Baynard's Castle
Encyclopedia
Baynard's Castle refers to buildings on two neighbouring sites in London
, between where Blackfriars station
and St Paul's Cathedral
now stand. The first was a Norman fortification constructed by Ralph Baynard and demolished by King John in 1213. The second was a medieval palace built a short distance to the southeast and destroyed in the Great Fire of London
in 1666. According to Besant, "There was no house in [London] more interesting than this". The original castle was built at the point where the old Roman walls
and River Fleet
met the River Thames, just east of what is now Blackfriars station, a strategic location that matched the Tower of London
to the east of the City. The Norman castle stood for over a century before being demolished by King John
in 1213. It appears to have been rebuilt after the barons' revolt, but the site was sold in 1276 to form the precinct of the great priory of Blackfriars.
About a century later, a new mansion was constructed on land that had been reclaimed from the Thames, southeast of the first castle. The house was rebuilt after 1428, and became the London headquarters of the House of York
during the Wars of the Roses
. Both Edward IV
and Queen Mary
took the crown at the castle.
The house was reconstructed as a royal palace by Henry VII
at the end of the 15th century, and Henry VIII
gave it to Catherine of Aragon
on the eve of their wedding. After Henry's death the house came into the hands of Catherine Parr
's brother-in-law, the Earl of Pembroke who built a large extension around a second courtyard in about 1551. The Pembroke family took the side of Parliament in the Civil War, and after the Restoration the house was occupied by the Earl of Shrewsbury
, a Royalist
. Baynard's Castle was left in ruins after the Great Fire of London
in 1666, although fragments survived into the 19th century. The site is now occupied by a BT
office called Baynard House
, but the castle is commemorated in Castle Baynard Street and the Castle Baynard
ward of the City of London.
has been reduced to a trickle in a culvert
under New Bridge Street that emerges under Blackfriars Bridge
, but before the development of London it was the biggest river in the area, after the Thames. It formed the western boundary of the Roman city of London and the strategic importance of the junction of the Fleet and the Thames means that the area was probably fortified from early times. Richard of Cirencester
suggests that Canute spent Christmas at such a fort in 1017, where he had Eadric Streona
executed. Some accounts claim this was triggered by an argument over a game of chess; Page suggests that Eadric held the fort as Earl of Mercia and after his death it may have been granted to Osgod Clapa
, who was a "staller", a standard-bearer and representative of the king (see Privileges section).
This fort was apparently rebuilt after the Norman invasion by Ralph Baynard, a follower of William the Conqueror and sheriff of Essex. It was on the riverfront inside the Roman walls; a second Norman fort, Montfichet's Tower was c70 metres (229.7 ft) to the north. The site of Baynard's Castle was adjacent to St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
, on the southern side of 160 Queen Victoria Street
(the former Times
office and now the Bank of New York's Mellon Centre); archaeologists have found fortifications stretching at least 50 metres (164 ft) south, onto the site of the proposed development at 2 Puddle Dock. This may be the Bainiardus mentioned in the Domesday Survey who gave his name to springs near Paddington called Baynard's Watering, later shortened to Bayswater
.
The castle was inherited by Ralph's son Geoffrey and his grandson William Baynard, but the latter forfeited his lands early in the reign (1100–1135) of Henry I
for supporting Henry's brother Robert Curthose in his claim to the throne. After a few years in the hands of the king, the castle passed to Eustace, Count of Boulogne by 1106. John Stow
gives 1111 as the date of forfeiture. Later in Henry's reign the lordship of Dunmow and honour
or soke
of Baynard's Castle were granted to the king's steward, Robert Fitz Richard
(1064–1136). The soke was coterminous with the parish of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
, which was adjacent to the Norman castle, and roughly corresponds to the eponymous ward
of the City of London. Both Dunmow and Baynard's Castle were eventually inherited by his grandson, Robert Fitzwalter
(d. 1234).
which culminated in the Magna Carta
of 1215. The Chronicle of Dunmow relates that King John desired Fitzwalter's daughter, Matilda the Fair, and Fitzwalter was forced to take up arms to defend the honour of his daughter. This romantic tale may well be propaganda giving legitimacy to a rebellion prompted by Fitzwalter's reluctance to pay tax or some other dispute. He plotted with the Welsh prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth and Eustace de Vesci
of Alnwick Castle
in 1212. John got wind of the plot and exiled Fitzwalter and de Vesci, who fled to France and Scotland respectively. On 14 January 1213 the king destroyed Castle Baynard.
