Stamps And Letters: 2009 Castles of England Bamburgh & Kenilworth Castles

2009 Castles of England Bamburgh & Kenilworth Castles

Bamburgh Castle

Bamburgh Castle is located on the coast at Bamburgh in Northumberland. The origins of Bamburgh go way back beyond the Norman castle which forms the core of the present one. Native Britons knew the castle, built on a basalt outcrop, as "Din Guardi" and it had been the capital of the British Kingdom of Bryneich from the realm's foundation in c420 until 547. The citadel was then captured by the Anglo-Saxon ruler Ida of Bernicia (Bryneich) and became Ida's seat. It was then briefly retaken by the Britons from his son Hussa during the war of 590 before being relieved later the same year. His grandson passed it on to his wife Bebba from who the early name "Bebanburgh" was derived. In 993 the Vikings destroyed the original fortification.

After the Normans built their new castle on the site William II unsuccessfully besieged it in 1095 during a revolt supported by its owner, Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland. Once Robert was captured, his wife continued to defend the castle until made to surrender by the king's threat to blind her husband. After Robert de Mowbray was imprisoned for this conspiracy against the king the castle remained in royal hands until around the early 17th century and, as an important English outpost, it was kept as a fortress against raids from Scottish invaders. In 1464, during the Wars of the Roses, it became the first castle in England to be defeated by artillery at the end of a nine-month siege by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. Its keep is said to have been built by Henry II.

The Forster family of Northumberland governed the castle for some 400 years until the Crown granted ownership to Sir John Forster. The Forster family owned it until Sir William Forster (D. 1700) was posthumously declared bankrupt and his estates along with the castle, were sold to Lord Crew, Bishop of Durham to settle the debts. Unfortunately the castle was in a state of ruins by the end of the 1600s with just the keep remaining but after it was bought by the Victorian industrialist William Armstrong, he restored it to its current glory.

Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth Castle is in Kenilworth, Warwickshire and a fortification has existed on the site from Saxon times. The current ruins however are of Norman origin with a great square stone tower having been built by Geoffrey de Clinton, Treasurer and Chief Justice of England to Henry I in about 1125. Henry II took over the castle during the Revolt of 1173-1174 and compensated the Clintons by giving them another castle in Buckinghamshire. Work was then continued through the reigns of Henry II and Henry III to improve defences and making the castle one of the strongest in the Midlands. A large man made lake was also created to provide a strategic defence on three sides of the castle and covering over 100 acres, forming a formidable barrier to assault and mining. In spite of all this work Henry III granted the castle to Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester in 1244. He had been a leader in the Second Barons War (1263-1267)against Henry III, using Kenilworth as the centre for his operations. De Montfort was killed in battle near Evesham on August 13th 1265 against Prince Edward, Henry's heir. In 1266 Henry de Hastings used the castle as a refuge when Lord Edward surrounded the castle and the Siege of Kenilworth Castle in 1266 became the longest in English history.

Henry III bestowed the castle to his youngest son Edmund Crouchback after which it was inherited by Edmund's grandson Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and then passed on to the Duke's son-in-law John of Gaunt. From 1364 John of Gaunt converted the castle from a fortress into a place to live and that work continued with his grandson, Henry V. In 1553 the castle passed from royal hands to John Dudley and after his execution Elizabeth I gave it to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in 1563. Dudley made further changes to the castle adding the Leicester building, a large appartment and a residential block. Elizabeth visited Dudley at the castle in Kenilworth several times in 1566, 1572 and 1575. On this last visit Elizabeth brought along an entourage of several hundred and the festivities, laid on by Dudley, were on an especially lavish scale. After Dudley's death the castle returned to the Crown and during the English Civil War it was stormed by Parliamentarian troops. After the Civil War one wall of the keep was blown up and the battlements and great water defences were also destroyed in 1656.

In 1660 Charles II gave the castle to Sir Edward Hyde who was created Baron Hyde of Hindon and Earl of Clarendon. The Clarendons kept hold of the property until 1937 when it passed over to John Davenport Siddeley, 1st Baron Kenilworth. The family presented the castle to Kenilworth in 1958 and English Heritage has looked after it since 1984.

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