Caldicot Castle, Wales

The border of Wales today was not always the border, in fact the border region was quite fluid, whatever land the marcher lords could hold and retain became theirs.  The term Marches, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘mearc’, which means boundary.  We may know that major changes occurred in Wales after the arrival of the Normans, but even before they arrived, the borderlands between England and Wales were contested. Caldicot Castle is located just over today’s border, in Wales, but even before 1066 this region was part of Gloucestershire.  The first sheriff of Gloucestershire that we know of, was Alwin, who controlled the region before William the Conquerors arrival.

At the time of the Doomsday survey of 1086, the second Sheriff of Gloucestershire, Durand de Gloucester, was in charge of the lands at Caldicot. At this time there was no castle in Caldicot, but the land and resources consisted of ploughland with 3 Lord’s plough teams, 12 men’s plough teams, and 1 mill which was valued at 10 shillings. The annual value was £6.  Caldicot was only one of 54 areas which came under the rule of the Sheriff of Gloucester.  It is thought that Durand of Gloucester came to England from Normandy with William the Conqueror. While we don’t have a birth place for Durand, we do have one for his nephew, Walter of Gloucester, who became the next Sheriff after Durand’s death in 1096. 

After the Norman Conquest of England, the role of Sheriff was at the height of its power.  There is a strong resemblance between the English Sheriff and the Norman Vicomte, the name in which the legal language later becomes Viscount.  Changes in the shire systems soon made the Sheriff like the Vicomte, the head of government of his region. There was a new power behind the Sheriff, and any Sheriff who had fought against William at the Battle of Hastings, found his sheriffdom forfeit and he was replaced by a Norman. 

When Walter of Gloucester’s son Milo, or Miles, fitz Walter inherited the title of Sheriff of Gloucester, around 1126, he was in charge of a vast area, which included Caldicot. He was also granted the office of Constable of England to King Henry I, a role his father had obtained previously.  He married Sibyl, the daughter of Bernard de Neufmarche, who brought with her the lands of Brecon. Milo, having faithfully served King Henry I, sided with King Stephen during the Anarchy.  He was with Stephen at the siege of Shrewsbury in 1138, but changed his mind and sided with Matilda in 1139. It was Matilda who made Milo fitz Walter the 1st Earl of Hereford, in 1141.  Milo died in 1143, after being shot in the head with an arrow during a hunting accident on Christmas Eve. He was succeeded by his son Roger, who died without issue, and the estates passed to his daughter Margaret, who married Humphrey de Bohun III. He became the 3rd Earl of Hereford and took possession of the estates, which included the lands in Caldicot. 

The de Bohun family held Caldicot for over two hundred years.  As we have seen, these were not minor gentry. Henry de Bohun, the son of Margaret and Humphrey de Bohun, was also Constable of England and Earl of Hereford.  He was one of the twenty-five barons elected to enforced the terms of the Magna Carta, in 1215. In the aftermath that followed King John’s death, he sided with King Louis VIII of France, and was captured at the battle of Lincoln, in 1217. He must have reconciled, because shortly afterward, he went on pilgrimage and died in the Holy Land, in 1220.

Henry de Bohun, nephew of Humphrey de Bohun, the 4th Earl of Hereford, was killed at Bannockburn, in 1314, by Robert the Bruce himself.  Depending on what side you were on, you heard a different version of his death.  If you were English, poor Henry was killed by Robert the Bruce when out scouting the opposing army. He tried to escape but The Bruce chased him down and slaughtered him.  If you were Scottish, the young upstart out to prove himself, broke ranks to attack Robert the Bruce himself. The Bruce’s response was to slay him with his axe, which he broke on Henry’s skull.  His uncle, Humphrey de Bohun, did not escape the battle either, he was captured but later exchanged for the wife of Robert the Bruce, who was being held captive by the English.

By the end of the 14th Century, the de Bohun family held the Earldoms of Hereford, Essex and Northampton. When Humphrey de Bohun the 10th died young, in 1373, he left his two young daughters, Alianore, aged 7, and Mary, aged 3, as heiresses.  They both became wards of King Edward III, and the King granted their guardianship to his youngest son, Thomas of Woodstock.  Thomas decided to marry Alianore himself, and planned to send Mary to a nunnery, so that he would be able to keep all the de Bohun estates for himself. Before this could be done, his brother, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, arranged for a marriage between Mary and his own son, Henry of Bolingbroke, while his brother Thomas was on Campaign in Brittany.  When the marriage occurred the de Bohun inheritance was divided, and Caldicot remained with Alianore and Thomas of Woodstock.

Thomas of Woodstock became Constable of the Realm, a title he inherited through his marriage to the de Bohun heiress, Alianore. Thomas was at odds with King Richard II, who personally ordered his arrest and imprisonment, at Calais, on charges of treason in 1396. While awaiting trial, he was murdered. Afterwards, parliament found him guilty of treason, and his estates were forfeited and passed to the crown, this included the castle at Caldicot.

