28 July 2022
Header Image Credit: Labyrinth Mini Movies
It may be a surprise to learn that most historic buildings have never received anything more than cursory research. Many listed buildings were given a quick appraisal during the mid-twentieth century and have never been looked at since. Errors of interpretation are extremely common. Some properties were not available to survey internally and judgements were made from the roadside only. Take No. 4 Blacksmiths Lane in Kelham (Nottinghamshire) – it is listed as seventeenth century, but a recent survey indicated that a date in the early fifteenth century may be more accurate.
Surely there can be no doubts with more well-known buildings such as Tattershall Castle? Rising 33.5 metres above the Lincolnshire fenland, the great tower is the very definition of an iconic structure. It was built in brick and stone, during the mid-fifteenth century, for Ralph Cromwell, Lord Treasurer of England, on the site of an earlier castle dating to the 1230s.
From the late seventeenth century, the castle experienced a decline in status and was in use as a farm until the 1910s when it was in danger of being transplanted to North America. At the eleventh-hour, Lord Curzon swooped in and purchased the site. He immediately contracted the architect William Weir to excavate and conserve the castle and it was opened to the public on the eve of the First World War. The castle was donated to the National Trust in 1925 and four years later Curzon’s book on the site was published, posthumously, under the care of H. A. Tipping (Curzon & Tipping 1929). The latter featured lengthy appendices written by Weir and the academic castle specialist Alexander Hamilton Thompson. The text has greatly influenced how the castle is presented to visitors.
This, then, must be a very well-understood castle?
Twentieth Century Certainties
Curzon, Weir and Thompson helped to shape the interpretation of Tattershall for around a century. Their work revealed the filled-in moats, led to the excavation of many archaeological artefacts, and uncovered the foundations of lost buildings. They also studied and the standing structures, consulted the fifteenth century building accounts and the engraver Samuel Buck’s illustration of the castle made, in 1726, when more survived above ground.
The castle features a polygonal Inner Ward which has L-shaped Outer and Middle Wards to its west, north and east. Each of the three enclosures had a gatehouse. The Outer Ward has a roofless, rectangular building identified as the Great Stables. The Middle Ward has a smaller, roofed, building which became known as the Guardhouse. Adjacent to the great tower were structures interpreted as the castle kitchens that apparently once served a lost hall range which stood to the east. To the south lay the Tiltyard – a walled space where it was believed that tournaments were held (Curzon & Tipping 1929, 68-72, 165-72, 180).
The great tower has attracted the most interest, and the chambers of the various floors were interpreted as follows (Curzon & Tipping 1929, 72-81, 173-79):
- Basement: Store
- Ground Floor: Parlour
- First Floor: Dining hall
- Second Floor: Great chamber
- Third Floor: Bedchamber of Cromwell’s wife, Margaret Deincourt
Curzon (1929, 68) noted that the great tower was first named (“le dongeon”) in the building accounts of the castle for 1445-46 (Simpson 1960, 72). This led scholars such as John Harvey (1978, 183) and Anthony Emery (2000, 310-11) to argue that the tower was constructed c 1445-55.
To what extent can we trust these conclusions?
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Hands up, here… I have a vested interest in this site. Tattershall Castle was the subject of my doctoral research (Wright 2021). Studying the building in minute detail for over four years allowed the luxury of insights that were previously overlooked. It has been possible to question the orthodoxy and work progressively with the National Trust to reinterpret the castle.
Although there is no doubt that Ralph Cromwell patronised a significant remodelling at Tattershall, some of the previously identified functions of space can be called into question. It has also been possible to clarify the dating of the great tower. Such revisions have relied on the techniques of buildings archaeology as developed, in castle studies, during the late twentieth century by luminaries including Philip Dixon and Pamela Marshall. The discipline relies on the cumulative use of the available tools in the toolkit – archaeological observation, archival research, historiography, dendrochronology, art history, map regression and the reanalysis of prior research. We can therefore apply these techniques to Tattershall Castle structure by structure.
“Great Stables”
Lying just to the south-west of the outer gate, this rectangular group of structures was identified by William Weir as the “Great Stables” which were mentioned in the building accounts (Simpson 1960, 60, 65). His conclusions were based on the presence of tether rings on the exterior and an internal spine drain for dispensing with effluent. However, stratigraphically, both rings and drain were added to a pre-existing building during the post-mediaeval period. The spine drain runs into a mediaeval fireplace. The drain and the fireplace cannot practically be contemporary in use. The fireplace is part of the primary build, therefore the drain (and by extension, the remodelling into a stable) is later.
The building has material evidence of having been created as a two-storey structure which was heated by fireplaces and served by latrines. Such features are entirely consistent with the use of the building as a retainer’s lodging in the fifteenth century. It is understood from the writings of William of Worcester that Cromwell always moved with at least 100 people in his entourage -these men would require such lodgings at his residences.
