text: stokesay castle stokesay castle is a fortified manor house in stokesay , shropshire , england . it was built in the late 13th century by laurence of ludlow , then the leading wool merchant in england , who intended it to form a secure private house and generate income as a commercial estate . laurence 's descendants continued to own the castle until the 16th century , when it passed through various private owners . by the time of the outbreak of the english civil war in 1641 , stokesay was owned by william craven , the first earl of craven and a supporter of king charles i. after the royalist war effort collapsed in 1645 , parliamentary forces besieged the castle in june and quickly forced its garrison to surrender . parliament ordered the property to be slighted , but only minor damage was done to the walls , allowing stokesay to continue to be used as a house by the baldwyn family until the end of the 17th century . in the 18th century the rented the castle out for a range of agricultural and manufacturing purposes . it fell into disrepair , and the antiquarian john britton noted during his visit in 1813 that it had been " abandoned to neglect , and rapidly advancing to ruin " . restoration work was carried out in the 1830s and 1850s by william craven , the second earl of craven . in 1869 the craven estate , now heavily in debt , was sold to the wealthy industrialist john derby allcroft who paid for another round of extensive restoration during the 1870s . both of these owners attempted to limit any alterations to the existing buildings during their conservation work , which was unusual for this period . the castle became a popular location for tourists and artists , and was formally opened to paying visitors in 1908 . allcroft 's descendants fell into financial difficulties during the early 20th century , however , and it became increasingly difficult for them to cover the costs of maintaining stokesay . in 1986 jewell magnus - allcroft finally agreed to place stokesay castle into the guardianship of english heritage , and the castle was left to the organisation on her death in 1992 . english heritage carried out extensive restoration of the castle in the late 1980s . in the 21st century , stokesay castle continues to be operated as a tourist attraction , receiving 39 , 218 visitors in 2010 . architecturally , stokesay castle is " one of the best - preserved medieval fortified manor houses in england " , according to historian henry summerson . the castle comprises a walled , moated enclosure , with an entrance way through a 17th - century timber and plaster gatehouse . inside , the courtyard faces a stone hall and solar block , protected by two stone towers . the hall features a 13th - century wooden - beamed ceiling , and 17th - century carved figures ornament the gatehouse and the solar . the castle was never intended to be a serious military fortification , but its style was intended to echo the much larger castles being built by edward i in north wales . originally designed as a prestigious , secure , comfortable home , the castle has changed very little since the 13th century , and is a rare , surviving example of a near complete set of medieval buildings . english heritage has minimised the amount of interpretative material displayed at the property and kept the castle largely unfurnished . history 13th - 15th centuries stokesay castle was built in the 1280s and 1290s in the village of stokesay by laurence of ludlow , a very wealthy wool merchant . stokesay took its name from the anglo - saxon word , meaning cattle farm , and the surname of the de says family , who had held the land from the beginning of the 12th century onwards . in 1241 , hugh de say sold stokesay to john de verdon ; john then left for the eighth crusade in 1270 , mortgaging the land on a life - time lease to philip de whichcote . john died in 1274 , leaving his rights to the property to his son , theobald . laurence bought stokesay from theobald and philip in 1281 , possibly for around £ 266 , which he could easily have afforded , as he had made a fortune from the wool trade . laurence exported wool from the welsh marches , travelling across europe to negotiate sales , and maintaining offices in shrewsbury and london . he had become the most important wool merchant in england , helping to set government trade policies and lending money to the major nobility . stokesay castle would form a secure personal home for laurence , well - positioned close to his other business operations in the region . it was also intended to be used as a commercial estate , as it was worth around £ 26 a year , with 120 acres ( 49 ha ) of agricultural land , 6 acres ( 2 . 4 ha ) of meadows , an expanse of woodland , along with watermills and a dovecot . work began on the castle at some point after 1285 , and laurence moved into his new property in the early 1290s . the castle was , as nigel pounds describes it , " both pretentious and comfortable " , initially comprising living accommodation and a tower to the north . in 1291 laurence received permission from the king to fortify his castle - a document called a licence to crenellate - and he may have used this authority to construct the southern tower , which had a particularly martial appearance and was added onto the castle shortly afterwards . in november 1294 laurence was drowned at sea off the south of england , and his son , william , may have finished some of the final work on stokesay . his descendants , who took the ludlow surname , continued to control stokesay castle until the end of the 15th century , when it passed into the vernon family by marriage . 