Kenilworth Castle

Question 1

What year did Geoffrey de Clinton build Kenilworth?

Answer 1

• 1124

Question 2

Who was Geoffrey De Clinton?

Answer 2

• Royal chamberlain to King Henry I - Henry commissioned Geoffrey to construct the castle to keep an eye on Roger Earl of Warwick
• Henry I give him higher status in Warwickshire - Sheriff and land in Stoneleigh

Question 3

Why is the site situated where it is today?

Answer 3

• to counter influence the power of Roger Earl of Warwick - the castle was 5 miles from him
• natural military defence of the Pinham and Inchford brook
• construction materials situated close - a quarry is 200m south for materials/stone for construction and there is a forest nearby - timber for construction
• Norman consolidation of power - keep power, and for taxation

Question 4

1124 - what was everyday life like/what jobs were there at the castle?

Answer 4

• minstrels
• chaplain - tended to the chapel (Catholics)
• blacksmith - door hinges, portcullis
• weaver - makes clothes
• knights/soliders
• chef
• always under construction!

Question 5

1124 - similarities to Goodrich

Answer 5

• destroyed by the ECW
• intitula purpose was military
• both evidence a spiral staircase and Norman arrowslit
• square, stone keep - typical of Norman style

Question 6

1124 - how is the castle different to Goodrich

Answer 6

• Goodrich is placed on the Welsh border

Question 7

Why was the castle first built?

Answer 7

• local power struggle
• natural resources
• knoll for defense

Question 8

What was significant about Kenilworth castle during this time?

Answer 8

• Norman consolidation of power

Question 9

Purpose of a keep

Answer 9

• to collect taxation
• offer protection
• accommodation
• hosting banquets
• worship
• buisness decisions

Question 10

What remains of the keep on the site today?

Answer 10

• first two floors below the string course line
• East wall with Norman arrow slit
• SE turret - evidence of a well
• buttress - offers stability (West?)

Question 11

Features of Kenilworth castle in 1124

Answer 11

• horse garrison- cannot be seen on the site today, not stables (for military)
• forebuilding - extra layer of defense, main entrance to the keep
• crenellations - for defense and positioning cross bows for better aim
• drawbridge
• curtain walls - made out of red sandstone
• keep
• gatehouse - choice of who enters/leaves, element of control - good for defense
• ditch - form of defense, makes curtain walls more intimidating, harder to scale, slows attackers down and are more vulnerable to the archers - difficult to undermine
• quarry
• keep
• finham and inchford brook - body of water, constant supply, becomes marshy and is hard to cross
• towers - height advantage for the archers, lots for different views
• huts on the bailey
• forest - firewood, provide food source, useful as timber is a resource for construction - weapons

Question 12

Evidence that Kenilworth castle was first created due to a local power struggle (EQ)

Answer 12

• Henry felt the Earl of Warwick was gaining too much power - potential rival
• Warwick was 5 miles south of Kenilworth
• KHI - gave permission, revenue ans substantial part of Warwick’s land to Geoffrey
• GDC - constructed the original stone keep - string course line - appreciate scale at 2 floors
• buttress (military)

Question 13

Evidence that Kenilworth castle is situated where it is today because of its natural military defenses on site

Answer 13

• two brooks (Finham and Inchford) which are West and South of the castle. In heavy chainmail = difficult to attack with speed
• marshy land surrounding the castle west and south - natural defense because weapons such as trebuchets, battering rams and siege towers that were used are hard to move for attackers
• a low natural knoll, west of Kenilworth - height advantage, makes it difficult for enemy to scale and looks intimidating

Question 14

EQ - evidence castle was constructed there because of positioning to materials that could be used for construction

Answer 14

• 200m South quarry - red sandstone used for keep. Easier to build quickly and effectively
• 1124 - Kenilworth was surrounded by a forest. Scale is smaller but we can still see evidence. Therefore timer is more accessible for fires, weapons and construction

Question 15

EQ - evidence Castle was commissioned to consolidate Norman power and control following Williams death

Answer 15

Marc Morris - castles were ‘first and foremost’ ‘military instillations’
Horse garrison - inner court (??)
• keep - last line of defense - (purpose/uses) be seen in charge, ruling, control, law, justice, taxes - military elements of intimidation to local population (east wall = Norman arrow slits)
• walls are 4.3 m thick - withstand attack

Question 16

What time period was King John?

Answer 16

1199 - 1216

Question 17

Who was King John?

Answer 17

• his people rebelled against him - got him to sign the magna Carter
• high taxes - help people hostage if they didn’t pay
• know as ‘John Lackland’ - lost lots of land in France. Barons frustrated as expected to pay to fund the war
• first King to give away his power - 1215 ‘innocent until proven guilty’
• fears rebellion so adds to Kenilworth
• right to a trial

Question 18

Why did King John make changes make these changes?