Mary de Bohun, who had been married to the young son of the Duke of Lancaster, died in 1394, and did not live long enough to see her husband become King Henry IV of England in 1399, however she and her husband had six surviving children. Their eldest son would become King Henry V. After Thomas of Woodstock had his lands confiscated by the crown, it is really unclear who took possession of Caldicot Castle next.  It may have stayed with the crown from 1396 to 1399, when Henry IV took the throne. It seems likely that at this point, it was granted to the Kings son, Henry of Monmouth, the future Henry V, who had the hereditary claim to the de Bohun estate.  At some point it became part of the Duchy of Lancaster, and it is probable that it was shortly after Henry IV came to the Throne. 

It is the de Bohun’s who are thought to have started building the stone castle at Caldicot, but which de Bohun, is more difficult to say. We simply don’t know when the keep was begun, I can only safely say that it dates from the late 12th to early 13th Century, and likely after the death of Milo fitz Walter in 1143, but even then, there are sources which disagree and would put it earlier. The truth is, Caldicot Castle was never anyone’s main residence, until the Victorian times anyway. It was an outpost, a lesser castle, that was always owned by the great magnates of the day, and while it was certainly visited, it was never really lived in.

What we do know, is that the stone keep is the earliest remaining building on the site.  The large round tower, was built on a high mound, completely surrounded by a ditch.  The keep was built of sandstone, which is local to the area, the large sandstone blocks are well cut with close joints, showing the quality of the workmanship, even at this early time. The curtain wall on either side, is built of a much coarser stone. The wall was built against the tower, and is not tied into it, making it clear that the keep was completed first. The keep does not appear to have replaced an earlier wooden one, as occurred on other sites, as it sits within the mound itself, with two lower levels existing under the doorway. The mound appears to have been piled up around the keep after construction.

Below the keeps battlements, are the remains of support holds, that would have once supported a projecting wooden gallery.  Although many of the corbels which once supported it have gone, the gallery or ‘hourd’, would have once provided an overhanging fighting platform, from which the castles defenders could attack intruders below.

The keep at Caldicot, is one of just a few remaining round keeps built in South Wales. The round tower had militarily advantages over the square tower, which included improving the field of fire for the defenders, it removed the problem of areas with limited visibility at the corners, which could prove vulnerable to undermining.  Round towers were also less vulnerable because they had no corners, and also deflected missiles and held up better against battering.  However, they were certainly more difficult to build. The keeps walls are 2.7 meters (9 feet) thick, with the ground floor serving as a dungeon. 

Caldicot Castle is located on a bend of the River Nedern, now only a brook, the river was diverted through a moat which has since dried up and been largely filled in. The castle is an oval shape, measuring 100 meters (328 feet) by 66 meters (217 feet).  The defensive wall connects the castles towers.  Thomas of Woodstock carried out repairs and changes to the castle during the second half of the 14th Century.  These included the building of the Woodstock tower, and we have the details of a new timber ‘house over the well’, being ordered to be roofed in wooden shingles.  We know that the carpenter William Smyth of Caldicot, was paid 10 shillings for ‘changing two buckets for the well with two catches and various other chains and bolts for the well.’

The accounts for the work ordered for the castle by Thomas of Woodstock, is quite extensive. He may have intended to use the castle himself once the work was completed, but he did not live long enough for us to know.  During the 20 plus years that he was Lord of the castle at Caldicot, we know that there was then a granary, which required repairing and reroofing in 1372, a stable near the outer gate, which needing mangers mending, two carpenters were hired to reroof the long stable with straw.  There is also mention of a chapel needing repairs, and a fishpond, when a trough was made of timber for the fishpond.  At this time, two windows in the chapel were also being glazed.  All of these have since disappeared, however the Woodstock Tower which he built does remain, and we know that he paid £54 to Robert Mason, over a two-year period, for the building of a new tower, where before there was a dovecote. It was to be built in line with the battlements, with a thickness of 6 feet, with a portcullis and 3 chambers, with 3 fireplaces and 3 latrines. 

The great gatehouse at Caldicot Castle, is the newest building, and the most altered. Larger than all the other buildings, it appears to have been built for comfort over defence, although it does have two portcullises and a drawbridge.  After falling into disrepair, the castle was sold in 1885, to Joseph Richard Cobb, who began its restoration with the intent of making it his family home. It is to him that we owe the castles survival. The Cobb family lived at the castle until 1963, when it was purchased by the local council for £12,000.  Councils and castles are often not a good combination, as very few people see the priority of the work needed to keep up with their restoration. Caldicot Castle is open to the public, and used for local and national events, but it is also in need of conservation. The amount of plant growth coming from the walls needs urgent attention, left unchecked, the stones will become loose as the mortar is gradually pushed from the joints.  The constant maintenance required is currently being neglected.