“Guardhouse”
A sub-square building, which stands in the Middle Ward adjacent to the eastern arm of the outer moat, was identified by Curzon as being the “Guardhouse” of the castle – a structure used to house the military garrison. However, standing garrisons were expensive and rarely maintained in mediaeval England (Liddiard 2005, 82-83). The phrase “Guardhouse” is predicated upon a view, prevalent during the early twentieth century, that castles were primarily defensive military fortifications. This orthodoxy was challenged, and largely overcome in the late twentieth century, when it became apparent that castles were tremendously complex structures principally given to lavish displays of elite status. (Liddiard 2005, 1-11).
There is no direct evidence that Tattershall had a military garrison in the mediaeval period. It is more realistic to view the building as another lodging range because the two-storey structure features fireplaces and latrines like those of the Outer Ward.
“Tiltyard”
The “Tiltyard” is a sub-rectangular enclosure to the south of the Inner Ward which is bounded by brick and stone walls. The idea that this was a tournament ground was first introduced by Curzon (1929, 72). However, there are no known formal tiltyards in England prior to the sixteenth century and most of those were royal in origin. Ralph Cromwell was not an especially military-minded person so such an enclosure would be extremely anomalous.
In the mid-nineteenth century, the antiquarian Nicholson (1842, 10) revealed that the brickwork contained Cromwell’s armorials and was therefore likely to date from his tenure. Also, the space was formerly divided transversely by two walls which would have rendered it impractical for jousting lists to be run. One of these walls was excavated by Allen Archaeology (Johnson 2015, 8-9, 13). It was concluded that the brickwork was contemporary with the enclosure walls and that the space was probably a mediaeval garden. The space is exactly 2 acres in size – an area that has been identified as the ideal for an elite garden at many other sites by scholars including Christopher Dyer (2000, 114) and Oliver Creighton (2009, 53).
“Kitchens”
This group of structures project out into the inner moat immediately to the south of the great tower, but only survive as low foundations. They were excavated by William Weir in 1912. He identified them as kitchens based only on the presence of a well. However, there is also a well in the great tower’s storage basement, so it must be said that wells are not a principal identifier of castle kitchens.
An alternative interpretation for this group of structures can be developed through reference to an antiquarian engraving made in 1727 by William Millicent. It clearly shows a residential lodging tower (with stair turret and garderobe) adjacent to a gatehouse linking the Inner and Outer Wards. The archaeology is consistent with this engraving and reference to Buck’s 1726 illustration shows that the kitchens were located much further to the east, at the south end of the lost hall range.
“Parlour”
The ground floor of the great tower was identified by Curzon as being a “parlour”. Mediaeval parlours (often called solars) were a more private retreat for elites away from the bustle of the great hall. The room at Tattershall was linked to the great hall via an intermediary corridor, but there is no evidence that it functioned as an elite space. For example, it lacks the corbels, present in the upper three chambers in the tower, which supported tester canopies – the symbol of lordship. Also, there was no direct communication between the ground floor and upper chambers, which would be expected if this was an elite space.
Instead, the room is akin to the basement of the North Range of Stone Court at Knole (Kent). The latter has been identified as a lesser hall or buttery cellar – where lower status retainers could gather for their food and drink away from the higher-ranking members of the household in the great hall or dining hall (Gregory 2016, 10).
Dating of the Great Tower
Mention of “le dongeon” in the building accounts for 1445-46 (Simpson 1960, 76) offers us a terminus ante quem for the construction of the tower. Harvey (1978, 183) and Emery (2000, 310-11) took this to mean that the tower was begun at this point. However, the building accounts are incomplete, and we only have data from 1434-35, 1438-39, 1439-40 and 1445-46. It is also clear that building work at the castle commenced prior to 1434-35 as those accounts refer to a previous, now lost, season of work.
M.W. Thompson (1974, 15) and Pamela Marshall (2020, 265) have argued for a date earlier than 1445-46 for the tower and were eventually validated by a dendrochronology survey carried out by the Nottingham Tree-ring Dating Laboratory. The latter sampled bridging beam timbers that had been removed from the great tower under Weir and then stored in its basement (Curzon & Tipping 1929, 187). The survey revealed that one of the massive timbers was felled during the period 1406-31 (Alcock & Tyers 2020, 129). As we have already discussed in Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog #15, mediaeval carpenters did not season or stockpile timber and routinely commenced building immediately after felling. Knowledge of this practice means that the great tower must have been sufficiently advanced to require the insertion of structural beams, into an upper floor, no later than 1431. Practically, the tower was probably begun earlier than this date to allow for construction work to reach at least first floor height by that year.
A shift of just 15+ years in the dating of the tower has a staggering impact for English architectural history. Scholars, such as John Harvey (1978, 185-86) and John Goodall (2011, 340-41; 360-63), have pointed out that Tattershall was built in a fashion known as the Lancastrian Court Style. This favoured combined brick and stone, use of diaperwork, great towers or towered gatehouses with octagonal turrets and stacked chambers, regular courtyards and chimneys projecting far above crenellations. The style was developed in the mid-fifteenth century and remained popular for around two centuries.
