Stokesay Castle and the Fortified Manor Houses of the Welsh Marches

What a fortified manor house is

A fortified manor house is a home with some defences added: a wall, a moat, a tower, a gatehouse, battlements. A castle is a residence that is more heavily fortified. The line between the two is blurred, and medieval people did not use our tidy labels. (These definitions are general background, uncited.) What matters for a visitor is that Stokesay, in the Welsh Marches, is ranked by the historian Henry Summerson among the best-preserved medieval fortified manor houses in England.^[4]

This guide covers two: Stokesay Castle, near Craven Arms, and Acton Burnell Castle, south-east of Shrewsbury. Both are Grade I listed and both are cared for by English Heritage.^[4][5][1][3] They are also a good introduction to how a medieval house was laid out, which helps with the later Shropshire houses in our guides to Elizabethan and Jacobean houses and Much Wenlock.

Licence to crenellate: permission to look like a castle

A licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) gave the holder permission to fortify his property. The king granted them, as did the rulers of the counties palatine. They were issued from the 12th to the 16th century, mostly recorded in the Patent Rolls. Most recipients were knights rather than the upper aristocracy.^[6]

The interesting part is what they meant. There are over 1,500 castles in England, but the 460 surviving licences cover just over 500 sites, a gap that the historian Goodall argues undermines the idea that builders always had to seek Crown permission.^[6] Requests were rarely refused.^[6] Historians disagree about why the system existed. One view is that it limited the number of fortifications available against a royal army. The other, argued by Charles Coulson, is that battlements were a status symbol and a licence was a gateway to that status rather than a control.^[6] At Cooling Castle in Kent, for example, the archaeologist Matthew Johnson argues that the defences were for show, because there was no room for a parapet and the gunports were impractical.^[6] That is one way to read Stokesay and Acton Burnell: crenellations told neighbours who you were. (Our own interpretation.)

Stokesay Castle: Laurence of Ludlow's house

Stokesay owes its present form to Laurence of Ludlow, a wealthy wool merchant who bought the manor in 1281. English Heritage says almost everything visible today was built in the 1280s and early 1290s.^[1] Historic England gives a longer span for the whole complex, from the 1260s to the early 1290s.^[7] The licence to crenellate came in 1291: issued at Hereford on 19 October, it allowed him to strengthen his house with a wall of stone and lime and to crenellate it.^[2] Stokesay is a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building,^[7][4] and the historian Henry Summerson ranks it among the best-preserved medieval fortified manor houses in England.^[4]

The great hall

Historic England describes a four-bay hall with an open hearth, in the older west range, dated to about 1260 to 1280.^[7] The roof has three large 13th-century timber arches with lateral collars and no king-posts, and its cruck joists now rest on 19th-century stone supports, a reminder that old buildings are repaired as well as preserved.^[4] The great hall is the heart of the house: a tall, open room where the household met and ate.

The solar block

The solar block is two storeys with a cellar, reached by external steps. Its 17th-century panelling and carved fireplace probably date from about 1640.^[4] A solar was the lord's private upper room, away from the noise of the hall.

The gatehouse

The timber-framed gatehouse was built in 1640 to 1641 by William Craven, who spent just over £530, and tree-ring dating supports that date.^[1][7] Its carvings include angels, Adam and Eve, the Serpent and dragons.^[4] So one of the most striking buildings at this medieval site is a 17th-century addition, and it is a good reminder that Shropshire's black-and-white tradition is the same craft that built houses like Pitchford, which we cover in the Elizabethan guide.

After Laurence: owners and rescue

Laurence's descendants held Stokesay for more than 200 years. It then passed to the Vernons, who sold it in 1598 to Sir George Mainwaring; the Cravens bought it in 1620, and it was William Craven who built the gatehouse.^[7] The house was restored by Allcroft in the 1870s, and English Heritage has been its guardian since 1986.^[7]

How a medieval hall worked

The great hall was the multifunctional room of a medieval house. It was used for receiving guests and for dining by the lord, his gentleman attendants and at least some servants. Some of the household slept there on the floor. After about 1300 its role narrowed to dining and circulation, as private rooms (the solar and parlours) took over.^[8]

The standard plan had a screens passage at the lower end: the entrance, divided from the hall by a timber screen with two openings, with a minstrels' gallery usually above. At the upper end was the dais, where the high table stood. The hearth was originally in the middle of the room with smoke escaping through a vent in the roof. Later, wall fireplaces were added, usually at the dais end. The lord's more private rooms were beyond that end. Halls were typically rectangular, one and a half to three times as long as wide, and taller than they were wide.^[8]

Wool, money and status

Stokesay is a reminder that medieval fortified houses were not only for lords and bishops. Laurence of Ludlow was a wealthy wool merchant, and the house he built shows how trade money turned into architecture: a great hall for entertaining, a solar for family comfort, towers and a licence to crenellate for standing.^[1] The same pattern repeats later in the county. Pitchford Hall was built about 1560 for Adam Ottley, a Shrewsbury wool merchant (see our guide to Elizabethan and Jacobean houses in Shropshire)).^[9] The message in each case is that building was how you announced success.

