text: bodiam castle bodiam castle ( / / ) is a 14th - century moated castle near robertsbridge in east sussex , england . it was built in 1385 by sir edward dalyngrigge , a former knight of edward iii , with the permission of richard ii , ostensibly to defend the area against french invasion during the hundred years ' war . of quadrangular plan , bodiam castle has no keep , having its various chambers built around the outer defensive walls and inner courts . its corners and entrance are marked by towers , and topped by crenellations . its structure , details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castle 's design as well as defence . it was the home of the dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of bodiam . possession of bodiam castle passed through several generations of , until their line became extinct , when the castle passed by marriage to the lewknor family . during the wars of the roses , sir thomas lewknor supported the house of lancaster , and when richard iii of the house of york became king in 1483 , a force was despatched to besiege bodiam castle . it is unrecorded whether the siege went ahead , but it is thought that bodiam was surrendered without much resistance . the castle was confiscated , but returned to the when henry vii of the house of lancaster became king in 1485 . descendants of the owned the castle until at least the 16th century . by the start of the english civil war in 1641 , bodiam castle was in the possession of lord thanet . he supported the royalist cause , and sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by parliament . the castle was subsequently dismantled , and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by john fuller in 1829 . under his auspices , the castle was partially restored before being sold to george cubitt , 1st baron ashcombe , and later to lord curzon , both of whom undertook further restoration work . the castle is protected as a grade i listed building and scheduled monument . it has been owned by the national trust since 1925 , donated by lord curzon on his death , and is open to the public . background edward dalyngrigge was a younger son and thus deprived of his father 's estates through the practice of primogeniture , hence he had to make his own fortunes . by 1378 , he owned the manor of bodiam by marrying into a land - owning family . from 1379 to 1388 , dalyngrigge was a knight of the shire for sussex and one of the most influential people in the county . by the time he applied to the king for a licence to crenellate ( build a castle ) , the hundred years ' war had been fought between england and france for nearly 50 years . edward iii of england ( reigned 1327 – 1377 ) pressed his claim for the french throne and secured the territories of aquitaine and calais . dalyngrigge was one of many englishmen who travelled to france to seek their fortune as members of free companies – groups of mercenaries who fought for the highest bidder . he left for france in 1367 and journeyed with lionel , duke of clarence and son of edward iii . after fighting under the earl of arundel , dalyngrigge joined the company of sir robert knolles , a notorious commander who was reputed to have made 100 , 000 gold crowns as a mercenary from pillage and plunder . it was as a member of the free companies that dalyngrigge raised the money to build bodiam castle ; he returned to england in 1377 . the treaty of bruges ( 1375 ) ensured peace for two years , but after it expired , fighting resumed between england and france . in 1377 edward iii was succeeded by richard ii . during the war , england and france struggled for control of the english channel , with raids on both coasts . with the renewed hostilities , parliament voted that money should be spent on defending and fortifying england 's south coast , and defences were erected in kent in anticipation of a french invasion . there was internal unrest as well as external threats , and dalyngrigge was involved in suppressing the peasants ' revolt of 1381 . the manor of bodiam was granted a charter in 1383 permitting a weekly market and an annual fair to be held . in 1385 , a fleet of 1 , 200 ships – variously cogs , barges , and galleys – gathered across the english channel at sluys , flanders ; the population of southern england was in a state of panic . later in the year , edward dalyngrigge was granted a licence to fortify his manor house . construction and use ... know that of our special grace we have granted and given licence on behalf of ourselves and our heirs , so far as in us lies , to our beloved and faithful edward dalyngrigge knight , that he may strengthen with a wall of stone and lime , and crenellate and may construct and make into a castle his manor house of , near the sea , in the county of sussex , for the defence of the adjacent country , and the resistance to our enemies ... in witness of which etc . the king at westminster 20 october . dalyngrigge 's licence from richard ii permitted him to refortify his existing manor house , but instead he chose a fresh site to build a castle on . construction was completed in one phase , and most of the castle is in the same architectural style . archaeologist david thackray has deduced from this that bodiam castle was built quickly , probably because of the threat from the french . stone castles were usually time - consuming and expensive to build , often costing thousands of pounds . dalyngrigge was captain of the port of brest in france from 1386 to 1387 , and as a result was probably absent for the first years of the castle 's construction . it replaced the old manor house as dalyngrigge 's main residence and the administrative centre of the manor . it is not recorded when bodiam castle was completed , but thackray suggests that it was before 1392 ; dalyngrigge did not have long to spend in the completed castle , as he was dead by 1395 . 