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Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire

Berkeley Castle was originally a Norman castle built in 1076, on the Welsh border, south of Gloucester, by William Fitz Obern, a relative and counselor of William the Conqueror. The castle was then held by three generations of Berkeleys. Their time came to an end during the reign of the last Norman monarch, King Stephen. Coming to the throne in December 1135, Stephen's reign soon started to run into problems. Distracted by a siege at Exeter where the rebel Baldwin de Revers was holding out, Stephen was judged not to give enough support to the "marcher lords" - nobles with land holdings on the turbulent Welsh border. At Berkeley Castle, however, Roger de Berkeley decided to continue supporting Stephen. So when King Stephen's enemies eventually triumphed, putting the first Plantaganet king Henry II on the throne, Roger de Berkeley was out of favour. The castle was taken from him and given to Robert Fitzharding, a wealthy town official from Bristol. Changing his family name to Berkeley, Fitzharding took possession of his new property in 1153 - 54, and was given permission to rebuild. Fitzharding's descendents still own Berkeley Castle today. Much of the present castle is fourteenth century, built by the third Baron Berkeley, Thomas de Berkeley. Today the castle is the oldest building in Britain inhabited continuously by a single family.

Berkeley Castle's most famous role in history is as the prison and probable place of Edward II's murder. Edward II who did not seem much interested in the business of being king, allowed his favourites the Dispensers to become inordinately powerful. In 1326 Berkeley Castle was attacked and ransacked by Hugh Dispenser's band of thugs. When Edward II was deposed by his wife Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer in 1327, Edward was handed over to the Berkeley family. Edward was held at Berkeley for five months, until he was rescued by a group of supporters who managed to break into the castle. Edward was recaptured soon afterwards, moved around between castles to avoid detection, before being returned to Berkeley in September 1327. What happened after that is not clear. The official report stated that Edward met with an unfortunate, and fatal, accident. Edward was probably murdered at Berkeley on or around September 21st 1327. His body was then taken to nearby Gloucester Cathedral for burial.

The castle was also notable for its role in the English Civil War. During the war Berkeley's outer defences were damaged when parliamentary forces defeated the royalist garrison. The Berkeley family's continued ownership was dependent on them not repairing the damage. This requirement is technically still in force.

Today the castle has evolved into the strange mixture of symbols which we unconsciously value in castles. Castle architecture has always been close to church architecture, ever since early religious sites and early castles shared the same circular bank and ditch design. Today the Berkeley family describe their home in terms which reflect this continuing association of spiritual peace and worldly violence. On their web site they first describe the features of Berkeley which show it as a place designed for fighting, the trip steps, arrow slits, murder holes, and worn stones where sentries stood guard. But they also describe it as "a fairy tale castle with its warm pink stone that glows in soft sunset light". Very poetic. The fighting castle and the fairy tale castle with poetic pink stone are the same place. It is fitting that during the Civil War Berkeley Castle was shot at by cannon stationed on the tower of the neighbouring church of St Mary the Virgin. In religion people have always sought spiritual security, and it is understandable that they conduct their search in buildings reminiscent of those designed for physical security. Spiritual affairs are not far away in Berkeley. In one of its two chapels there is a vaulted ceiling on which is painted a very early example of a passage from the Bible, written not in Latin but in the language that people would actually understand, in this case Norman French. The spiritual also makes itself felt in the idea that the ghost of Edward II lives at the castle, and is particularly active and sorrowful on September 21st! Ghosts and castles have always gone together, a fact used by Shakespeare in one of his most popular plays. When the ghost of the old King of Denmark drifts over the walls of Elsinore Castle in Hamlet, he is doing so in a long tradition of a relationship between spiritual and physical security surrounding castle architecture.

Over the centuries many items of historical note have ended up at Berkeley, including Francis Drake's cabin chest from the Golden Hind.

Into more recent times Berkeley may have been the inspiration for Blandings Castle, the fictional castle and gardens where P.G. Wodehouse set so many of his stories.

There are tea rooms, guided tours, and a butterfly house open May to September.

 

Opening Times: Opening times are complex. The main season is June to October, with opening Sunday to Thursday, 11am - 5.30pm. Please check the castle web site.

Address: Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire GL13 9BQ. For sat nav use GL13 9PJ

Directions: Berkeley Castle is off the A38 in Gloucestershire. Click here for an interactive map centred on Berkeley Castle.

Access: Access for disabled visitors is poor. The garden is on many levels, and there is no wheelchair access in the castle. There are no adapted toilets.

Contact:

telephone: 01453 810332

web site:

http://www.berkeley-castle.com/index.php