Fitzwalter was forgiven under the terms of the king's submission to Pope Innocent III
in May 1213. His estates were restored on 19 July 1213 and according to Stow he was given licence to repair Castle Baynard and his other castles.
It is not clear to what extent the castle was rebuilt, but in 1275 Fitzwalter's grandson, also called Robert
, was given licence to sell the site to Robert Kilwardby
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
for the precinct of the great Dominican
Priory at Blackfriars built in 1276. Montfichet's Tower was included in the sale, having also been destroyed by King John in 1213. The building of the priory required the Roman walls to be rerouted, and the military functions of the castle were taken up by a new "tower" in the river at the end of the walls. Started under the great castle-builder Edward I, it was completed during the reign of Edward II (1307–1327) and demolished in 1502. This was probably the tower of Legate's Inn given by Edward III to William de Ros
.
and Common Council, all without success.
These suits centred around a claim to be the chief banneret of London. Created in the reign of Edward I
(1272–1307), Knights banneret led troops into battle under their own banner rather than that of someone else. It seems that the castellany
of Castle Baynard had entitled FitzWalter's ancestors to carry the banner of London, and hence be leaders of the London forces. In 1136 Robert Fitz Richard had claimed the lordship of the Thames from London to Staines
, as the king's banner-bearer and as guardian of the whole city of London.
In times of peace, the soke
of Castle Baynard had a court which sentenced criminals convicted before the mayor at the Guildhall
, and maintained its own prison and stocks
. Traitors were drowned by being tied to a post in the river at Wood Wharf and left there for two tides. Fitzwalter had the privilege, not only of being invited to the Great Council of the city at the Guildhall, but of sitting next to the Lord Mayor and of announcing all judgements. This may represent a combination of the post-Conquest roles of constable
and local justiciar
with the pre-Norman office of staller, who carried the king's banner in war and who was his spokesman at the thing
, the governing assembly.
, who was killed at Agincourt
in 1415. He may have acquired the house by his marriage to Philippa de Mohun
, widow of Walter Fitzwalter (d. 1386).
A declaration of 1446 appears to identify this building with a town-house built on land reclaimed from the river, 100 metres (109.4 yd) southeast of the original castle. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
rebuilt the house after a "great fire" in 1428, there were four wings in a trapezoidal shape around a courtyard. Excavations have shown that the Roman riverside wall, on the south side of the medieval Thames Street, formed the foundation of the north wall of the new house. It seems that the nearby waterfront was known as Baynard's Castle even after the original castle was destroyed, and the name was transferred to the building on the new site.
Gloucester died within days of being arrested for treason in 1447. The house passed to the crown before being occupied by Edward's nephew Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
by 1457. The former Lord Protector kept 400 gentlemen and men-at-arms at the castle in his pursuit of his claim to the throne, but was killed at the Battle of Wakefield
in 1460. This London powerbase allowed York's son to take the crown in the hall of the castle as Edward IV
whilst Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou
were campaigning in northern England. Edward gave the castle to his mother on 1 June 1461, a few weeks before his coronation, and he put his family there for safety before the decisive Battle of Barnet
. After the deaths in 1483 of Edward and the Princes in the Tower
, Edward's brother
assumed the title of King at Baynard's Castle, as depicted in Shakespeare's play Richard III
.
