Whittington Castle Timeline
(Courtesy of Mr Peter Brown)
1086
Domesday Survey – no mention of a castle at Whittington
1090-1100
First motte-and-bailey castle possibly built around this time
1138
Castle fortified for Empress Matilda against StephenThis work may have included the rectangular tower keep on the motte
1160-64
Held by Henry II
1164
Granted to Geoffrey de Vere, Sheriff of Shropshire
c1171
Held by Roger de Powis
by 1187
Held by his son Morys de Powis
1195
Fulk II wins legal judgement for Whittington, but does not get the castle
1195-1206
Unspecified building work at the castle
1200-03
Fulk III in rebellion to press the same claim as his father
1204
Fulk III finally gained possession
1215
Fulk III joined Magna Carta rebels
1221-22
Authority given to the Earl of Chester to strengthen the castle
1223
Castle abandoned (March) before being taken by the Welsh under Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, then returned (July)
1220s
Stone buildings constructed – inner bailey and outer gatehouse. Earthworks and water defences probably also improved
1233
Welsh truce had broken down – the king sent Fulk 500 crossbow bolts
c1239
Fulk may have married Llywelyn’s daughter
c1258
Death of Fulk III
1264
Fulk IV drowned at Battle of Lewes, fighting the de Montfort rebels
1264
Simon de Montfort attempted to get the castle
1265
Llywelyn ap Gruffyd granted overlordship of Whittington
1265
Custody granted to Hamo le Strange as Fulk V was a minor
1283
First record of a manor court held at Whittington
1295
Fulk V becomes Lord Fitzwarine
1290s
End of Welsh wars – the March became peaceful for the first time in centuries
1315
Death of Fulk V
1315-
Fulk VI and Eleanor – they probably created the designed landscape, pleasure garden and refurbished the apartments
1330
Fulk VI accused of treachery and flees the country. Castle committed to a keeper and his sons imprisoned. He was cleared by November.
1330
First mention of ‘gardens, fruits, herbage’
1336
Death of Fulk VI
1346
Fulk VII fights at Battle of Crecy
1349
Death of Fulk VII during the Black Death, which affected Whittington badly
1350-
Wardship held by William Fitz Waryn
1362
Fulk VIII attained his majority
1374
Death of Fulk VIII, his son only 8
1374-77
Whittington held in wardship by Alice Perrers, Edward III’s mistress
1378
Castle ‘in great need of repair… There are two gardens worth 5s yearly…’
1378
Castle occupied by James de Audeley, lord of Heley (Staffs)
1383
Fulk IX gained Whittington
1385
Accounts record building work on walls and roofs
1391
Death of Fulk IX
1392
Inquisition for Fulk IX – castle ‘utterly in ruins’
1392-93
Wardship held by John Devereux of Maugne
1393-94
Wardship held by Thomas de Percy
1394-
Wardship held by Ivo Fitz Waryn
1395
Castle in poor repair
1401-03
Ivo hired carpenters and masons to repair the castle
1400-
Glyndwr rebellion affects Whittington area badly
1407
Fulk X dies, shortly after marrying and fathering a son. Whittington taken over by the king, but worth little due to the rebel damage
1408
Pardon granted for Whittington residents who supported Glyndwr
1409
Fulk’s widow Anne married again to Sir William de Clinton
1413
Anne’s dower assigned – she was given ‘The outer barbican in the castle in the north part of the same [illegible] barbican with houses in same gate as well above as below with new stable in same barbican [illegible] with garden ditched around with water lying in the north part of the castle there’
1414
Death of Ivo Fitz Waryn – Anne and William appear to have obtained wardship
1420
Death of Fulk XI aged only 14 – end of the direct male line. His sister Elizabeth inherits – she was 17 and already married to Richard Hankeford
1426-27
Elizabeth dies, leaving Richard as owner
1431
Richard Hankeford dies, leaving two daughters, Thomasia and Elizabeth
1433
Elizabeth dies leaving Thomasia as sole heir
1437
Thomasia marries William Bourghchier. The Fitzwarine peerage carries into the Bourghchier family
1453
Death of Thomasia
1469
Death of William Bourghchier . Their son, Fulk Bourghchier, Lord Fitzwarin becomes lord of Whittington
1479
Death of Fulk Bourghchier . His son John Bourchier aged only 9
1491
John Bourchier becomes lord
1536
Marcher lordships abolished – Whittington annexed to Shropshire
1536
John Bourchier created Earl of Bath
1536-39
John Leland reports ‘a village in a valley conteining a hunderith houses, and hath a dichid round castelle not very large in the midle of the village’
1539
Death of John Bourchier. Succeeded by his son, also John, the second Earl
1545
Whittington sold to the Crown – Detailed survey of the lordship produced
1545-49
Manor leased to Anthony Strelley, knt.
1552
Henry Duke of Suffolk and Thomas Dupont receive grant for the lordship
Whittington granted by Queen Mary to Henry Earl of Arundel and his heirs
1562
The earl, with son-in-law and daughter John Lord Lumley and Lady Jane mortgaged the castle and lordship to Richard Lambert (a grocer), Richard Carell (a mercer), Roger Pipe (a leather-seller), John Isham (a mercer) and William Albany (a merchant tailor), all citizens of London
William Albany later acquired the property as his sole right
1590
Death of William Albany, succeeded by his son Francis Albany
1598
Death of Francis Albany, succeeded by his son, also Francis
1623
Francis Albany grants first permission to remove stone from the castle
1632
Francis Albany let to Edward Prichard of Bergill (yeoman) ‘the buildings called the Castle Gatehouse and Court House, and garden or court within the walls of the Mayne Castle in Whittington’ at a rent of 2s. annually. The tenant was to repair the premises being allowed ‘sufficient mayne timber … and freestone out of the castle’ for the purpose.
1636
Death of the younger Francis, succeeded by his daughter Sarah Albany. Much of the estate in the hands of creditors
1639
Sarah marries Thomas Lloyd of Aston
1638
Prichard leased the same castle property to George Williams of Shrewsbury, mercer
1644
Civil war skirmish near Whittington – No record of garrison or defence at the castle
1673
Castle let to Thomas Lloyd of London merchant, who undertook repairs
c1760
The eastern tower of the inner bailey fell into the moat after a severe frost
1776
The inner bailey was largely dismantled to lay turnpike roads. The ‘lock up’ created, by re-using a doorway from the inner bailey
1778
Earliest plan of Whittington by Mr Hale
1794
Joseph Turner sketches the outer gatehouse
1802
A new stable with a thatched roof built
1808
Castle leased by William Lloyd to farmer Thomas Broughall
1809
William Lloyd restores the outer gatehouse. Well discovered at the inner bailey and cleared
1836
Last record of manor court held at Whittington
1839
Tithe survey of Whittington
1841
Major fire destroys the farm buildings
1874
First OS map of Whittington
1970
Inner bailey excavated
1998
WCPT formed