The Castle
Medieval castles were sometimes built within earlier sites, reusing the earthworks of Iron Age hill forts for instance as was the case at British Camp. A ringwork and bailey castle, known as Colwall Castle as well as The Herefordshire Beacon, was built within the Iron Age hill fort, probably in the ten years immediately before 1066. Quite possibly the builder was Earl Harold Godwinson, the future King Harold II of England. Earl Harold is recorded as building another fortress in the county at Longtown Castle. The castle would appear to have been refortified during The Anarchy of the reign of King Stephen. Before 1148 the fortress was held by Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester. The castle appears to have changed hands again in 1151 and 1153 when attacked by royalists. At this time it was defended by the men of Earl Waleran's brother, Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester. The castle was finally destroyed by King Henry II in 1155 and mentioned in passing by William Langland before 1386.
Read more about this topic: British Camp
Famous quotes containing the word castle:
“He that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.”
—14th-century French proverb, first recorded in English in A. Barclay, Gringore’s Castle of Labour (1506)
“If, in looking at the lives of princes, courtiers, men of rank and fashion, we must perforce depict them as idle, profligate, and criminal, we must make allowances for the rich men’s failings, and recollect that we, too, were very likely indolent and voluptuous, had we no motive for work, a mortal’s natural taste for pleasure, and the daily temptation of a large income. What could a great peer, with a great castle and park, and a great fortune, do but be splendid and idle?”
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)