Hanley Castle

In the civil parish of Hanley Castle.
In the historic county of Worcestershire (Modern Authority of Worcestershire, 1974 county of Hereford and Worcester).

The castle was built by King John between 1206 and 1212. In 1216 it was granted to Gilbert de Clare and remained in that family until 1314. Between 1322 and his death in 1327 Edward II carried out extensive work which included, in 1324, the digging of a great ditch round the castle, 60ft wide and 7ft deep. Three sides of a sub-rectangular dry moat mark the site of Hanley Castle. The fourth side, the northern sector in front of and to the east of, the now derelict Hanley Castle House, has been rendered indefinable by landscaping. The derelict house was built in C17. There may also be a fishpond on the site.

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO83834138

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 116014

Books

Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern) p79
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p280 [slight]
Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p47-8
Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p172
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p507
Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p239
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) p667-9
Montgomerie, 1924, in Page, Wm and Willis-Bund, J.W. (eds), VCH, Worcester Vol4 p93-96, 431, 433
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p384

Journal Articles

Bond, C.J., 1974, ‘Hanley Castle' Worcestershire Archaeology and Local History Newsletter Vol14 p3-4
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

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

William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/warkseng.html#worcs8]
Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p193, 516, 517
Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol4 p135; Vol5 p9,154

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