Bedford Castle

Bedford Castle Mound, is the remnant of a castle in Bedford, England (gbmapping|TL053497).

It was the seat of the Barony of Bedford.In 919 Edward the Elder built the town's first known fortress, on the south side of the River Ouse and there received the area's submission. This fortress was destroyed by the Danes. William II of England gave the barony of Bedford to Paine de Beauchamp, who built a new, very strong castle.

Of this castle, William Camden said, "while it stood, there was no storm of civil war that did not burst upon it". Stephen of England took it by surrender and gave honourable terms to the garrison.

In the First Barons' War William de Beauchamp received the barons into the castle. However, Faukes de Breauté was sent by King John of England to gain its surrender and did so in a few days, for which John gave him the castle and the barony.

After Faukes had fortified his castle and rendered it nearly impregnable - it is said that he pulled down the Church of St. Paul for materials - he became an oppressive landlord and was eventually fined £3000 by the king's justices sitting at Dunstable. Enraged at this, Faukes sent his brother William de Breauté and a troop of men-at-arms to bring the justices to the castle by force, but they had prior knowledge of this. Two of them escaped, and only Henry of Braybrooke was taken and abused.

The king had had enough of Faukes' behaviour and, marching to the castle in person with Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury (the Church had suffered so much from raids that it granted a voluntary aid to the king, and for every hide of their lands furnished two labourers to work the engines employed in the siege - these included a siege tower), and the chief peers of the realm, demanded that he back down. Confident in the castle's defences, Falkes refused. However, the ensuing siege went badly for him and, leaving his brother as governor of the castle, he fled to a church at Coventry.

In Faukes' absence and with all help gone, William after a while surrendered the castle, and was hanged with twenty-four knights and eighty soldiers. [Maurice Powicke says 11 knights, of whom three were spared. "The Thirteenth Century" (2nd edition 1962) p.27.]

Through the mediation of the Bishop of Coventry, Faukes obtained the royal pardon, on condition that he left the realm. Culmo, another brother, was also pardoned. Henry called the castle "the nursery of sedition'" and ordered it to be dismantled and its moats to be filled up.

This order was not fully carried out. Its ruins were seen 250 years later and Camden recorded that in his lifetime the ruins then overhung the river on the east side of the town.

All that can be seen now is a mound of earth. The local council has built a sloping retaining wall on the South side, facing the river. Though almost completely of modern construction, the wall does incorporate a few pieces of original masonry. A paved path leads round the side of the mound up to the top, which is a flat circular grassy area. A small wooden structure at the top of the wall, much like a bus shelter, protects tourists from the rain while they view the river embankment.

The Castle may not be standing anymore, however "Castle" is the name of the electoral ward and area in which the mound is now situated in Bedford.

Notes

ources

* [http://www.mspong.org/picturesque/bedford.html 19th century account]
* [http://www.oldtowns.co.uk/Bedfordshire/bedford.htm 20th c account]