Trevor in both the Maelors (that isMaelor Saesneg andMaelor Gymraeg. Though his fatherRhys Sais did hold the former, the rest seems to be an invention ofLewis Dwnn in 1846.^[16][17]

• Fitz Warin Romance

Whittington Castle appeared on an episode ofMost Haunted on 7 July 2016.

• Grade I listed buildings in Shropshire
• Listed buildings in Whittington, Shropshire

• Brown, P.; King, P. & Remfry, P. 'Whittington Castle: the marcher fortress of the Fitz Warin family',Shropshire Archaeology and History LXXIX (2004), pp. 106–127.

• Remfry, P. M.,Whittington Castle and the families of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Peverel, Maminot, Powys and Fitz Warin.ISBN 1-899376-80-1
• The Castles and Moated Mansions of ShropshireISBN 1-871731-00-3
• Castles of Shropshire (Medieval Castles of England).ISBN 0-903802-39-2
• History of Shropshire (Darwen County History).ISBN 1-86077-036-3
• Medieval Fortifications (The Archeology of Medieval Britain).ISBN 0-7185-1392-4

• Official site
• BBC website panoramic of the castle