"repayred or rather new builded this house, not imbattoled, or so strongly fortified Castle like, but farre more beautiful and commodious for the entertainement of any Prince or greate Estate". Henry's alterations included five projecting towers between two existing polygonal corner towers on the riverfront. Henry is recorded as staying at the castle when attending functions at St Paul's. His son gave the castle to Catherine of Aragon
on 10 June 1509, the day before their wedding, and the queen took up residence there. Later one of Henry's favourite courtiers, Sir William Sidney
(1482?–1554), tutor to the future Edward VI
, lived in the castle and made his will there in 1548.
The house passed to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke by 1551, the year in which this influential courtier was made Earl of Pembroke. Thus it was at Baynard's Castle that the Privy Council
met to end the reign of Lady Jane Grey
and proclaim Mary
as Queen of England. Pembroke's wife Anne Parr, the sister of Henry VIII
's queen Catherine Parr
, died in the castle in 1552. The house was extended to the west around 1550 with three wings of brick, faced with stone on the riverfront. The second courtyard formed by this extension is clearly visible on Hollar's
view of London before the Great Fire. Old prints show a large gateway in the middle of the south side, a bridge of two arches and steps down to the river.
The house remained in the Pembroke family until the 4th Earl, Philip Herbert
, who was appointed Chancellor of the University of Oxford there in 1641. Herbert preferred to live in Whitehall while his wife Anne
(1590–1676) took up residence in Baynard's Castle, describing it in her memoirs as "a house full of riches, and more secured by my lying there". Pembroke sided with the parliamentarians
in the First English Civil War
and died in 1650. By the time of the Restoration, the house was occupied by the Earl of Shrewsbury
, who had fought with the Royalist
army in their defeat at Worcester
in 1651. Samuel Pepys
records that on 19 June 1660 "My Lord went at night with the King
to Baynard's Castle to supper...[the next morning he] lay long in bed this day, because he came home late from supper with the King". Charles II had only arrived in London on 29 May, and would appoint Pepys' "lord", Edward Montagu
as Earl of Sandwich a few weeks later.
in 1666. Hollar showed considerable ruins standing after the fire, including the stone facade on the river side, but only a round tower was left when Strype was writing in 1720. This tower had been converted into a dwelling, the rest of the site became timber
yards and wood wharves with Dunghill Lane running through the site from Thames Street. Horwood's
map of c 1813 shows a copper wharf, which in 1878 belonged to the Castle Baynard Copper Company. The remaining tower (some sources say two survived) was pulled down in the 19th century to make way for warehouses of the Carron Company
. In the 1970s the area was redeveloped, with the construction of the Blackfriars underpass and Baynard House
, a Brutalist office block occupied by BT Group
. Most of the site under Baynard House is a Scheduled Ancient Monument
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, between where Blackfriars station
Blackfriars station
Blackfriars station, also known as London Blackfriars, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the City of London, England. Its platforms will eventually span the River Thames a short distance downstream from Blackfriars Bridge. The current entrance is located on the...
and St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
now stand. The first was a Norman fortification constructed by Ralph Baynard and demolished by King John in 1213. The second was a medieval palace built a short distance to the southeast and destroyed in the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
in 1666. According to Besant, "There was no house in [London] more interesting than this". The original castle was built at the point where the old Roman walls
Fortifications of London
The fortifications of London are extensive and mostly well maintained, though many of the City of London's fortifications and defences were dismantled in the 17th and 18th century...
and River Fleet
River Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow...
met the River Thames, just east of what is now Blackfriars station, a strategic location that matched the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
to the east of the City. The Norman castle stood for over a century before being demolished by King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
in 1213. It appears to have been rebuilt after the barons' revolt, but the site was sold in 1276 to form the precinct of the great priory of Blackfriars.
About a century later, a new mansion was constructed on land that had been reclaimed from the Thames, southeast of the first castle. The house was rebuilt after 1428, and became the London headquarters of the House of York
House of York
The House of York was a branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet, three members of which became English kings in the late 15th century. The House of York was descended in the paternal line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III, but also represented...
during the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
. Both Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
and Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
took the crown at the castle.
