Beverstone Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Beverston; Beverstane

In the civil parish of Beverstone.
In the historic county of Gloucestershire (Modern Authority of Gloucestershire, 1974 county of Gloucestershire).

Roughly pentagonal castle built, without licence in 1229, with round towers and a twin-tower gatehouse which may well be later. From about 1330 the castle was much altered by the addition of a large square corner tower, a domestic block associated with it and a smaller square tower, the latter of C15 date. All that remains is one tower from the gatehouse and rubble from later buildings. Castle built as fortified manor house c1225 by Maurice de Gaunt, enlarged c1350/60 by Thomas 3rd Lord of Berkeley including gatehouse, north west tower altered in C15, domestic range on south side added by Hicks family probably in early C17 on site of a former Great Hall and remodelled c1691 after a fire. Maurice de Grant was issued a licence in 1229 for his existing castle.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

A Royal Pardon licence to crenellate was granted in 1229 July 29.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 130343)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST86269433

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 209116

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_midlands/162/beverstoncastle.htm
• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p67-70
    Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Gloucestershire and Bristol (Malvern) p16-17
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p78
    Pounds, N., 1988, ‘Beverston Castle' in N H Cooper (ed), The Cirencester area: proceedings of the 134th summer meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute, 1988 (London: RAI) p48-50
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p180
    Verey, David, 1979, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: the Cotswolds p104-6
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p372-3
    Blunt, 1877, Dursley and its Neighbourhood (London) p107, 116-19, 137-47
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p256-8
    Bigland, 1791, Hist. Collections, Coy. of Glos. (London) Vol1 p175-7
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p98
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol8 p73-4
• Journal Articles
  • Pounds, N., 1988, Archaeological Journal Suppl.145 p48-51
    Kellock, A., 1984, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol102 p223
    Rawes, B., 1977, 'A Check List of Castles and other Fortified Sites of Medieval Date in Gloucestershire' Glevensis Vol11 p39-41
    Faulkner, P.A., 1965, Archaeological Journal Vol122 p201-2
    Hussey, Christopher, 1944 Feb, Country Life Vol95 p288-91, 332-5
    Thompson, Hamilton, 1930, Archaeological Journal Vol87 p453-5
    1928, 'Proceedings at the Annual Summer Meeting at Stroud, 3-5 July 1928' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol50 p34-6
    Bazeley, 1899, 'Transactions in the Nailsworth District, May 24th, 1899' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol22 p5-9
    Waller, 1898, Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club Vol12 p250-6
    Bazeley, 1886-7, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol11 p205-7
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1225-32) p260
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/gloceng.html#gloc11]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p191
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol4 p132,133