Rockingham Castle

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

Castle allegedly founded by William the Conqueror in 1066, rebuilt during the reign of Edward I as a residence and fortified in 1323. The castle started to fall into disrepair in 1485 and subsequently rebuilt in C16. During the civil war the castle was fortified with a complex of earthworks and gun emplacements. The building was remodelled in 1660 and in the mid C19 to designs by A Salvin. It is built of limestone ashlar with a Collyweston slate roof. Early C13 twin round towered gatehouse is main medieval remains. The original motte with bailey on each side survives to south of current building, though badly damaged. Motte said to have stone keep on summit. Main castle buildings in northern bailey. This was an important Royal castle, which was besieged in 1221. Motte and bailey situated at the southern end of Rockingham Castle, allegedly constructed by William I, probably for strategic control of the main river-crossing of the Welland. It consisted of a central motte with a bailey on each side. The north bailey was the main one and it is this part of the main castle which still survives as a standing structure. The motte and the south bailey survive as earthworks, althought the motte has been mutilated and partly destroyed. The motte comprises a large, curved, terraced bank 3m high to the north and east, and as a slight rise to the south and west. In earlier times it appears to have had a stone keep on its summit. It was refortified in 1644 when a Parliamentary garrison held it. The south bailey lies southwest of the motte and has also been damaged. Leland reports that a 'notable feature of the castle walls is that that they have battlements on both sides. If, therefore, the bailey were to betaken by attackers entering by either of the the two great castle gates, the sentries on the walls could still defend the castle.'

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 229925, 229926)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP86689133

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; 346188, 346208

• Web site links
  • http://www.rockinghamcastle.com/
    http://www.touruk.co.uk/castles/castle_Rockingham.htm
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_midlands/141/rockingham.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p80-2
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p167-8
    Furtado, Peter et al (eds), 1988, Ordnance Survey guide to castles in Britain (London) p138
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p317
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles)
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p815-8
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1961, Buildings of England: Northamptonshire (Penguin) p386
    Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p201-2
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p334-8
    Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England  (Wyman and Sons) Vol2 p423-6 [reprint of 1878 article]
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p249
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p212
• Journal Articles
  • Harfield, C.G., 1991, 'A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book' English Historical Review Vol106
    Klingelhofer, E., 1983-4, Rockingham Castle in 1250: form and function of a royal castle under Henry III' Northamptonshire Past and Present 7.1 p11–25
    RCHME, 1979, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northampton Vol2, Central Northamptonshire (HMSO) p126-7
    Isham, G., 1975, ‘Rockingham' Reports and Papers of the Northamptonshire Aniquarian Society Vol67 p9-15
    Brown, A.E. and Taylor, C.C., 1974, 'The Earthworks of Rockingham and its Neighbourhood' Northamptonshire Archaeology Vol9 p68-9
    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
    Gotch, 1921, Country Life Vol50 p44-51, 76-82, 102-10
    Hope, 1912, Archaeological Journal Vol69 p467-8
    Clark, G.T., 1878, 'Rockingham' Archaeological Journal Vol35 p209-41
    Bigge, H.J., 1871, Associated Architectural Societies' reports and papers [Lincoln, York, Northampton, Bedford, Worcester, Leicester and Sheffield] Vol11 p109-18
    Hartshorne, C.H., 1844, 'Rockingham Castle' Archaeological Journal Vol1 p356-78
• Guidebooks
  • Stock, T.,n.d. [c1990], Rockingham Castle (Beric Tempest)
    Wise, C., 1891, Rockingham Castle and the Watsons (London)
    Hartshorne, C.H., 1852, Rockingham Castle, its Antiquites and History (Oxford) [reprint of 1844 article]
• 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 AD1137
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p321, 328
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p12; Vol4 p21