| Baynard's Castle | |
|---|---|
| Part of theFortifications of London | |
| Blackfriars,London, England | |
 The first Baynard's Castle | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Castle, later mansion |
| Location | |
  Baynard's Castle | |
| Site history | |
| Built | Before 1017 |
| Materials | stone |
| Demolished | 1666 |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | English royalty |
Baynard's Castle refers to buildings on two neighbouring sites in theCity of London, between whereBlackfriars station andSt. Paul's Cathedral now stand. The first was aNorman fortification constructed by Ralph Baynard (fl. 1086), 1stfeudal baron ofLittle Dunmow[1] inEssex, and was demolished by KingJohn in 1213. The second was a medieval palace built a short distance to the south-east and later extended, but mostly destroyed in theGreat Fire of London in 1666. According to SirWalter Besant, "There was no house in [London] more interesting than this".[2]
The original castle was built at the point where the oldRoman walls andRiver Fleet met theRiver Thames, just east of what is now Blackfriars Station. The north wall of the castle used as its foundation theRoman-era river wall from the 3rd century, distinguished by a tile-course ofRoman brick.[3][4] The Norman castle stood for over a century before being demolished by KingJohn in 1213. It appears to have been rebuilt after theBarons' Revolt, but the site was sold in 1276 to form the precinct of the greatBlackfriars' Monastery.
About a century later, a new mansion was constructed on land that had been reclaimed from the Thames, south-east of the first castle. The house was rebuilt after 1428, and became the London headquarters of theHouse of York during theWars of the Roses. The accession of KingEdward IV was agreed and proclaimed in the castle on 3 March 1461.[5]
The house was reconstructed as a royal palace by KingHenry VII (1485–1509) at the end of the 15th century, and his sonHenry VIII gave it toKatherine of Aragon on the eve of their wedding. In 1551,[6] after Henry's death in 1547 and during the reign of KingEdward VI, the house was granted toEarl of Pembroke (1501–1570), brother-in-law of Henry's widow, QueenKatherine Parr. Pembroke built a large extension around a second courtyard in about 1551. The Herbert family took the side of Parliament in theEnglish Civil War, and after the 1660Restoration of the Monarchy the house was occupied byFrancis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury, aRoyalist. Baynard's Castle was left in ruins after theGreat Fire of London in 1666, although fragments survived into the 19th century. The site is now occupied by aBT office calledBaynard House and the castle is commemorated by Castle Baynard Street and theCastle Baynard Ward of the City of London.
Today theRiver Fleet has been reduced to a trickle in aculvert under New Bridge Street that emerges underBlackfriars Bridge, but before the modern development of London it was the largest river in the area after the Thames. It formed the western boundary of theRoman city of London, and the strategic importance of the junction of the Fleet and the Thames means that the area was probably fortified from early times.[7]
Richard of Cirencester suggests that KingCanute spent Christmas at such a fort in 1017, where he hadEadric Streona executed.[8] Some accounts claim this was triggered by an argument over a game of chess; Historian William Page suggests that Eadric held the fort asEaldorman of Mercia and after his death it may have been granted toOsgod Clapa, who was a "staller", a standard-bearer and representative of the king (seePrivileges section).[8]
This fort was apparently rebuilt after the 1066Norman Conquest of England by Ralph Baynard, a follower ofWilliam the Conqueror andSheriff of Essex.[9] It was on the river-bank inside theRoman walls; a second Norman fort,Montfichet's Tower, stood 70 metres (230 ft) to the north.[10]
The site of Baynard's Castle was adjacent to the church ofSt. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, on the southern side of today's 160Queen Victoria Street (the formerTimes office and nowThe Bank of New York Mellon Centre); archaeologists have found fortifications stretching at least 50 metres (160 ft) south, onto the site of the proposed development at 2Puddle Dock.[10] This may be theBainiardus mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086 who gave his name to springs nearPaddington called Baynard's Watering, later shortened toBayswater.[11]
The castle was inherited by Ralph Baynard's son Geoffrey and his grandson William Baynard, but the latter forfeited his lands early in the reign ofHenry I (1100–1135) for having supported Henry's brotherRobert Curthose in his claim to the throne.[12] After a few years in the hands of the king, the castle passed toEustace, Count of Boulogne, by 1106.[12]John Stow gives 1111 as the date of forfeiture.[13]
Later in Henry's reign, the feudal barony ofLittle Dunmow and thesoke of Baynard's Castle were granted to the king's steward,Robert Fitz Richard (1064–1136),[12] younger son ofRichard fitz Gilbert de Clare (d.c. 1090), 1st feudal baron ofClare[14] in Suffolk, near Dunmow. The soke was coterminous with the parish of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, which was adjacent to the Norman castle;[15] the soke roughly corresponds to the presentCastle Baynard ward of the City of London.[16] Both Little Dunmow and Baynard's Castle were eventually inherited by his grandson,Robert Fitzwalter[12] (d. 1234).[17]
