Summary
The buried remains of a medieval house and a C16 privy garden.
Reasons for Designation
The buried remains of the medieval house and the C16 privy garden are included on the Schedule for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: the buried remains of the medieval east range of the inner court and the C16 privy garden survive well, retaining considerable evidence for the development of the castle complex;
* Period: they represent a significant part of the historical development of Thornbury Castle, a site which evolved into one of the most important houses of the Tudor period;
* Potential: archaeological investigations have demonstrated that the remains will contribute to our understanding of the development of high-status medieval sites. The buried remains of the C16 garden within the walled garden to the south-east will provide a valuable insight into garden design at that time;
* Group value: the buried remains have strong group value as part of the Thornbury Castle site which includes the upstanding Grade I listed buildings of the Castle itself, the two Grade II listed lodges and the Grade II Registered Park and Garden.
History
Fortified houses were residences belonging to some of the richest and most powerful members of society. They were constructed primarily in the C15 and C16 centuries, although evidence from earlier periods, such as the increase in the number of licences to crenellate in the reigns of Edward I and Edward II, indicates that the origins of the class can be traced further back. Their design reflects a combination of domestic and military elements. In other instances, as here, fortifications such as battlements were primarily for show, giving a military aspect while remaining practically indefensible. They are associated with individuals or families of high status and their ostentatious architecture often reflects a high level of expenditure. The nature of the fortification varies, but can include moats, curtain walls, a gatehouse and other towers, gunports and crenellated parapets.
Their buildings normally included a hall used as communal space for domestic and administrative purposes, kitchens, service and storage areas. In later houses the owners had separate private living apartments. In common with castles, some fortified houses had outer courts beyond the main defences in which stables, brew houses, granaries and barns were located.
The first known reference to Thornbury is in an agreement of 896 between Bishop Waeferth of Worcester and Aethelwold, which refers to woodlands in Gloucestershire including one at Thornbyrig. Although the precise location of a Saxon settlement at Thornbury is unconfirmed, it has been suggested that the focus lay around the present parish church of St Mary the Virgin (Listed Grade I) which is positioned on rising ground, overlooking an area of former marshland extending toward the River Severn. In 1066 it is recorded that the manor of Thornbury was held by Beorhtric, son of Aelfgar, although by Domesday it was in the hands of King William. The manor has a long history of changing ownership, being held by the Crown at intervals. In the C12 and C13 it was part of the earldom of Gloucester and was held by the de Clare family until 1314. The de Clares were responsible for the foundation of the borough of Thornbury in 1243, to the south of the church and manor house. A major fire in 1236 destroyed the manor house, leading Henry III to order that the Constable of St Briavels supply 20 oak trees from the Forest of Dean for its rebuilding. It was this house which was inherited by Hugh d’Audley following the partition of the Clare estates in 1327, eventually coming to Audley’s son-in-law, Ralph Stafford, in 1347. It is understood there was a licence to crenellate granted in the C14. Documentary sources from the early-C14 and C15 financial accounts provide evidence for an extensive complex in which an inner court, entered by a central gate, gave access to a hall, orientated north to south, with a buttery, pantry and kitchen to the west and a larder, bakehouse and cellar beyond. A chapel, begun in 1340 and completed in 1435, lay to the east side of the hall. Accounts also record an outer courtyard containing a range of service buildings including a barn, granary, stables, dairy and dovecote.
Following a brief forfeiture at the execution for treason (after the Rebellion of 1483) of Henry Stafford, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, the manor house was restored to the family and inherited in 1498 by his son Edward who made it his principal seat. Plans to create an ambitious fortified house led to a licence to crenellate being granted in 1510. With the hall and chapel of the existing manor house forming the east range of an inner courtyard, Buckingham set about building an elaborate palace-castle, apparently modelled on Richmond Palace, at that time England’s most splendid royal residence. To complement his bold plans for the castle, Buckingham enclosed large areas of parkland including ‘Newe Parke’ – located to the north – and Marlwood and Eastwood.
Edward, Duke of Buckingham, was executed by Henry VIII following an investigation for treason in 1521 – the Duke's ostentatious behaviour and wealth, as evidenced by his lavish building programme, having exacerbated the suspicion with which he was viewed – and the estate was confiscated, remaining in crown ownership until 1554. Henry sent surveyors Thomas Magnus and William Walweyn to make a record of his new acquisition shortly after Buckingham’s death, and their account provides a detailed description of the castle and estate. Although works were not recommenced, the buildings were maintained and periodically used. Thornbury Castle was restored to the Staffords in 1554 when it was granted to Buckingham’s son, Lord Henry Stafford, by Queen Mary. The upkeep of the castle proved too expensive, however, and it fell into ruin, eventually coming into the ownership of a branch of the Howard family in 1637 and remaining in their hands until the 1960s.
The east wing, comprising the original medieval hall and chapel, was demolished at some point before 1732. No pictorial representations survive of the range; it is described in the detailed estate inventory in 1583. Although used as lodgings and a farmhouse in the C18, it was not until the C19 that real efforts were made to bring the castle back into use. In 1849 Henry Howard commissioned Anthony Salvin to restore the house for his private use. The south-west corner of the outer court was used as a family cemetery in the C19. The castle is now (2012) a hotel and restaurant.
Thornbury Castle has been subject to a number of archaeological excavations and evaluations which have complemented the rich documentary record. Excavations in 1982 confirmed the survival of a tiled floor and the remains of a wall on the east side of the inner court. In 1988, during a watching brief on a new gas-pipe trench within the privy garden, a second tiled floor was observed. Both of these surfaces are late-C15 or early-C16 and are likely to relate to the inner court's east range which was demolished in the early C18. Geophysical surveys of the castle grounds and a trial excavation of the privy garden in 1992 provided further evidence of the buried foundations of an east range to the inner court as well as the buried remains of the C16 privy garden.
Details
The site includes the remains of the medieval manor house, surviving as buried deposits within the area occupied by the C16 Thornbury Castle. The site occupies an area of high ground, sloping steeply to the west and more gently to the north, located immediately to the north of the Church of St Mary the Virgin. The scheduled area consists of the remains of the demolished east range which includes the earlier medieval remains of the previous manor house within and to the east of the inner court, and the archaeological remains of the C16 privy garden within the bounds of the walled garden.
The inner court (buildings listed at Grade I) comprises a set of three ranges flanking a courtyard entered via an inner gateway in the centre of the west range. The east end, which is now open, contains the buried the east range which had been part of the earlier fortified manor house and was later incorporated into the C16 house. Excavations have identified floor tiles, and a resistivity survey revealed the L-shaped range, extending to the east, which corresponds with the 1583 inventory of the castle. The plan has been postulated to include a buttery, porch, old hall, and chapel. The demolished east range is shown to have continued into the walled garden with the tiled remains of a room postulated to have been the lodging of the Duke of Bedford.
The walled garden (walls listed at Grade I) currently exists in two halves, with a lawned area, containing formal gravel paths to the west, and a C19 arrangement of yew hedging to the east. Originally a timber gallery would have run around the perimeter of the current lawned area on three sides, centrally dividing the east and west ends of the walled garden. The evidence of the position of the structure can still be seen in the corbels surviving within the existing garden walls, as well as a first-floor window and doorways, and the south wall of the castle's south range. The results of trial trenching carried out in 1992 revealed that it is likely that the remains of the original C16 garden survive largely intact circa 0.8 -1m below the present lawn.
The upstanding castle buildings, garden walls and all modern fences and unlisted walls, modern surfaces and garden furniture are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included.
