Eccleshall Castle is located in Eccleshall, Staffordshire, England (grid reference SJ827295). It was originally built in the 13th century. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade II* listed building.
The land was reputedly granted to St Chad, and from then on until the 1870s it was a residence of the Bishop of Lichfield. Since then it has been in private hands.
Cromwell's soldiers demolished most of it during the Civil War in 1643. Only one unusual nine-sided tower survives, together with the moat walls and medieval bridge. The existing house was built amongst the ruins in 1693.
At the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses, Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort of Henry VI, took refuge within the castle after the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459.
Famous quotes containing the word castle:
“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)