's estates , including the castle , were inherited by his son , john dalyngrigge . like his father , john enjoyed the favour of the king and was described as the " king 's knight " ; in 1400 he was granted an annual allowance of 100 marks by the king . he died on 27 september 1408 ; his will ensured that his property belonged to his widow , alice . john and alice had no children , so on her death in 1443 the estates and castle were passed on to richard dalyngrigge , john 's cousin . richard died without issue , so in accordance with john 's will the estates passed on to richard 's sister philippa in 1470 . she was married to sir thomas lewknor , from a prominent sussex family who owned land all over the country . sir thomas lewknor was a supporter of the house of lancaster during the wars of the roses , which began in 1455 . when richard of the house of york ascended to the throne as richard iii in 1483 , lewknor was accused of treason and of raising men - at - arms in southeast england . in november 1483 , lewknor 's uncle and thomas howard , the earl of surrey , were given permission to levy men and besiege bodiam castle , where lewknor was based . it is not recorded whether the siege went ahead , and thackray suggests that lewknor surrendered without much resistance . his property was confiscated , and nicholas rigby was made constable of the castle . on henry vii 's accession to the english throne the attainder was revoked , and bodiam castle was returned to lewknor . however , not all the surrounding land was returned to the family until 1542 . possession of bodiam castle passed through several generations of the lewknor family . although the inheritance of the castle can be traced through the 16th and 17th centuries , there is little to indicate how it was used in this period , or if the family spent much time in it . following sir roger lewknor 's death in 1543 , his estates were divided among his descendants , and the castle and manor were split . john levett of purchased the castle in 1588 . in 1623 , most of the estates of bodiam were bought by sir nicholas tufton , later earl of thanet . his son , john tufton , 2nd earl of thanet , inherited nicholas 's property on his father 's death in 1631 ; it was john tufton who reunited possession of castle and manor when he bought bodiam castle in 1639 . john tufton was a supporter of the royalist cause during the english civil war , and led an attack on lewes , and was involved in a royalist defeat at haywards heath . parliament confiscated some of his lands in 1643 , and more in 1644 , as well as fining him £ 9 , 000 ( £ 1 , 400 , 000 today ) . to help pay his fine , tufton sold bodiam castle for £ 6 , 000 ( £ 930 , 000 today ) in march 1644 to nathaniel powell , a parliamentarian . picturesque ruins after the civil war , powell was made a baronet by charles ii . although it is unrecorded when bodiam castle was dismantled ( slighted ) , it was probably after it was bought by powell . during and after the civil war , many castles were slighted to prevent them from being reused . not all were destroyed completely , and in some cases care was taken not to unnecessarily deface the structure . at bodiam , it was deemed sufficient to dismantle the barbican , the bridges , and the buildings inside the castle . when nathaniel powell died in 1674 or 1675 , bodiam castle was passed on to his son , also called nathaniel . after the second nathaniel , the castle came into the possession of elizabeth clitherow , his daughter - in - law . in 1722 sir thomas webster bought the castle . for over a century , bodiam castle and its associated manor descended through the webster family . it was in this period that the site became popular as an early kind of tourist attraction because of its connection with the medieval period . the first drawings of bodiam castle date from the mid - 18th century , when it was depicted as a ruin overgrown with ivy . ruins and medieval buildings such as bodiam castle served as an inspiration for the revival in gothic architecture and the renovation of old structures . the third sir godfrey webster began looking for buyers for the castle in 1815 , and in 1829 he finally managed to sell it and 24 acres ( 10 ha ) of the surrounding land to john ' mad jack ' fuller for £ 3 , 000 ( £ 240 , 000 today ) . fuller repaired one of the towers , added new gates to the site , and removed a cottage which had been built within the castle in the 18th century ; he is thought to have bought the castle to prevent the webster family from dismantling it and reusing its materials . george cubitt , later baron ashcombe , purchased the castle and its 24 acres ( 97 , 000 m2 ) from fuller 's grandson in 1849 , for over £ 5 , 000 ( £ 470 , 000 today ) . cubitt continued the renovations that fuller started . he commissioned the first detailed survey of bodiam castle in 1864 , and undertook repairs to the tower at the southwest corner of the site , which had almost entirely collapsed . because there was then a fashion for ruins covered in ivy , the vegetation was not removed despite its detrimental effect on the masonry , and the trees which had taken root in the courtyard were left . lord curzon decided that " so rare a treasure [ as bodiam castle ] should neither be lost to our country nor desecrated by irreverent hands " . curzon made enquiries about buying the castle , but cubitt did not wish to sell . however , after cubitt 's death , curzon was able to make a deal with cubitt 's son , and he bought bodiam castle and its lands in 1916 . curzon began a programme of investigation at bodiam in 1919 , and with architect william weir restored parts of the castle . the moat , on average about 5 ft ( 1 . 