Lydford Castle

Medieval castle in Devon, England

Lydford Castle is a medieval castle in the town of Lydford, Devon, England. The first castle in Lydford, sometimes termed the Norman fort, was a small ringwork built in a corner of the Anglo Saxon fortified burh in the years after the Norman conquest of England. It was intended to help control Devon following the widespread revolt against Norman rule in 1068. The Norman fort had been abandoned by the middle of the 12th century. The second castle in Lydford was constructed in 1195 following a wave of law and order problems across England. It included a stone tower with a surrounding bailey, and rapidly became used as a prison and court to administer the laws in the Forest of Dartmoor and the Devon stannaries. The tower was rebuilt in the middle of the 13th century, probably in the 1260s by Richard, the Earl of Cornwall. It was redesigned to resemble a motte and bailey castle, an antiquated design for the period but one that was heavily symbolic of authority and power. In 1342 the castle, still being used as a prison and courtroom, passed to the Duchy of Cornwall, who owned it until the 20th century. The castle was repeatedly renovated and then left to deteriorate, so its condition varied considerably over time. Nonetheless, other than a period during the English Civil War and the Restoration in the 17th century,
Lydford Castle played an important part in stannary and forest administration until the 19th century. The castle acquired a bad reputation for injustice in the 14th century, and complaints about "Lydford Law" persisted for centuries. In the early 19th century, however, Dartmoor Prison was constructed, and Lydford ceased to be the centre for legal administration. The castle had fallen into ruin by the middle of the century. In 1932, Lydford Castle passed into the hands of the state, and in the 21st century is run by English Heritage as a tourist attraction. Historian Andrew Saunders has described the castle as architecturally significant, being "the earliest example of a purpose built gaol" in England. The earthworks of the Norman fort are owned by the National Trust and are open to the public.

The first castle at Lydford was built in the aftermath of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. In 1068 William the Conqueror intervened in South West England to put down widespread Anglo Saxon revolts against Norman rule and set about pacifying the region. William had been responsible for building urban castles across England in the former centres of Anglo Saxon power and in Devon he constructed new urban castles at Exeter, Totnes, possibly Barnstaple and in the town of Lydford. Lydford, then called Hlidan, was a type of fortified Anglo Saxon town called a burh. It had a ringwork design and was only by in size, protected in part by the existing defences of the burh. A similar pattern of castle building within existing Anglo Saxon burhs can be seen at Wallingford and Bedford castles. It is uncertain whether these storage facilities were intended for supplying Norman troops or storing grain for wider economic purposes. This first castle was used only briefly and seems to have been abandoned by the middle of the 12th century. The grain stores were destroyed by fire, but the reason for this is uncertain. By this period, the town of Lydford as a whole was also in serious economic decline.

In the late 12th century Richard I's government attempted to promote the growth of Lydford, including revitalising trade in the town. Then, in 1195, there were widespread problems with law and order across England, including the South West, and on the basis of this Richard's government decided to build a fortification for holding royal prisoners in Lydford, further along the west side of the town from the old castle, in a prestigious location next to the town's church. This fortification is referred to in contemporary documents variously as a firme domus and castelli de Lideford, a "strong house" and "Lydford Castle" respectively. Archaeologist Andrew Saunders suggests that the new site was chosen because the earlier castle at Lydford was not owned by the Crown in 1195 and was, in any case, in disrepair. £74 was spent on the construction of the castle, paid for by Crown revenues from both Devon and Cornwall.|group="nb"