16th - 17th centuries stokesay castle was passed by thomas vernon to his grandson henry vernon in 1563 . the family had hopes of becoming members of the peerage and , possibly as a consequence , the property began to be regularly called a " castle " for the first time during this period . henry divided his time between london and stokesay , probably staying in the north tower . henry stood surety for an associate 's debts and when they defaulted , he was pursued for this money , resulting in a period of imprisonment in fleet prison ; by 1598 he sold the castle for £ 6 , 000 to pay off his own substantial debts . the new owner , sir george mainwaring , sold the property on again in 1620 , via a consortium of investors , to the wealthy widow and former mayoress of london , dame elizabeth craven for £ 13 , 500 . the estates around stokesay were now valuable , bringing in over £ 300 a year in income . elizabeth 's son , william , spent little time at stokesay and by the 1640s had leased it out to charles baldwyn , and his son samuel . he rebuilt the gatehouse during 1640 and 1641 , however , at a cost of around £ 533 . in 1643 the english civil war broke out between the supporters of king charles i and parliament . a royalist supporter , william spent the war years at elizabeth stuart 's court at the hague , and gave large sums of money to the king 's war effort . william installed a garrison in the castle , where the were also strong royalists , and , as the conflict progressed , the county of shropshire became increasingly royalist in sympathies . despite this , by late 1644 bands of vigilante clubmen had risen up in shropshire , complaining about the activities of royalist forces in the region , and demanding , among other things , the removal of the garrison from stokesay castle . by early 1645 the war had turned decisively against the king , and in february , parliamentary forces seized the city of shrewsbury . this exposed the rest of the region to attack , and in june a force of 800 parliamentary soldiers pushed south towards ludlow , attacking stokesay en route . the royalist garrison , led by captain , was heavily outnumbered and it would have been impossible for them to effectively defend the new gatehouse , which was essentially ornamental . nonetheless , both sides complied with the protocols of warfare at the time , resulting in a bloodless victory for the parliamentary force : the besiegers demanded that the garrison surrender , the garrison refused , the attackers demanded a surrender for a second time , and this time the garrison were able to give up the castle with dignity . shortly afterwards on 9 june , a royalist force led by sir michael woodhouse attempted to recapture the castle , now garrisoned by parliament . the counter - attack was unsuccessful , ending in the rout of the royalist forces in a skirmish at the nearby village of . unlike many castles in england which were deliberately seriously damaged , or slighted , to put them beyond military use , stokesay escaped substantial harm after the war . parliament sequestrated the property from william and ordered the slighting of the castle in 1647 , but only pulled down the castle 's curtain wall , leaving the rest of the complex intact . samuel returned in 1649 to continue to rent the castle during the years of the commonwealth , and put in wood panelling and new windows into parts of the property . with the restoration of charles ii to the throne in 1660 , william 's lands were returned to him , and the continued to lease stokesay castle from him . 18th - 19th centuries during the 18th century , stokesay castle continued to be leased by the baldwyn family , although they sublet the property to a range of tenants ; after this point it ceased to be used as a domestic dwelling . two wood and plaster buildings , built against the side of the hall , were demolished around 1800 , and by the early 19th century the castle was being used for storing grain and manufacturing , including barrel - making , coining and a smithy . the castle began to deteriorate , and the antiquarian john britton noted during his visit in 1813 that it had been " abandoned to neglect , and rapidly advancing to ruin : the glass is destroyed , the ceilings and floors are falling , and the rains streams through the opening roof on the damp and walls " . the smithy in the basement of the south tower resulted in a fire in 1830 , which caused considerable damage to the castle , gutting the south tower . extensive decay in the bases of the cruck tresses in the castle 's roof posed a particular threat to the hall , as the decaying roof began to push the walls apart . restoration work was carried out in the 1830s by william craven , the earl of craven . this was a deliberate attempt at conserving the existing building , rather than rebuilding it , and was a very unusual approach at this time . by 1845 , stone buttresses and pillars had been added to support parts of the hall and its roof . research by thomas turner was published in 1851 , outlining the history of the castle . frances stackhouse acton , a local landowner , took a particular interest in the castle , and in 1853 convinced william to carry out further repair work on the castle , under her supervision , at a cost of £ 103 . in 1869 the craven estate , 5 , 200 acres ( 2 , 100 ha ) in size but by now heavily mortgaged , were purchased by john derby