5 m ) deep but 7 ft ( 2 . 1 m ) deep in the southeast corner , was drained and 3 ft ( 0 . 9 m ) of mud and silt removed ; during excavations the original footings of the bridges to the castle were discovered . nearby hedges and fences were removed to provide an unobscured view of the castle . there were excavations in the interior , and a well was discovered in the basement of the southwest tower . vegetation was cleared , stonework repaired , and the original floor level re - established throughout the castle . a cottage was built to provide a museum to display the finds from the excavations and a home for a caretaker . bodiam castle was given to the national trust in 1925 . the national trust continued the restoration work , and added new roofs to the towers and gatehouse . excavations were resumed in 1970 , and the moat was once again drained . bodiam castle was used in monty python and the holy grail in an establishing shot identifying it as " swamp castle " in the " tale of sir lancelot " sequence . the royal commission on the historical monuments of england carried out a survey of the earthworks surrounding bodiam castle in 1990 . in the 1990s , bodiam castle was at the centre of a debate in castle studies over the balance between militaristic and social interpretations of such sites . the arguments focused on elements such as the apparent strength of the defences – such as the imposing moat – and elements of display . it has been suggested that the moat could have been drained in a day because the embankment surrounding it was not substantial , and that as such it did not pose a serious obstacle to an attacker . also , the large windows in the castle 's exterior were defensive weak points . the castle is a scheduled monument , which means it is a " nationally important " historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change . it is also a grade i listed building , and recognised as an internationally important structure . today the castle is open to the public , and according to figures released by the association of leading visitor attractions , nearly 170 , 000 people visited in 2014 . in the opinion of historian charles coulson , bodiam " represents the popular ideal of a medieval castle " . architecture location and landscape the castle 's location was ostensibly chosen to protect england 's south coast from raids by the french . a landscape survey by the royal commission for historic monuments concluded that if this were the case , then bodiam castle was unusually sited , as it is far from the medieval coastline . the area surrounding bodiam castle was landscaped when the castle was built , to increase its aesthetic appeal . archaeologists oliver creighton and robert higham have described bodiam as one of the best examples of landscaping to emphasise a castle . the water features were originally extensive , but only the moat survives , along with the earthworks left over from its construction . roughly rectangular , the moat is supplied by several springs , some of them within it , which made it difficult to drain during the excavations of the 1930s . a moat can prevent attackers from gaining access to the base of a castle 's walls , but in the case of bodiam it also had the effect of making the castle appear larger and more impressive by isolating it in its landscape . the moat is now regarded more as an ornamental feature than a defence . the approach to the castle through the moat and satellite ponds was indirect , giving visitors time to view the castle in its intended splendour . military historian cathcart king describes the approach as formidable , and considers it the equal of the 13th - century castles of edward i in wales , such as caerphilly castle . the castle sits roughly in the middle of the moat . the postern gate at the rear would have been connected to the moat 's south bank by a drawbridge and a long timber bridge . the main entrance on the north side of the castle is today connected to the north bank by a wooden bridge , but the original route would have included two bridges : one from the main entrance to an island in the moat , and another connecting the island to the west bank . for the most part the bridge was static , apart from the section closest to the west bank , which would have been a drawbridge . the island in the moat is called the octagon , and excavations on it have uncovered a garderobe ( toilet ) , suggesting that there may have been a guard on the island , although it is unclear to what extent it was fortified . the octagon was connected to a barbican by a bridge , probably a drawbridge . the castle 's 28 toilets drained directly into the moat , which in the words of archaeologist matthew johnson would have been effectively an " open sewer " . exterior and entrance a quadrangular castle , bodiam is roughly square - shaped . this type of castle , with a central courtyard and buildings against the curtain wall , was characteristic of castle architecture in the 14th century . bodiam castle has been described by military historian cathcart king as the most complete surviving example of a quadrangular castle . there are circular