The house was reconstructed as a royal palace by Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
at the end of the 15th century, and Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
gave it to Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
on the eve of their wedding. After Henry's death the house came into the hands of Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr ; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him...
's brother-in-law, the Earl of Pembroke who built a large extension around a second courtyard in about 1551. The Pembroke family took the side of Parliament in the Civil War, and after the Restoration the house was occupied by the Earl of Shrewsbury
Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury
Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury, 11th Earl of Waterford was an English peer, the second son of the 10th Earl of Shrewsbury....
, a Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
. Baynard's Castle was left in ruins after the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
in 1666, although fragments survived into the 19th century. The site is now occupied by a BT
BT Group
BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
office called Baynard House
Baynard House
Baynard House is a Brutalist office block in Queen Victoria Street in the Blackfriars area of London, occupied by BT Group. It was built on the former site of Baynard's Castle. Most of the site under Baynard House is a Scheduled Ancient Monument....
, but the castle is commemorated in Castle Baynard Street and the Castle Baynard
Castle Baynard
Castle Baynard is one of the 25 wards of the City of London, the historic core of the English capital. It covers an irregular shaped area, somewhat akin to a tuning fork bounded on the east by the wards of Queenhithe and Bread Street, the River Thames to the south and Farringdon Without to the...
ward of the City of London.
Norman castle
Today the River FleetRiver Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow...
has been reduced to a trickle in a culvert
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
under New Bridge Street that emerges under Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station...
, but before the development of London it was the biggest river in the area, after the Thames. It formed the western boundary of the Roman city of London and the strategic importance of the junction of the Fleet and the Thames means that the area was probably fortified from early times. Richard of Cirencester
Richard of Cirencester
Richard of Cirencester , historical writer, was a member of the Benedictine abbey at Westminster, and his name first appears on the chamberlain's list of the monks of that foundation drawn up in the year 1355....
suggests that Canute spent Christmas at such a fort in 1017, where he had Eadric Streona
Eadric Streona
Eadric Streona was an ealdorman of the English Mercians. His name a loose translation of the Anglo-Saxon "the Grasper." Streona is historically regarded as the greatest traitor of the Anglo-Saxon period in English history....
executed. Some accounts claim this was triggered by an argument over a game of chess; Page suggests that Eadric held the fort as Earl of Mercia and after his death it may have been granted to Osgod Clapa
Osgod Clapa
Osgod Clapa , also Osgot, was a nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England during the reigns of Kings Cnut the Great, Harold Harefoot, Harthacnut, and Edward the Confessor. His name comes from the Old Danish Asgot, the byname Clapa meaning coarse, or rough, in Old English...
, who was a "staller", a standard-bearer and representative of the king (see Privileges section).
This fort was apparently rebuilt after the Norman invasion by Ralph Baynard, a follower of William the Conqueror and sheriff of Essex. It was on the riverfront inside the Roman walls; a second Norman fort, Montfichet's Tower was c70 metres (229.7 ft) to the north. The site of Baynard's Castle was adjacent to St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is a Church of England church located on Queen Victoria Street, London in the City of London, near Blackfriars station.-History:...
, on the southern side of 160 Queen Victoria Street
Queen Victoria Street, London
Queen Victoria Street, named after the British monarch from 1837 to 1901 is a long street in the City of London which runs east by north from its junction with New Bridge Street in Castle Baynard Ward, along a section that divides those of Queenhithe and Bread Street , then lastly through the...
(the former Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
office and now the Bank of New York's Mellon Centre); archaeologists have found fortifications stretching at least 50 metres (164 ft) south, onto the site of the proposed development at 2 Puddle Dock. This may be the Bainiardus mentioned in the Domesday Survey who gave his name to springs near Paddington called Baynard's Watering, later shortened to Bayswater
Bayswater
Bayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the west . It is a built-up district located 3 miles west-north-west of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Hyde Park over Kensington Gardens and having a population density of...
.