allcroft for £ 215 , 000 . allcroft was the head of , a major glove manufacturer , through which he had become extremely wealthy . the estate included stokesay castle , where from around 1875 onwards allcroft undertook extensive restoration work over several years . stokesay was in serious need of repairs : the visiting writer henry james noted in 1877 that the property was in " a state of extreme decay " . allcroft attempted what the archaeologist gill chitty has described as a " simple and unaffected " programme of work , which generally attempted to avoid excessive intervention . he may have been influenced by the contemporary writings of the local vicar , the reverend james la touche , who took a somewhat romanticised approach to the analysis of the castle 's history and architecture . the castle had become a popular sight for tourists and artists by the 1870s and the gatehouse was fitted out to form a house for a caretaker to oversee the property . following the work , the castle was in good condition once again by the late 1880s . 20th - 21st centuries further repairs to stokesay castle were required in 1902 , carried out by allcroft 's heir , hebert , with help from the society for the protection of ancient buildings . the allcroft family faced increasing financial difficulty in the 20th century and the castle was formally opened for visitors in 1908 , with much of the revenue reinvested in the property , but funds for repairs remained in short supply . by the 1930s the allcroft estate was in serious financial difficulties , and the payment of two sets of death duties in 1946 and 1950 added to the family 's problems . despite receiving considerable numbers of visitors - over 16 , 000 in 1955 - it was becoming increasingly impractical to maintain the castle , and calls were made for the state to take over the property . for several decades the owners , philip and jewell magnus - allcroft , declined these proposals and continued to run the castle privately . in 1986 jewell finally agreed to place stokesay castle into the guardianship of english heritage , and the castle was left to the organisation on her death in 1992 . the castle was passed to english heritage largely unfurnished , with minimal interpretative material in place , and it needed fresh restoration . there were various options for taking forward the work , including restoring the castle to resemble a particular period in its history ; using interactive approaches such as " living history " to communicate the context to visitors ; or using the site to demonstrate restoration techniques appropriate to different periods . these were rejected in favour of a policy of minimising any physical intervention during the restoration and preserving the building in the condition it was passed to english heritage , including its unfurnished interior . the archaeologist gill chitty has described this as encouraging visitors to undergo a " personal discovery of a sense of historical relationship and event " around the castle . against this background , an extensive programme of restoration work was carried out between august 1986 and december 1989 . in the 21st century , stokesay castle continues to be operated by english heritage as a tourist attraction , receiving 39 , 218 visitors in 2010 . british airways , in conjunction with english heritage , named their last boeing 757 aircraft stokesay castle in 2010 for its final month of flying . the castle is protected under uk law as a grade i listed building and as a scheduled monument . architecture structure stokesay castle was built on a patch of slightly rising ground in the basin of the river . it took the form of a solar block and hall attached to a northern and southern tower ; this combination of hall and tower was not uncommon in england in the 13th century , particularly in northern england . a crenellated curtain wall , destroyed in the 17th century , enclosed a courtyard , with a gatehouse - probably originally constructed from stone , rebuilt in timber and plaster around 1640 - controlling the entrance . the wall would have reached 34 feet ( 10 m ) high measured from the base of the moat . the courtyard , around 150 feet ( 46 m ) by 125 feet ( 38 m ) , contained additional buildings during the castle 's history , probably including a kitchen , bakehouse and storerooms , which were pulled down around 1800 . the castle was surrounded by a moat , between 15 feet ( 4 . 6 m ) and 25 feet ( 7 . 6 m ) across , although it is uncertain whether this was originally a dry moat , as it is in the 21st century , or water - filled from the pond and nearby stream . the spoil from digging out the moat was used to raise the height of the courtyard . beyond the moat were a lake and ponds that were probably intended to be viewed from the south tower . the parish church of st john the baptist , of noman origins but largely rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century , lies just alongside the castle . stokesay castle forms what archaeologist gill chitty describes as " a comparatively complete ensemble " of medieval buildings , and their survival , almost unchanged , is extremely unusual . historian henry summerson considers it " one of the best - preserved medieval fortified manor houses in england " . buildings the gatehouse is a two - storied , 17th century building with exposed timber and plasterwork , constructed in a distinctively local shropshire style . it features elaborate wooden carvings on the exterior and interior doorways , including