Page 10 - Oundle Life January 2021

Barnwell Castles Sites - Orange shows the
Motte and Bailey Site, while the blue is the Stone Castle Site
The Medieval period (1066 – 1485) in England was a violent and lawless time, starting and ending with major battles and the death of two English Kings. This period also bore witness
to the largest castle-building program in our nation’s history as the Norman conquerors first established their arrival with hastily-erected pre-fabricated timber forts and later confirmed their settlement with strongly-fortified stone castles – built to protect their manor and symbolise their strength.
While there is no evidence of a medieval castle in Oundle, castles were built in both Fotheringhay to the north and Barnwell to the south. The former, a Motte and Bailey castle was built around 1100 on a mound alongside the river where it stood for 500 years – witnessing the birth of King Richard
III in 1452, and the execution of Mary,
Queen of Scots, in 1587.
Barnwell’s castle history started a few decades later. Following his inheritance of Barnwell Manor from the Abbot of Ramsey in 1120, Reginald Le Moyne set about constructing
a motte and bailey castle alongside Barnwell Brook which he completed in 1132. Unlike Fotheringhay’s long-standing castle, Barnwell’s motte and bailey castle was relatively soon replaced with a structure of great architectural significance by descendent Berenger Le Moyne in 1266.
Built on higher ground to the east of the original, Barnwell’s ‘new’ castle adopted a more or less square plan with round corner towers rising to approx. 20m high – its half that now.
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