The castle was inherited by Ralph's son Geoffrey and his grandson William Baynard, but the latter forfeited his lands early in the reign (1100–1135) of Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
for supporting Henry's brother Robert Curthose in his claim to the throne. After a few years in the hands of the king, the castle passed to Eustace, Count of Boulogne by 1106. John Stow
John Stow
John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
gives 1111 as the date of forfeiture. Later in Henry's reign the lordship of Dunmow and honour
Honour (land)
In medieval England, an honour could consist of a great lordship, comprising dozens or hundreds of manors. Holders of honours often attempted to preserve the integrity of an honour over time, administering its properties as a unit, maintaining inheritances together, etc.The typical honour had...
or soke
Soke (legal)
The term soke ), at the time of the Norman Conquest of England generally denoted "jurisdiction", but due to vague usage probably lacks a single precise definition....
of Baynard's Castle were granted to the king's steward, Robert Fitz Richard
Robert Fitz Richard
Robert Fitz Richard , titled Robert Fitz Richard, Lord of Little Dunmow, Baron of Baynard, was a Norman landowner in England. His estates near Little Dunmow are said to have been given to him after confiscation from Ralph Baynard, who had them earlier.He was steward under Henry I of England and ...
(1064–1136). The soke was coterminous with the parish of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is a Church of England church located on Queen Victoria Street, London in the City of London, near Blackfriars station.-History:...
, which was adjacent to the Norman castle, and roughly corresponds to the eponymous ward
Castle Baynard
Castle Baynard is one of the 25 wards of the City of London, the historic core of the English capital. It covers an irregular shaped area, somewhat akin to a tuning fork bounded on the east by the wards of Queenhithe and Bread Street, the River Thames to the south and Farringdon Without to the...
of the City of London. Both Dunmow and Baynard's Castle were eventually inherited by his grandson, Robert Fitzwalter
Robert Fitzwalter
Lord Robert FitzwalterAlso spelled FitzWalter, fitzWalter, etc. was the leader of the baronial opposition against King John of England, and one of the twenty-five sureties of the Magna Carta...
(d. 1234).
Fitzwalter and the barons' revolt
Fitzwalter was the leader of the barons' revolt against King JohnJohn of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
which culminated in the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
of 1215. The Chronicle of Dunmow relates that King John desired Fitzwalter's daughter, Matilda the Fair, and Fitzwalter was forced to take up arms to defend the honour of his daughter. This romantic tale may well be propaganda giving legitimacy to a rebellion prompted by Fitzwalter's reluctance to pay tax or some other dispute. He plotted with the Welsh prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth and Eustace de Vesci
Eustace de Vesci
Eustace de Vesci was an English lord of Alnwick Castle, and a Magna Carta surety.-Early life:His parents were William de Vesci and Burga de Stuteville, daughter of Robert III de Stuteville. He paid his relief on coming of age in 2 Richard I . He was with the king Richard I of England in Palestine...
of Alnwick Castle
Alnwick Castle
Alnwick Castle is a castle and stately home in the town of the same name in the English county of Northumberland. It is the residence of the Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest, and renovated and remodelled a number of times. It is a Grade I listed building.-History:Alnwick...
in 1212. John got wind of the plot and exiled Fitzwalter and de Vesci, who fled to France and Scotland respectively. On 14 January 1213 the king destroyed Castle Baynard.
Fitzwalter was forgiven under the terms of the king's submission to Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
in May 1213. His estates were restored on 19 July 1213 and according to Stow he was given licence to repair Castle Baynard and his other castles.
It is not clear to what extent the castle was rebuilt, but in 1275 Fitzwalter's grandson, also called Robert
Robert FitzWalter, 1st Baron FitzWalter
Robert FitzWalter, 1st Baron FitzWalter was an English peer.FitzWalter was Constable of Castell y Bere castle in Merionethshire and of Hadleigh Castle in Essex as well as Captain and Keeper of the Peace in Essex. On 23 June 1295 he was summoned to Parliament as Lord FitzWalter. FitzWalter was...