Fitzwalter was the leader of the barons' revolt against KingJohn, which culminated in theMagna Carta of 1215.[18] TheChronicle of Dunmow relates that King John desired Fitzwalter's daughter, Matilda the Fair (also known as Maid Marian Fitzwalter—the real-lifeMaid Marian of the legend ofRobin Hood) and Fitzwalter was forced to take up arms to defend the honour of his daughter.[18]
This romantic tale may well be propaganda giving legitimacy to a rebellion prompted by Fitzwalter's reluctance to pay tax or some other dispute. He plotted with the Welsh princeLlywelyn ab Iorwerth andEustace de Vesci ofAlnwick Castle in 1212. John got wind of the plot and exiled Fitzwalter and de Vesci, who fled to France and Scotland, respectively. On 14 January 1213 John destroyed Castle Baynard.[18]
Fitzwalter was forgiven under the terms of the king's submission toPope Innocent III in May 1213.[18] His estates were restored on 19 July 1213 and according to Stow he was given licence to repair Castle Baynard and his other castles.[13]
It is not clear to what extent the castle was rebuilt, but in 1275[17]Robert FitzWalter, 1st Baron FitzWalter (Fitzwalter's grandson), was given licence to sell the site toRobert Kilwardby,Archbishop of Canterbury, to serve as the precinct of the greatDominican Priory atBlackfriars built in 1276.[12] Montfichet's Tower was included in the sale, having also been destroyed by King John in 1213.[12]
Building of the priory required a section of the City Wall to be repositioned and the former military functions of the castle were taken up by a new "tower" in the river at the end of the wall.[19][20] Started under the great castle-builder KingEdward I (1272–1307), it was completed during the reign of his sonEdward II (1307–1327) and was demolished in 1502.[13] This was probably the tower of "Legate's Inn" given byEdward III toWilliam de Ros.[21]
The lord of Castle Baynard appears to have had held a special place among the nobility of London. Robert Fitzwalter explicitly retained all the franchises and privileges associated with the lordship of Baynard when he made the sale.[17] He claimed them in 1303, his son Robert tried again before the King's Justices in 1327 and his brother John FitzWalter tried again in 1347 in front of theLord Mayor of London andCommon Council, all without success.[17][22]
These law-suits centred on a claim to be the "Chief Banneret" of London. Created in the reign ofEdward I (1272–1307),knights banneret led troops into battle under their own banner not that of a feudal superior.[23] It seems that thetenure of Castle Baynard had entitled FitzWalter's ancestors to carry the banner of theCity of London, and hence be leaders of the London forces. In 1136 Robert Fitz Richard had claimed the "lordship of the Thames" from London toStaines, as the king's banner-bearer and as guardian of the whole City of London.[24]
In times of peace, thesoke of Castle Baynard held a court which sentenced criminals convicted before the Lord Mayor at theGuildhall, and maintained a prison andstocks.[25] Traitors were tied to a post at Wood Wharf and were drowned as the tide overwhelmed them.[7] Fitzwalter was invited to the Court of Privilege, held at the Great Council in the Guildhall, sitting next to the Lord Mayor making pronouncements of all judgments. This may represent a combination of the post-Conquest Anglo-Norman roles of feudalconstable and localjusticiar with the ancient Anglo-Saxon office ofstaller. The latter was the king's standard-bearer in war who was his spokesman at the Danishthing, the 11th-century governing assembly.[7]
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A "Hospice called le Old Inne by Pauls Wharfe" is listed in the possessions ofEdward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, who was killed at theBattle of Agincourt in 1415.[17] He may have acquired the house by his marriage toPhilippa de Mohun, widow of Walter Fitzwalter[17] (d. 1386).
A declaration of 1446 appears to identify this building[17] with atown-house built on land reclaimed from the river, 100 metres (110 yd) south-east of the original castle.[26]Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, rebuilt the house after a "great fire" in 1428,[13] with four wings in atrapezoidal shape around a courtyard.[26] Excavations have shown that the Roman riverside wall, on the south side of the medieval Thames Street, formed the foundation of the north wall of the new house.[26] It seems that the nearby waterfront was known as Baynard's Castle even after the original castle was destroyed, and the name was transferred to the building on the new site.[26]
Gloucester died within days of being arrested for treason in 1447. The house was forfeited to the crown before being occupied at some time before 1457 by Edward's nephewRichard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, the formerLord Protector, who kept 400 gentlemen and men-at-arms at the castle in his pursuit of his claim to the throne; he was killed at theBattle of Wakefield in 1460.[2]
This London powerbase allowed York's son to be crowned as KingEdward IV in thegreat hall of the castle, whilst Henry VI andMargaret of Anjou were campaigning in northern England.[2] Edward gave the castle to his motherCecily Neville on 1 June 1461,[27] a few weeks before his coronation, and he housed his family there for safety before the decisiveBattle of Barnet.[2]
After the young princesEdward V and his brotherRichard were declared illegitimate in 1483 andimprisoned in the Tower of London, never to be seen again, Edward IV's brother was offered the crown as KingRichard III at Baynard's Castle,[2] as recounted inShakespeare's playRichard III.[28] His coronation took place atWestminster Abbey on 6 July 1483.
