Tutbury Castle


Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire
Photo © Dave Harris, 18 October 2009
Tutbury Castle - North Tower
Photo © Dave Harris, 18 October 2009

Tutbury Castle is a largely ruinous medieval castle at Tutbury, Staffordshire in the ownership of the Duchy of Lancaster. It is a Grade I listed building. The castle is currently leased by Lesley Smith, famous for appearing on the TV show Most Haunted.

Tutbury Castle became the headquarters of Henry de Ferrers and was the centre of the wapentake of Appletree, which included Duffield Frith. With his wife Bertha, he endowed Tutbury Priory with two manors in about 1080. It would seem that Tutbury at that time was a dependency of the Norman abbey of St Pierre‑sur‑Dives. [1]

The castle was destroyed by Prince Edward in 1264 after the rebellion of Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby. In 1269, after a further rebellion the lands were given to Edmund Crouchback and have remained part of the Duchy of Lancaster. [2]

Apart from the 12th century chapel the ruins date from the 14th and 15th centuries when the castle was rebuilt. Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in the castle in the 16th century.

References

  1. ^ Marios Costambeys, 'Ferrers, Henry de (d. 1093x1 100)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004;
  2. ^ J. R. Maddicott, Ferrers, Robert de, sixth earl of Derby (c. 1239–1279), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

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