towers at each of the four corners , with square central towers in the south , east , and west walls . the main entrance is a twin - towered gatehouse in the north face of the castle . there is a second entrance from the south ; the postern gate is through a square tower in the middle of the south wall . the towers are three storeys high , taller than the curtain walls and the buildings in the castle which are two storeys high . between the octagon and the main gatehouse in the north wall was a barbican , of which little survives – just a piece of the west wall – although the structure was originally two storeys high . the surviving fabric includes a slot for a portcullis for the barbican 's north gate , although there are no hinges for gates . the base of a garderobe demonstrates that second storey would have provided space for habitation , probably a guard room . drawings from the late 18th century show the ground floor of the barbican still standing and includes detail such as vaulting inside the passageway . the gatehouse in the castle 's north wall is three storeys high ; now reached by a static bridge , it was originally connected to the barbican by a drawbridge . the top of the gatehouse is machicolated , and the approach is overlooked by gun - loops in the gatehouse towers . the gatehouse is the only part of the castle which has gun - loops , and the curtain wall and towers are studded with windows for domestic use rather than military . there are guardrooms on the ground floor and a basement beneath them . the passage would originally have had three wooden portcullises . above the entrance passage is an arch in the gateway , although it leads nowhere . the ceiling of the passage through the gatehouse into the castle is vaulted and pierced with murder - holes . murder - holes were most likely used to drop objects on attackers , similar to machicolations , or to pour water to extinguish fires . just above the gate , there are three coats of arms carved in relief into the arch ; from left to right they are the arms of the , dalyngrigge , and families . the family was that of edward dalyngrigge 's wife ; the were relations of the . above the arms is a helm bearing a unicorn head crest . three coats of arms also decorate the postern gate ; the central arms is that of sir robert knolles , who edward dalyngrigge had fought for in the hundred years ' war , but those flanking it are blank . interior although the exterior of bodiam castle has largely survived , the interior is ruinous . the domestic buildings within the castle lined the curtain walls . however , remains are substantial enough to recreate a plan of the castle . the structure was divided into separate living areas for the lord and his family , high - status guests , the garrisons , and servants . the south range of the castle consisted of the great hall , the kitchens , and associated rooms . the great hall , to the east of the centrally located postern gate , was 24 by 40 feet ( 7 . 3 by 12 . 2 m ) and would have been as tall as the curtain wall . to the west of the great hall was the pantry and buttery , linked to the great hall by a screens passage . the three standing arches gave access to different rooms , the pantry , buttery and the kitchen which was at the far west of the south range . this layout was typical of large medieval houses . the great hall was the social centre of the castle , and where the lord would have entertained guests . the buttery and pantry occupied the bottom floor , and above was a room of unknown purpose . the buttery had a cellar and was used to store ale and wine , while the pantry held the supplies for the kitchen . to prevent heat from the cooking fires becoming unbearable , the kitchen was as tall as the curtain walls to provide a large space to absorb the heat . in the southwest tower was a well , from which water would have been drawn for the household . along the east wall is a chapel , a hall , and an antechamber . to accommodate the chapel , the curtain wall near the northeast corner projects 9 feet ( 2 . 7 m ) further into the moat than the rest of the wall along the east side . immediately south of the chapel was the main accommodation for the lord and his family . the buildings were two storeys high and incorporated a basement . the exact layout of the rooms is unclear . arranged along the west curtain wall was an extra hall and a kitchen ; it is not certain what these were used for , although it is probable that these were intended to provide for the household 's retainers . the " retainers ' hall " had no windows on its west side and would have been relatively dark compared to the great hall . also , whereas the great hall had a large fireplace , the " retainers ' hall " had none . the hall was adjacent to the kitchen , to which it was directly connected , with no screens passage in between . above the " retainers ' hall " , which was confined to the ground floor , was a room with no fireplace and of unclear purpose . east of the main gatehouse was a two - storey building with a basement . the basement was probably used for storage while the above two floors provided accommodation . the purpose of the buildings along the west end of the north range is uncertain . the sparse arrangement , with little provision for lighting , has led to suggestions that it was used as stables , however there are no drains which are usually associated with stables . the tower in the northwest corner of the castle had a garderobe and fireplace on each of the three above - ground floors , and there was a basement underneath .