, was given licence to sell the site to Robert Kilwardby
Robert Kilwardby
Robert Kilwardby was an Archbishop of Canterbury in England and as well as a cardinal.-Life:Kilwardby studied at the University of Paris, then was a teacher of grammar and logic there. He then joined the Dominican Order and studied theology, and became regent at Oxford University before 1261,...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
for the precinct of the great Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
Priory at Blackfriars built in 1276. Montfichet's Tower was included in the sale, having also been destroyed by King John in 1213. The building of the priory required the Roman walls to be rerouted, and the military functions of the castle were taken up by a new "tower" in the river at the end of the walls. Started under the great castle-builder Edward I, it was completed during the reign of Edward II (1307–1327) and demolished in 1502. This was probably the tower of Legate's Inn given by Edward III to William de Ros
William de Ros, 3rd Baron de Ros
William de Ros, 3rd Baron de Ros of Helmsley was the son of William de Ros, 2nd Baron de Ros.As 3rd Baron de Ros of Hamlake, Werke, Trusbut & Belvoir, he was summoned to Parliament during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III of England. In 1321 he completed the religious foundation which his...
.
Privileges
The lord of Castle Baynard appears to have had held a special place among the nobility of London. Robert explicitly retained all the franchises and privileges associated with the Barony of Baynard when he made the sale. He claimed them in 1303, his son Robert tried again before the King's Justices in 1327 and his brother John FitzWalter tried again in 1347 in front of the MayorLord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
and Common Council, all without success.
These suits centred around a claim to be the chief banneret of London. Created in the reign of Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
(1272–1307), Knights banneret led troops into battle under their own banner rather than that of someone else. It seems that the castellany
Castellany
A castellany was a district administered by a castellan.Castellanies appeared during the Middle Ages and in most current states are now replaced by a more modern type of country subdivision....
of Castle Baynard had entitled FitzWalter's ancestors to carry the banner of London, and hence be leaders of the London forces. In 1136 Robert Fitz Richard had claimed the lordship of the Thames from London to Staines
Staines
Staines is a Thames-side town in the Spelthorne borough of Surrey and Greater London Urban Area, as well as the London Commuter Belt of South East England. It is a suburban development within the western bounds of the M25 motorway and located 17 miles west south-west of Charing Cross in...
, as the king's banner-bearer and as guardian of the whole city of London.
In times of peace, the soke
Soke (legal)
The term soke ), at the time of the Norman Conquest of England generally denoted "jurisdiction", but due to vague usage probably lacks a single precise definition....
of Castle Baynard had a court which sentenced criminals convicted before the mayor at the Guildhall
Guildhall, London
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
, and maintained its own prison and stocks
Stocks
Stocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...
. Traitors were drowned by being tied to a post in the river at Wood Wharf and left there for two tides. Fitzwalter had the privilege, not only of being invited to the Great Council of the city at the Guildhall, but of sitting next to the Lord Mayor and of announcing all judgements. This may represent a combination of the post-Conquest roles of constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
and local justiciar
Justiciar
In medieval England and Ireland the Chief Justiciar was roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister as the monarch's chief minister. Similar positions existed on the Continent, particularly in Norman Italy. The term is the English form of the medieval Latin justiciarius or justitiarius In...
with the pre-Norman office of staller, who carried the king's banner in war and who was his spokesman at the thing
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
, the governing assembly.
New site
A "Hospice called le Old Inne by Pauls Wharfe" is listed in the possessions of Edward, Duke of YorkEdward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York
Sir Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, 2nd Earl of Cambridge, Earl of Rutland, Earl of Cork, Duke of Aumale KG was a member of the English royal family who died at the Battle of Agincourt....
, who was killed at Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
in 1415. He may have acquired the house by his marriage to Philippa de Mohun
Philippa de Mohun
Philippa de Mohun was the wife of Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, making her the Duchess of York from her husband's accession to the dukedom in 1402 to his death in 1415. Philippa's birthdate is unknown, though it is believed to have been prior to 1376...
