Northborough Castle

Northborough Castle
Cambridgeshire, England
The gatehouse to Northborough Castle
Shown within Cambridgeshire
Type	Fortified manor house
Coordinates	52°39′22″N 0°17′59″W / 52.6560°N 0.2998°W / 52.6560; -0.2998Coordinates: 52°39′22″N 0°17′59″W / 52.6560°N 0.2998°W / 52.6560; -0.2998 grid reference TF151078

Northborough Castle, also known as Northborough Hall, is a medieval fortified manor house in Cambridgeshire, England.

History

Northborough Castle was built between 1333 and 1336 by Roger Northburgh, the Bishop of Lichfield; of the original manor, only the gatehouse and the hall still survive.^[1] The result, according to historian Anthony Emery, was "one of the finest" fortified manors in Cambridgeshire.^[2] The gatehouse is dominated by a huge gateway, which, whilst it did not have a drawbridge or portcullis, provided considerable protection to the manor behind it.^[3] The hall typified the 14th century fashion for improved lighting, with bay windows placed regularly along the line of the hall, and was decorated with wall paintings.^[4] Some 16th and 17th-century extensions to the castle were made.^[5] Today, the castle is a Grade I listed building.^[5]

See also

• Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
• List of castles in England

Biliography

• Astley, H. J. D. (1899) "Northborough church and manor house," in The Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 5 pp. 129–40.
• Emery, Anthony. (2007) Discovering Medieval Houses. Risborough, UK: Shire Publishing. ISBN 9780747806554.
• Emery, Anthony. (2006) Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500: Southern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521581325.

References

1. ^ Astley, p.130: Emery (2006), p.174.
2. ^ Emery (2006), p.174.
3. ^ Emery (2006), p.185.
4. ^ Emery (2007), pp.50-1, 84.
5. ^ ^{a b} "Northborough Castle", the Gatehouse webpage, accessed 21 April 2011.