Stokesay Castle
From Ars Magica
Stokesay Castle SO 436817 (also known as Stoke and Stoke-Say). Stokesay sits about 1km south of Craven Arms near the west bank of the River Onny. It is of irregular shape, and covers an areas of about 44 x 37m.
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History
The de Lacy family held the manor of Stoke at the time of the Domesday Book (1086). In the earliest part of the 12th century one of them granted the manor to Theodoric de Say as a tenant. They had a masonry dwelling here by c.1200. On the death of Walter de Lacy in 1240 Stokesay passed to John Verdun, his son-in-law in exchange for lands in Ireland. It was leased to Philip de Wicheate, but after Verdun's death in 1274 passed to the de Grays. At this time it probably comprised the house and north tower, enclosed by a palisade, and surrounded by the moat. The manor was purchased in 1281 by the rich wool merchant Lawrence de Ludlow, apparently for the price of a juvenile sparrow hawk.
It takes its name from "Stoke", a dairy farm, and "Say", the name of the de Say family.
Stokesay castle is a moated manor, rather than a true castle. It's open to the public these days, and is maintained by English Heritage.
Architecture
Of the parts visible in photographs of the castle…
The wooded, half-timbered gatehouse (4.57 x 10.67m) is a C16 replacement for an earlier stone one.
The stand-alone stone tower is the South Tower. It's an irregularly shaped building (10.67 x 11.89m) with a cellar, and two upper bedroom storeys. The main entrance is to the second storey across a bridge from the solar. The rooms may have been partitioned internally. Originally it had a low-pitched roof, not the flat one it has today. Although the walls are only 1.5m thick, it could to some extent stand as a small defensible tower house, as the cellar entrance may be modern. It was probably built between 1291 when the licence to crenelate the manor house at "Stoke-say" was granted by Edward I, and 1296 when Lawrence died.
The solar is the part of the main building north of the south tower. It contained a wine cellar, a living room above, and the lord's private chambers above. It dates from soon after 1281, as does the hall, north of it. It was linked to the north tower by a passageway in about 1291.
The hall also built soon after 1281 has four bays, with tall glassless windows, with shutters. When built it didn’t have the buttresses between the windows. It had an open fire in the middle of the hall, with a roof opening over it. The roof is a late medieval remodelling of the original. It is possible that the hall originally was divided by timber posts into a nave and two aisles. Some traces of the c.1200 stone structure remain in the lower part of the hall block.
The hall and solar block togethre are 11.28 x 25.30m in size.
The north tower is a pentagonal building, (7.32 x 10.36m)with thin non-defensive, walls. It is the part that shows in pictures as having a half-timbered gallery hanging outside the manor. Although built in the early 12th century, probably c.1240 the fireplaces are from about 1290, and the wooden gallery is probably later. Inside the basement was probably a scullery, and contains a well. The two upper storeys contained living rooms, with bedrooms partitioned off in the north square turret.
Other buildings.
East of the north tower was the kitchen, against the north curtain wall.
The curtain wall originally was about 3m above courtyard level, and 7m above the (dry) moat bottom. There is a well towards the south end of the courtyard.
It is thought that there were other timber framed buildings in the court including a chamber block east of the Solar, probably for servants.