Answer 18

• very insecure - afraid of rebellion (especially from Barons)
• strengthens the military fortifications
• upset the Pope - head of Roman Catholic Church
• castle has double in size (makes concentric)

Question 19

Everyday life at the castle during King John period

Answer 19

• Carpenters, mason, miners/quarrymen, blacksmith, mortar maker (construction)
• military jobs - cavalry, farrier to look after horses, knights and soliders (stationed at towers and keep)

Question 20

Similarities to Caerphilly

Answer 20

• keep
• water defenses (slows attackers)
• walls ?
• both have medieval features

Question 21

What was significant about Kenilworth during King John’s time?

Answer 21

• concentric - doubled the size of the castle
• improved military fortifications - highlights national context (feared barons rebellion)

Question 22

Continuity of features during King John’s time

Answer 22

• inner court - still the same from the Norman period
• domestic buildings

Question 23

Change of features in King John’s period

Answer 23

• added another floor to the keep - can see from string course line today - added a fighting platform and fishtail arrow loops
• outer curtain wall - two (concentric) - extra line of defense
• King John adds tower to concentric wall - Lunn’s Tower (3 floors - provides look out and defence)
• south exterior wall = 3 fishtail arrow loops (can still see today)
• mere- 1.5 miles, line of defence (can’t swim in chains because you’d drown) - South

Question 24

What remains on the site today from King John period

Answer 24

• south exterior wall 3 fishtail arrow loops
• remains of fireplace in Lunn’s tower
• double D gatehouse/Mortimer’s gatehouse (1st floor) - grooves where portcullis would have been, can’t see second floor because it was destroyed in ECW
• buttresses SW ?
• arrow slits for defence SW ?
• CANT SEE TODAY but would have been crenellations, also no longer defensive inner walls

Question 25

Causes of the 1266 seige

Answer 25

• England was divided by civil war
• Henry III was at loggerheads with some of the leading nobles such as Simon de Montfort
• rebels had Kenilworth as a key asset, because Henry had given away one of his most heavily fortified castles (Kenilworth) to the late Montfort in hope of décorons loyalty
• rebels inside castle refused to give the castle back
• Henry sent messenger to them in March 1266, and they returned with a severed hand

Question 26

Montford’s Weapons in the seige of 1266

Answer 26

• seige engines
• stone projectiles from both sides
• missiles

Question 27

King Henry III’s Weapons in the seige of 1266

Answer 27

• 2000 wooden ‘hurdles’
• 60,000 crossbow bolts and nine seige engines
• stone throwing machines erected around the castle, which bombarded it with missiles
• wooden seige towers - one contained 200 crossbow men

Question 28

Consequences of the siege in 1266

Answer 28

• disease and starvation
• castle was restored to King Henry I
• began 200 years of the castles ownership to house of Lancaster
• did little to establish peace - sparked trouble elsewhere
• seige was ruinously expensive - Henry was so short of money he pawned the jewels from the shrine of King Edward the Confessor
• Edward I - informed his thinking in time for the crusades he embarked on in 1270 and his great castle building and besieging campaigns from 1277 onwards in wales and Scotland

Question 29

John of Gaunt - time period

Answer 29

(1340 -99)

Question 30

Continuity in John of Gaunt’s time

Answer 30

Lunn’s tower
Keep
Chapel
Outer wall
crenellations

Question 31

Changes in John of Gaunt’s time

Answer 31

• strong tower with a cellar (used for storing food) - we can still appreciate scale today, still see pilasters and pillars. Western rooms on the first floor (buttery and pantry) and the 2nd floor had lodgings
• kitchens added - 19 x 8.5 m, twice the size of average aristocratic kitchens. cauldron, breadoven, drain - jobs such as a chef, cook, cleaner
• great hall - makes it palatial, window tracery, we can see entrance/doorways and 3 fireplaces
• North wall with remains of three of the six fireplaces on site today, bread oven can be seen, cauldron place can be seen
• Saint Lowe’s tower - two stories
• south of the castle is state apartments. Largely a ruin due to being slighted during the ECW - rely on ground survey

Question 32

What was remarkable about John of Gaunt’s great hall?

Answer 32

• high wide space - we can still appreciate the scale today
• hammer beam roof
• chimneys for fireplaces
• tapestries – we can see panelling above the fireplace where they would have been
• oriel windows
• six large fireplaces - there are three evident today
• window seat - evident through the architecture today
• Spanish tiles because he was married to the Constance of Castile (Spanish)
• decorated beams
• intricate, tracery around windows
• private many sided chamber with fireplace

Question 33

Continuity during Robert Dudley’s time

Answer 33

• double D gatehouse
• pool
• Tiltyard
• outer curtainwall
• mere

Question 34

When did Robert Dudley have Kenilworth?