In 1501 KingHenry VII "repayred or rather new builded this house, not imbattoled, or so strongly fortified castle like, but farre more beautiful and commodious for the entertainement of any prince or greate estate" (Stow).[13] Henry's alterations included five projecting towers between two existing polygonal corner towers on the river-front.[26] Henry stayed at the castle when attending functions atSt. Paul's Cathedral.[13] His son Henry VIII gave the castle to his first wifeKatherine of Aragon on 10 June 1509,[27] the day before their wedding, and the Queen took up residence there.[29]Margaret Tudor, widow ofJames IV of Scotland, came to stay at Baynard's Castle in May 1516.[30][31]Katherine Howard journeyed to Baynard's Castle in May 1541.[32] Later one of Henry's favourite courtiers,Sir William Sidney (c. 1482–1554), tutor to his son the futureEdward VI, lived in the castle and made his will there in 1548.[33]
By 1551 the house had passed toWilliam Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1501–1570), the year in which that influential courtier was createdEarl of Pembroke.[2] It was at Baynard's Castle that thePrivy Council met to end the claim ofLady Jane Grey to the throne and proclaimMary as Queen of England.[13] Pembroke's wifeAnne Parr (sister of QueenKatherine Parr, widow ofHenry VIII) died in the castle in 1552.[2] The house was extended to the west in about 1550 with three wings of brick, faced with stone on the river-front.[34] The second courtyard formed by this extension is clearly visible onHollar's view of London before the Great Fire.[35] Old prints show a large gateway in the middle of the south side, a bridge of two arches and steps down to the river.[36]
The house remained in the Herbert family until the death ofPhilip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke,Chancellor of the University of Oxford.[36] He preferred to live atWhitehall Palace while his wifeAnne Clifford (1590–1676) took up residence in Baynard's Castle, describing it in her memoirs as "a house full of riches, and more secured by my lying there".[36] The 4th Earl sided with theParliamentarians in theCivil War and died in 1650.[36] By 1660 and the Restoration of the Monarchy, the house was occupied byFrancis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury,[36] who had fought on the side of theRoyalist army in their defeat at theBattle of Worcester in 1651.Samuel Pepys records that on 19 June 1660 "My Lord (i.e. his relativeEdward Montagu) went at night withthe King to Baynard's Castle to supper ... [the next morning he] lay long in bed this day, because he came home late from supper withthe King".[37]
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Baynard's Castle was destroyed in theGreat Fire of London[36] of 1666. The engraverWenceslaus Hollar depicted considerable ruins standing after the fire, including the stone facade on the river side,[36] but only a round tower was left when Strype was writing in 1720.[19] This tower had been converted into a dwelling, whilst the rest of the site becametimber yards and woodwharves[19] with Dunghill Lane running through the site from Thames Street.[2] Richard Horwood's map of c. 1813 shows a wharf[38] which in 1878 belonged to the Castle Baynard Copper Company.[39] The remaining tower (some sources say two survived) was pulled down in the 19th century to make way for warehouses of theCarron Company.[36]
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In the 1970s the area was redeveloped, with the construction of the Blackfriars underpass and aBrutalist office block namedBaynard House, occupied by the telephone companyBT Group. Most of the site under Baynard House is ascheduled monument.[40]
Most of the archaeological evidence for the second Baynard's Castle comes from excavations in 1972–5, before the construction of Baynard House office block. Parts of the north wing of both the original house and extension were found, including the north gate and gatetower, and the cobbled entrance from Thames Street.[41] Two east–west "limestone" walls were found; the excavator suggested that the more northerly one was the curtain wall of the pre-1428 castle, and the other was a post-1428 replacement.[41] The latter was surmounted by a brick facing with a rubble core, to which a rectangular pier was attached.[41] The castle had foundations of chalk,ragstone and mortar and was built entirely on reclaimed land.[26] Several phases of building in the late 17th century were also identified.[41] Excavations in 1981 at theCity of London School uncovered the SE corner tower of the Tudor castle.[42] The London Archaeological Archive codes for the excavations are BC72/GM152, UT74, BC74, BC75 and BYD81.[43]
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