Braybrooke Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Braybrok; Braibrok

In the civil parish of Braybrooke.
In the historic county of Northamptonshire (Modern Authority of Northamptonshire, 1974 county of Northamptonshire).

The earthwork and buried remains of a medieval moated manor known as Braybrooke Castle and its associated enclosures and water control features. In 1304 Thomas de Latimer was granted a licence to strengthen his manor house at Braybrooke and documentary sources indicate that the moated house was constructed at this time. Described as a castle in 1361. The manor passed to the Griffin family in the early C15, but by the mid-C16 the buildings were in a poor condition. They were finally pulled down in 1633. The earthwork and buried remains of the moated site, which measures 80m square, lie within a larger rectangular enclosure which is bounded by a ditch to the east, by a ditch and bank to the south and a pond to the west and north. These enclosure ditches form part of a water managment system associated with the moated manor and include ponds, fish breeding tanks and further water channels.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Earthworks remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP77868447

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 343946

Books

Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p73
Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p183
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p169 [slight]
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p315
RCHME, 1979, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northampton Vol2, Central Northamptonshire (HMSO) p11-13
Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1961, Buildings of England: Northamptonshire (Penguin) p114
Baildon, 1923, Braybrooke, its Castle, Manor and Lords (Privately printed) esp p94-100
Downman, E.A., 1906, in Serjeantson, R.M., Ryland, W. and Adkins, D. (eds), VCH Northampton Vol2 p414-5
Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p404
Rachel Shaw, Braybrooke Castle and fishponds: teachers' guide (Northamptonshire Heritage)

Journal Articles

1971, Northamptonshire past and present p306

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 (1301-7) p209

Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)

William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/huntseng.html#norts15]
Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p328, 428

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