Answer 34

He was granted Kenilworth in 1563

Question 35

Changes Robert Dudley made to Kenilworth

Answer 35

• north-east of Kenilworth – added Leicesters Gatehouse
• Elizabethan stables
• Leicester’s building
• loggia

Question 36

Loggia

Answer 36

Delays entrance to the keep
Art from around the world
Build suspense as Elizabeth can’t see the Elizabethan Gardens
Previously, a forebuilding - provides an extra layer of defence

Question 37

Leicester’s building

Answer 37

Stately/royal accommodation for QE
Three floors
Elizabethan window tracery is still evident - it shows there were large windows as he wanted her to be able to see sunrise to sunset
Remains of doors/entrances
Holes were tapestries were hung, can still be seen on the site today
Top floor was the dancing chamber
Elizabethan window tracery is evident today
Corridor connecting Dudley and Elizabeth’s rooms
Heart - remains of a fire still on the site today
Indents where timber flooring was
Doorways where we can see how many floors there were – four stories

Question 38

How often did Elizabeth visit the castle?

Answer 38

She grants Dudley the castle in 1563
She visits four times
1575 is her longest stay - 19 days
Elizabeth travels with over 100 people known as her baggage train

Question 39

Robert Dudley’s Elizabeth Gardens

Answer 39

• aviary, with birds from France, Spain and Africa, which shows his global connections in terms of wealth
English Heritage, re-create the gardens for £2.1 million - used extract from Robert Langham’s letter to recreate
There was a Fountain made from white Carrara marble from Tuscany
The terrace was 10 foot high and 12 feet wide with a view of the garden
The obelisk was 4.6 metres high – ancient symbol of immortality and power

Question 40

Leicester’s Gatehouse

Answer 40

North east of Kenilworth
Elements of Tudor furniture inside
Not used for military – kept as accommodation for Colonel Hawksworth during the English Civil War
• evidence of crenellations on the site today
Entrance is wide enough for a carriage
Red sandstone - can be seen on the site today (from quarry)
Fourposter beds
Wooden panelling

Question 41

Who was Robert Dudley?

Answer 41

Earl of Leicester
Courtier of Elizabeth I
Knew Elizabeth from childhood
Wanted to marry Elizabeth, and proposed to her on multiple occasions
Had status and wealth

Question 42

Why did Robert Dudley make these changes?

Answer 42

• top floor of Leicester’s building was a dancing chamber for Elizabeth entertainment
• changes were made to impress Elizabeth for love, money or royalty
Leicesters building provided accommodation
Royal progress – privy Elizabethan Gardens
Romance - tiltyard preparations
Status symbol – loggia, Gardens

Question 43

Jobs at Kenilworth Castle during Robert Dudley’s time

Answer 43

Farriers
Chefs
Musicians
Gardeners
Stable hands
Weavers
Stewards
Butler
Hunters
Servants

Question 44

Similarities of Kenilworth to Hardwick Hall during Robert Dudley’s period

Answer 44

Tapestries
Similar to Leicester’s building
Built in the 16th century
Both are status or show of wealth
Multiple stories
Expensive

Question 45

Differences of Kenilworth to Hardwick Hall during Robert Dudley’s period

Answer 45

Female makes improvements to Hardwick Hall
Lots of glass – expensive

Question 46

What was significant about Kenilworth Castle during Robert Dudley’s time?

Answer 46

Statement of wealth and status – Elizabeth’s 1575 stay cost Dudley £1000
Elizabeth’s final visit to Kenilworth, she had visited the castle four times
Part of her Royal progress in 1575 on the 9th of July
Built to impress – marriage proposal

Question 47

Tiltyard during the Royal progress

Answer 47

Scale of the Tiltyard was 150 m , can still be seen today
Posts with gift from the gods, for example, music, war, fruits
Baggage train of 100 people for Elizabeth’s 19 day stay
Fireworks over the double D Gatehouse
Busy, chaotic environment
Elizabeth took 50 horses with her
There was a hunting park north of Kenilworth

Question 48

English Civil War

Answer 48

• initially used by King Charles - royal stronghold - good position in midlands, base for raids
• 1642 - garrison withdraws for Edge Hill - parliamentarians took the castle over
• 1649 decide to have the castle slighted so it can’t be used for royalists
• slighted by Colonel Hawkesworth - renovated Leicester’s Gatehouse as a home, mere was drained by Hawkesworth
• fortifications were dismantled in 1650
• example of national importance

Question 49

Context of the English Civil War

Answer 49

• parliamentarians vs royalists
• civil war
• lasted six years
• 30th January 1649 - King Charles I beheaded
• for 11 years, Charles implemented policies without asking anyone
• believed in divine right

Question 50

Where can we see damage from the Civil war today ?

Answer 50

• Leicester’s Building = slighted
• no longer see crenellations
• no hammer beam roof
• no Spanish tiles
• strong tower has been slighted (top floor gone)
• large oriel windows
• kitchens are no longer to scale
• Gardens had to be recreated by English Heritage
• North wall on the keep is slighted

Question 51

How is Kenilworth castle used today?

Answer 51

• stables used as a cafe for profit - attracts visitors
• used as a wedding and event venue
• hands on history events
• used for pupils to study exams
• signs as a guide
• preservation
• ghost tour
• guidebooks available to buy (audio tours)
• tours