, widow of Walter Fitzwalter (d. 1386).
A declaration of 1446 appears to identify this building with a town-house built on land reclaimed from the river, 100 metres (109.4 yd) southeast of the original castle. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Pembroke, KG , also known as Humphrey Plantagenet, was "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of king Henry IV of England by his first wife, Mary de Bohun, brother to king Henry V of England, and uncle to the...
rebuilt the house after a "great fire" in 1428, there were four wings in a trapezoidal shape around a courtyard. Excavations have shown that the Roman riverside wall, on the south side of the medieval Thames Street, formed the foundation of the north wall of the new house. It seems that the nearby waterfront was known as Baynard's Castle even after the original castle was destroyed, and the name was transferred to the building on the new site.
Gloucester died within days of being arrested for treason in 1447. The house passed to the crown before being occupied by Edward's nephew Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Richard Plantagenêt, 3rd Duke of York, 6th Earl of March, 4th Earl of Cambridge, and 7th Earl of Ulster, conventionally called Richard of York was a leading English magnate, great-grandson of King Edward III...
by 1457. The former Lord Protector kept 400 gentlemen and men-at-arms at the castle in his pursuit of his claim to the throne, but was killed at the Battle of Wakefield
Battle of Wakefield
The Battle of Wakefield took place at Sandal Magna near Wakefield, in West Yorkshire in Northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses...
in 1460. This London powerbase allowed York's son to take the crown in the hall of the castle as Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
whilst Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453...
were campaigning in northern England. Edward gave the castle to his mother on 1 June 1461, a few weeks before his coronation, and he put his family there for safety before the decisive Battle of Barnet
Battle of Barnet
The Battle of Barnet was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV...
. After the deaths in 1483 of Edward and the Princes in the Tower
Princes in the Tower
The Princes in the Tower is a term which refers to Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York. The two brothers were the only sons of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville alive at the time of their father's death...
, Edward's brother
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
assumed the title of King at Baynard's Castle, as depicted in Shakespeare's play Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
.
Tudors
In 1501 Henry VIIHenry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
"repayred or rather new builded this house, not imbattoled, or so strongly fortified Castle like, but farre more beautiful and commodious for the entertainement of any Prince or greate Estate". Henry's alterations included five projecting towers between two existing polygonal corner towers on the riverfront. Henry is recorded as staying at the castle when attending functions at St Paul's. His son gave the castle to Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
on 10 June 1509, the day before their wedding, and the queen took up residence there. Later one of Henry's favourite courtiers, Sir William Sidney
Sir William Sidney
Sir William Sidney was an English courtier under Henry VIII and Edward VI.-Life:He was eldest son of Nicholas Sidney, by Anne, sister of Sir William Brandon...
(1482?–1554), tutor to the future Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
, lived in the castle and made his will there in 1548.
The house passed to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke by 1551, the year in which this influential courtier was made Earl of Pembroke. Thus it was at Baynard's Castle that the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
met to end the reign of Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
and proclaim Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
as Queen of England. Pembroke's wife Anne Parr, the sister of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
's queen Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr ; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him...
, died in the castle in 1552. The house was extended to the west around 1550 with three wings of brick, faced with stone on the riverfront. The second courtyard formed by this extension is clearly visible on Hollar's
Wenceslas Hollar
Václav Hollar , known in England as Wenceslaus or Wenceslas and in Germany as Wenzel Hollar , was a Bohemian etcher, who lived in England for much of his life...
view of London before the Great Fire. Old prints show a large gateway in the middle of the south side, a bridge of two arches and steps down to the river.
The house remained in the Pembroke family until the 4th Earl, Philip Herbert
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery KG was an English courtier and politician active during the reigns of James I and Charles I...
, who was appointed Chancellor of the University of Oxford there in 1641. Herbert preferred to live in Whitehall while his wife Anne
Lady Anne Clifford
Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford was the only surviving child of George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland by his wife Lady Margaret Russell, daughter of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford...