angels , the biblical characters of adam , eve and the serpent from the garden of eden , as well as dragons and other nude figures . it was designed as essentially an ornamental building , with little defensive value . the south tower forms an unequal pentagon in shape , and has three storeys with thick walls . the walls were built to contain the stairs and garderobes , the unevenly positioned empty spaces weakening the structure , and this meant that two large buttresses had to be added to the tower during its construction to support the walls . the current floors are victorian in origin , having been built after the fire of 1830 , but the tower remains unglazed , as in the 13th century , with shutters at the windows providing protection in winter . the basement was originally only accessible from the first floor , and would have provided a secure area for storage , in addition to also containing a well . the first floor , which formed the original entrance to the tower , contains a 17th - century fireplace , reusing the original 13th - century chimney . the second floor has been subdivided in the past , but has been restored to form a single chamber , as it would have been when first built . the roof of the south tower provides views of the surrounding landscape ; in the 13th - century protective wooden mantlets would have been fitted into the gaps of the merlons along the battlements , and during the english civil war it was equipped with additional wooden defences to protect the garrison . the hall and solar block are adjacent to the south tower , and were designed to be symmetrical when seen from the courtyard , although the addition of the additional stone buttresses in the 19th century has altered this appearance . the hall is 54 . 5 feet ( 16 . 6 m ) long and 31 feet ( 9 . 4 m ) wide , with has three large , wooden 13th - century arches supporting the roof , unusually , given its size , using lateral wooden collars , but no vertical king - posts . the roof 's cruck joists now rest on 19th - century stone supports , but would have originally reached down to the ground . the roof is considered by the historian henry summerson to be a " rare survival for the period " . in the medieval period a wooden screen would have cut off the north end , providing a more secluded dining area . the solar block has two storeys and a cellar , and would have probably acted as the living space for laurence of ludlow when he first moved into the castle . the solar room itself is on the first floor , and is reached by external steps . the wood panelling and carved wooden fireplace are of 17th - century origin , probably from around 1640 . this woodwork would have originally been brightly painted , and included spy - holes so that the hall could be observed from the solar . the three - storey north tower is reached by a 13th - century staircase in the hall , which leads onto the first floor . the first floor was divided into two separate rooms shortly after the construction of the tower , and contain various decorative tiles , probably from laurence 's house in ludlow . the walls of the second floor are mostly half - timbered , out above the stone walls beneath them ; the tower has its original 13th - century fireplace , although the wooden roof is 19th - century , modeled on the 13th - century original , and the windows are 17th - century insertions . the details and the carpenters ' personal marks on the woodwork show that the hall , solar and north tower were all constructed under the direction of the same carpenter in the late 1280s and early 1290s . interpretation stokesay castle was never intended to be a serious military fortification . as long ago as 1787 , the antiquarian francis grose observed that it was " a castellated mansion rather than a castle of strength " , and more recently the historian nigel pounds has described the castle as forming " a lightly fortified home " , providing security but not intended to resist a military attack . the historian henry summerson describes its military features as " superficial " , and oliver creighton characterises stokesay as being more of a " picturesque residence " than a fortification . among its weaknesses were the positioning of its gatehouse , on the wrong side of the castle , facing away from the road , and the huge windows in the hall , reaching down to the ground and making access relatively easy to any intruder . indeed , this vulnerability may have been intentional - its builder laurence was a newly moneyed member of the upper class , and he may not have wanted to erect a fortification that would have threatened the established marcher lords in the region . nonetheless , stokesay castle was intended to have a dramatic , military appearance , echoing the castles then being built by edward i in north wales . visitors would have approached the castle across a causeway , with an excellent view of the south tower , potentially framed by and reflected in the water - filled moat . the south tower was probably intended to resemble the gatehouses of contemporary castles such as caernarfon and denbigh , and would probably have originally shared the former 's " banded " stonework . cordingley describes the south tower as " adding prestige rather than security " . visitors would then have passed by the impressive outside of the main hall block , before entering the castle itself , which robert liddiard notes might have been an " anticlimax from the point of view of the medieval visitor " . carved 17th - century woodwork