The castle took the form of a stone tower with a surrounding bailey. The bailey was rectangular and in the 21st century measures 180 feet (55 m) by 130 feet (40 m). The bailey was protected by ramparts and deep ditches on the south west and north east sides, with the north west side protected by the ramparts and valley of the original burh fortifications. The south east side of the bailey probably formed a small courtyard in front of the tower, in a space now occupied by part of the 13th century earthworks, and was probably the entrance to the original castle. The walls were roughly built from slate and granite, up to 11 feet (3 m) thick, and pierced by arrow slits. The tower had a spine wall along the middle of the building, dividing each floor into two rooms. The entrance was probably on the first floor of the building. An internal water supply was installed, of which a decorated spout still survives. The castle lacked the usual military features of the time, such as external gatehouses, and its design seems to have been intended to evoke the authority of a traditional defensive fortification rather than to resist an actual attack. Instead, as well as helping to deal with the wider problems in 1195, the castle appears to have been built with the intention of enforcing the stannary and forest law in Devon. Stannary law was a medieval English legal system for governing the tin industry. South West England, and in particular Devon, was a major producer of tin in the 12th century, produced by independent miners who worked the alluvial deposits across the region. The industry was regulated by the Crown, who taxed mining output and raised revenue from any fines imposed on those who broke the stannary laws. The laws also helped to manage the relationship between the miners and other local people, whose economic interests were often at odds. The output of tin increased from the end of the 12th century onwards, encouraging the Crown to extend its regulation and generate more revenue. In 1198, William of Wrotham, who controlled Lydford Castle at the start of John's reign, was appointed as the Warden of the Stannaries, a new office intended to provide additional rigour to the administration of the mining industry. Stannary courts were established in Devon, backed by a team of officials, and, with the creation of the Duchy of Cornwall in the 14th century, the administration of stannary law was delegated to the duchy. From 1198 onwards, Lydford Castle was designated as the prison for supporting the court and its processes. In 1195, the Forest of Dartmoor extended across all of Devon, but in 1204 John curtailed the extent of the royal forest, removing much of Devon from Forest Law and leaving the area known in the modern period as Dartmoor. This reduced forest was still subject to the Forest Laws, involving a specialised group of legal officials who met at Lydford Castle to impose fines and other punishments. Probably both Lydford Castle and the forest was given to the Sheriff of Devon, William Brewer, in 1216. The arrangement changed under Henry III, when the estates were given to Richard, the Earl of Cornwall in 1239. Legally, this meant that the Forest of Dartmoor was converted to a chase, although the Earls of Cornwall continued to hold law courts at Lydford Castle, enforcing chase laws that closely resembled the former Forest Laws. Richard took a close interest in developing the town of Lydford, creating an additional market and introducing a new fair in the 1260s. Richard was a wealthy politician and rebuilding the castle in this way would have provided him with an important status symbol in the region.|group="nb"

The previous tower was stripped back, the existing walls levelled off around 14 feet (4 m) from the ground and the ground floor arrow slits filled in. Two more storeys were then built on top of the older walls, better executed with a higher proportion of granite stone and thinner, typically around 6 feet (2 m) thick. As part of the work, an earth mound, or motte, 17 feet (5 m) high, was piled up around the base of the tower. Some infilling of the ground floor occurred in order to equalise the pressure on the walls from the mound. It is uncertain how many other towers or keeps have similar mounds, as excavation is usually required before the foundations can be examined, but Totnes and Farnham castles are known to have mottes build against the walls of the keep. The reason for building the mound is uncertain, but it was almost certainly not designed as a serious defensive feature. It was instead probably intended as to superficially imitate older motte and bailey designs, with the completed castle echoing these former symbols of power and reinforcing the current political status of its owner.|group="nb" Piers Gaveston's widow, Margaret de Clare, leased the property to Tavistock Abbey, and it continued to operate as a prison. Extensive repairs took place over the next three years, and the castle was considered to be well roofed and decorated inside. Over the next two centuries the condition of the castle fluctuated. Despite complaints from non miners at the start of the 14th century that the prison regime at Lydford Castle was overly lax, by the end of the century the prison had a reputation for poor, grim conditions. In 1510, Richard Strode, a Member of Parliament campaigning for reform of the Stannary laws, was infamously arrested by Stannary officials and imprisoned in Lydford Castle. He later described how he was kept in an underground room in the keep, fed only bread and water, and encumbered with legcuffs until he paid the keeper to release him from the irons. With the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 the castle and the forest were taken back to the ownership of the Duchy. The courtroom featured a chair for the Stannary court judge, additional seating for the court officials and a railed, public section around the outside of the room. Dartmoor Prison and Princetown grew increasingly important and courts began to be held there instead of Lydford Castle. In the middle of the 19th century the Duchy of Cornwall rejected proposals to repair the castle in order to bring it back into service as being too expensive, but the castle site was enclosed to prevent injuries to children who might be tempted to play on the stonework. By the 1870s, the town of Lydford was vastly reduced in importance from the medieval period and the castle's roofs and floors had either collapsed or been removed.

The Duchy of Cornwall continued to own Lydford Castle into the 20th century. Albert Richardson, the architect to the Duchy estate, proposed converting the property into a private house in 1912, but the duchy turned down the project. Repairs were carried out in the 1930s and the 1950s, and archaeological investigations were undertaken in the 1960s. In the 21st century, the castle is controlled by English Heritage and operated as a tourist attraction. Historian Andrew Saunders has described the castle as architecturally significant, being "the earliest example of a purpose built gaol" in England. The earthworks of the Norman fort are owned by the National Trust and are also open to the public. Both castle sites are protected under law as ancient monuments.