(1590–1676) took up residence in Baynard's Castle, describing it in her memoirs as "a house full of riches, and more secured by my lying there". Pembroke sided with the parliamentarians
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
in the First English Civil War
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
and died in 1650. By the time of the Restoration, the house was occupied by the Earl of Shrewsbury
Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury
Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury, 11th Earl of Waterford was an English peer, the second son of the 10th Earl of Shrewsbury....
, who had fought with the Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
army in their defeat at Worcester
Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 at Worcester, England and was the final battle of the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians defeated the Royalist, predominantly Scottish, forces of King Charles II...
in 1651. Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
records that on 19 June 1660 "My Lord went at night with the King
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
to Baynard's Castle to supper...[the next morning he] lay long in bed this day, because he came home late from supper with the King". Charles II had only arrived in London on 29 May, and would appoint Pepys' "lord", Edward Montagu
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, KG was an English Infantry officer who later became a naval officer. He was the only surviving son of Sir Sidney Montagu, and was brought up at Hinchingbrooke House....
as Earl of Sandwich a few weeks later.
After the Great Fire
Baynard Castle was destroyed in the Great Fire of LondonGreat Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
in 1666. Hollar showed considerable ruins standing after the fire, including the stone facade on the river side, but only a round tower was left when Strype was writing in 1720. This tower had been converted into a dwelling, the rest of the site became timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
yards and wood wharves with Dunghill Lane running through the site from Thames Street. Horwood's
Richard Horwood
Richard Horwood was a surveyor and cartographer. In 1795 he published a Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster the Borough of Southwark and Parts adjoining Shewing every House, at a scale of 26 inches to the mile. At the time this was the largest map ever printed in Britain.Horwood also...
map of c 1813 shows a copper wharf, which in 1878 belonged to the Castle Baynard Copper Company. The remaining tower (some sources say two survived) was pulled down in the 19th century to make way for warehouses of the Carron Company
Carron Company
The Carron Company was an ironworks established in 1759 on the banks of the River Carron near Falkirk, in Stirlingshire, Scotland. After initial problems, the company was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom. The company prospered through its development and...
. In the 1970s the area was redeveloped, with the construction of the Blackfriars underpass and Baynard House
Baynard House
Baynard House is a Brutalist office block in Queen Victoria Street in the Blackfriars area of London, occupied by BT Group. It was built on the former site of Baynard's Castle. Most of the site under Baynard House is a Scheduled Ancient Monument....
, a Brutalist office block occupied by BT Group
BT Group
BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
. Most of the site under Baynard House is a Scheduled Ancient Monument
Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...
.
Archaeology
Most of the archaeological evidence for the second Baynard's Castle comes from excavations in 1972–5, before the construction of Baynard House. Parts of the north wing of both the original house and extension were found, including the north gate and gatetower, and the cobbled entrance from Thames Street. Two E-W "limestone" walls were found; the excavator suggested that the more northerly one was the curtain wall of the pre-1428 castle, and the other was a post-1428 replacement. The latter was surmounted by a brick facing with a rubble core, to which a rectangular pier was attached. The castle had foundations of chalk, ragstone and mortar and was built entirely on reclaimed land. Several phases of building in the late 17th century were also identified. Excavations in 1981 at the City of London Boys' School uncovered the SE corner tower of the Tudor castle. The London Archaeological Archive codes for the excavations are BC72/GM152, UT74, BC74, BC75 and BYD81.See also
- Fortifications of LondonFortifications of LondonThe fortifications of London are extensive and mostly well maintained, though many of the City of London's fortifications and defences were dismantled in the 17th and 18th century...
- Montfichet's CastleMontfichet's CastleMontfichet's Tower was a Norman fortress on Ludgate Hill in London, between where St Paul's Cathedral and City Thameslink railway station now stand. First documented in the 1130s, it was probably built in the late 11th century...
- Norman castle on Ludgate Hill - Tower of LondonTower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...