How to read a medieval house on site

Even without a guide, a few habits make a medieval building legible (this checklist is our own practical method, not taken from a single source):

1. Find the hall first. It is the tallest, most open room, usually with a large roof structure you can see. At Stokesay the roof has three large arches.^[4]
2. Locate the entrance end and the private end. The screens passage is the entrance end. The solar and private rooms lie past the dais end.
3. Check what is original. Many buildings combine periods. Stokesay's gatehouse and solar panelling are about 1640, while its hall is 13th-century.^[1][4] The 19th-century stone supports under the roof are a repair.
4. Look at the openings. Doors and windows high up and the external steps to the solar tell you how people moved through the house.
5. Ask what is defence and what is show. A tower with a window in it is a statement as much as a defence.

Civil War: the 1645 siege

The castle's military moment came late. Stokesay was garrisoned for the king and surrendered to a Parliamentary force in June 1645, apparently without a shot being fired.^[1] Wikipedia puts the attacking force at 800 men and names the Royalist commander as Captain Daurett.^[4] Parliament ordered the castle slighted in 1647, and only the curtain wall was pulled down; English Heritage says the curtain walls were demolished almost to moat level while the gatehouse was left standing.^[4][1] That limited damage is a large part of why the buildings survive so well today.

Acton Burnell Castle: a bishop's fortified house

Acton Burnell Castle was built by Robert Burnell, a royal clerk who became Chancellor and Bishop of Bath and Wells and was a friend and adviser to Edward I. He was licensed to fortify the house in 1284, and work was probably still going on when he died in 1292.^[3] The sandstone building is rectangular, with four battlemented corner towers, and resembles a Norman keep; its large first-floor windows suggest it was meant to impress rather than to defend.^[3] It is Grade I listed^[5] and maintained by English Heritage.^[3]

The place has another claim to fame. By tradition, Edward I held a parliament in the tithe barn at Acton Burnell in 1283, said to be the first with representatives of the commons.^[3] Wikipedia presumes the adjacent great barn and notes that the law passed was the Statute of Acton Burnell, which protected creditors.^[5] The castle itself came a year later, so the 1283 meeting belongs to the barn rather than to the castle you see.

After Burnell's death in 1292 the estate passed through his family and later, by marriage, to the Lovels of Titchmarsh. Henry VII confiscated it after the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487 and granted it to Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and Wikipedia describes the castle as mostly demolished by the mid-17th century, when it passed to the Smythe family.^[5] English Heritage records that the house was abandoned by 1420 and that, in the 18th century, a pyramid roof turned the south-west tower into a dovecote.^[3] Today only the shell is open to the public.

Glossary

• Crenellation: battlements, the notched parapet on a wall or tower.
• Curtain wall: the defensive wall around a courtyard or house.
• Great hall: the main room of a medieval house.
• Solar: the lord's private upper room.
• Screens passage: the entrance passage at the lower end of a hall.
• Dais: the raised platform at the upper end where the high table stood.
• Cruck: a curved timber that rises from the ground or low wall to the ridge of the roof as one piece.
• Licence to crenellate: royal permission to fortify a house.

Common myths

• "Stokesay saw heavy fighting." It was garrisoned for the king and surrendered in June 1645, apparently without a shot being fired.^[1]
• "You needed a licence for every fortified house." The 460 surviving licences cover just over 500 sites, against more than 1,500 English castles.^[6]
• "Battlements mean it was built for defence." Some historians argue they were mostly status symbols, as at Cooling.^[6]
• "The gatehouse is medieval." It was built in 1640 to 1641.^[1]

Visiting and what to see next

Stokesay is near Craven Arms in south Shropshire and Acton Burnell is south-east of Shrewsbury. Check English Heritage for current access before you go. Both fit well into a Marches weekend with Ludlow (see our guide to period towns in the Welsh Marches), and the later houses in historic houses to visit in Shropshire. For the general background to the county, see Shropshire architectural heritage.

Keep reading

• Shropshire architectural heritage
• Elizabethan and Jacobean houses in Shropshire
• Much Wenlock
• Period towns in the Welsh Marches
• Tudor style guide

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Frequently asked questions

Who built Stokesay Castle?

Laurence of Ludlow, a wealthy wool merchant who bought the manor in 1281. Almost everything visible was built in the 1280s and early 1290s, and he received a licence to crenellate in 1291.^[1][2]

Is Stokesay a castle or a manor house?

It is a fortified manor house: a home with defences added. It is often called a castle, and the distinction is blurry.

What is a licence to crenellate?

Royal permission to fortify a property with battlements and similar defences. Historians debate whether it controlled fortification or conferred status.^[6]

Did Stokesay Castle see fighting in the Civil War?

It was garrisoned for the king and surrendered in June 1645, apparently without a shot being fired. Parliament later ordered it slighted, and the curtain wall was pulled down.^[1][4]

When was the Stokesay gatehouse built?

It is a timber-framed gatehouse built in 1640 to 1641 by William Craven, with carved figures.^[1][4]

Who built Acton Burnell Castle?

Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells and an adviser to Edward I. He was licensed to fortify the house in 1284.^[3]

What happened at Acton Burnell in 1283?

By tradition Edward I held a parliament in the tithe barn there in 1283, said to be the first with representatives of the commons.^[3]

Who looks after Stokesay and Acton Burnell?

English Heritage cares for both. Both are Grade I listed.^[1][3][4][5]