Gloucester Castle

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

Castle documented in Domesday, where it is recorded that 16 houses were demolished to make room for it. The removal of a further 8 houses before 1100 probably marks the building of the castellum. It became a Royal Castle in 1155 and records of its maintenance occur regularly until the reign of Edward IV. Parts were used as a gaol until 1791 when it was demolished to make way for a new prison.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle
Timber Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Nothing visible remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO82751855

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; 115492, 115496

• Web site links
  • http://www.softdata.co.uk/gloucester/norman.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Gloucestershire and Bristol (Malvern) p20-21
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p79
    Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p45, 57, 172, 356
    Herbert, N.M., 1988, ‘Bridges, gates, and walls’, and ‘Gloucester Castle’, in Herbert, N.M. (ed), VCH Gloucester Vol4. The city of Gloucester (Oxford: OUP for the Institute of Historical Research) p242-7
    Drage, C., 1987, 'Urban castles' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p117-32
    Carolyn Heighway, 1985, Gloucester: a history and guide p48-9
    Garrod, A.P. and Heighway, C.M., 1984, Garrod’s Gloucester: Archaeological observations 1974-81 (Bristol: Western Archaeological Trust)
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p184
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p234
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p194
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p651-56
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol1: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p37
    Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p156-8
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p374-5
    Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol2 (London) p460-2
    Fosbroke, 1819, Original History of the City of Gloucester (London) p72-8 [not very important]
• Journal Articles
  • Parry, Charles and Reilly, Sarah, 1996, 'Proposed Magistrates' Court Site, Gloucester' Glevensis Vol29 p27-28
    Harfield, C.G., 1991, 'A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book' English Historical Review Vol106
    Walker, D., 1991, 'Gloucestershire Castles' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol109 p5-23
    Atkin, M., 1991 May, 'Gloucester's Norman castle rediscovered' Fortress Vol9 p20-3
    Atkin, M., 1991, Glevensis Vol25 p4-32
    Darvill, T., 1988, ‘Excavations on the site of the early Norman castle at Gloucester, 1983-84' Medieval Archaeology Vol32 p1-49
    Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' Archaeological Journal Vol143 p313
    Garrod, P., 1986, ‘Gloucester Castle: salvage brief' Glevensis Vol20 p28-29
    Youngs, S.M., Clark, J. and Barry, T., 1986, ‘Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1985' Medieval Archaeology Vol30 p135-6
    Youngs, S.M., Clark, J. and Barry, T., 1985, ‘Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1984' Medieval Archaeology Vol29 p172
    Hurst, Henry, 1984, 'The Archaeology of Gloucester Castle: an Introduction' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol102 p73-128
    1983, Glevensis Vol17 p33
    Rawes, B., 1977, 'A Check List of Castles and other Fortified Sites of Medieval Date in Gloucestershire' Glevensis Vol11 p39-41
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p249-280]
    Brown, R. Allen, 1955, 'Royal Castle-building in England 1154-1216' English Historical Review Vol70 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp19-64
    Fullbrook-Leggatt, 1945, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol66 p6-9
    Armitage, E., 1904 April, 'The Early Norman Castles of England' The English Historical Review Vol74 p231-2
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • The Anglo-saxon Chronicle; Laud Chronicle AD1124
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain [http://faculty.oxy.edu/horowitz/home/johnspeed/Cities11.htm]
    William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/gloceng.html#gloc8]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p171, 188
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol3 p100