It was assumed that aristocrats, such as Cromwell, routinely looked towards the monarchy for architectural inspiration and that Henry VI’s works at Eton College marked the beginnings of the Lancastrian Court Style. Henry’s work at Eton did not commence until 1441 which means that, due to the revised dating, Tattershall had already been under construction for at least a decade (if not longer) by this point. Tattershall was therefore at the very forefront of court architecture and was a leader in the style rather than taking its cue from the monarchy.
The conclusion that Henry VI and his master builders took influence from a man such as Cromwell is perhaps linked to the unique circumstances of the king’s biography. Henry came to the throne, in 1423, at just 9 months of age and his lands were ruled in his name by the royal council, of which Cromwell was a member, until the end of his minority in 1435. Until this moment, the course of English architecture progressed, without his lead, under the direction of the elites of the realm. Subsequently, the king was notably influenced by the men around him and it seems that this trend may have extended to matters of architecture (Johnson 2019, 141-43). The new dating for the great tower at Tattershall raises the possibility that it was one of the buildings, including its contemporary of Caister Castle – built for Cromwell’s old friend John Fastolf, that sparked off the fashion which Henry’s builders later favoured at Eton.
The Lancastrian Court Style went on to have an enormously long influence. The mode continued right through the fifteenth century at places such as Farnham Castle (Surrey) and Oxburgh Hall (Norfolk), was favoured by the earlier Tudors at Hampton Court Palace and Layer Marney (Essex), can still be felt in the earl of Leicester’s work at Kenilworth and was still hanging on at Abbott’s Hospital in Guildford (Surrey) during the early seventeenth century. The mediaeval tower at Tattershall, therefore, had a fundamental impact on architecture which was maintained right through the Renaissance era until the cusp of the Baroque.
Conclusions
The revised interpretation of the functions and dating of Tattershall Castle are the result of a very deep dive into the buildings archaeology of the site. This level of research is rather unusual and was only possible through extensive funding.
Many of the pre-existing views on the site were based on excavations carried out by the architect William Weir, who was not a trained archaeologist. Equally, Alexander Hamilton Thompson, the consultant for the 1910s project, came from an era in which castle studies were in their infancy and somewhat hampered by military concerns. Finally, the science of dendrochronology – which proved key to understanding the dating of the great tower – was developed after Curzon’s conservation work so could not have been considered at the time.
The updated thinking on the castle will be gradually absorbed within the presentation of the site by the National Trust. A new guidebook has been commissioned and, subject to funding, new narratives will be introduced for the on-site interpretation. Such an overhaul will doubtless take some time to complete, but we are fortunate that the National Trust have been an enthusiastic and progressive sponsor of this project.
Given the significant changes in thought at Tattershall, a question must be asked of many other sites which have not yet been re-evaluated: have we got the story right or are we still relying on mediaeval building myths?
Acknowledgements
The doctoral research at Tattershall Castle was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and supervised for the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Nottingham by Dr Chris King and for the National Trust by Rachael Hall. The dendrochronology was commissioned by the National Trust and was carried out by Robert Howard and Alison Arnold of Nottingham Tree-ring Dating Laboratory.
The full results of the Tattershall Castle: Building a History project can be read via the University of Nottingham eTheses portal.
References
Alcock, N. & Tyers, C. (ed.’s), 2020, ‘Tree-ring Date Lists 2020’ in Vernacular Architecture Volume 51. Routledge. London. pp114-152.
Creighton, O., 2009 (2013 edition), Designs Upon the Land – Elite Landscapes of the Middle Ages. Boydell & Brewer. Woodbridge.
Curzon, G. N. & Tipping, H. A., 1929, Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire: A Historical and Descriptive Survey. Jonathan Cape. London.
Dyer, C., 2000, Everyday Life in Medieval England. Hambledon and London. London and New York.
Emery, A., 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Goodall, J., 2011, The English Castle. Yale University Press. New Haven and London.
Gregory, A., 2016, ‘Some evidence for 15th-century decorative interiors at Knole’ in National Trust Historic Houses & Collections Annual 2016. National Trust / Apollo. Swindon & London.
Harvey, J., 1978, The Perpendicular Style. Batsford. London.
Johnson, L., 2019, Shadow King – The Life and Death of Henry VI. Head of Zeus. London.
Johnson, F., 2015, Archaeological Evaluation by Trial Trenching at the Tiltyard, Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire. Allen Archaeology. Unpublished archaeological report.
Liddiard, R., 2005, Castles in Context – Power, Symbolism and Landscape, 1066-1500. Windgatherer Press. Macclesfield.
Marshall, P. E., 2020, ‘The 15th Century Great Tower at Tattershall Castle: Aspiration, Display and the Practicalities of Social Distinction’ in Chateau Gaillard 29. Publications du CRAHM. pp263-72.
Nicholson, W. A, 1842, An Historical and Descriptive Account of Tattershall Castle. Lincoln.
Simpson, W. D., 1960, The Building Accounts of Tattershall Castle, 1434-72. Lincoln Record Society No. 55.
Thompson, M. W., 1974, Tattershall Castle: Guide Book. National Trust. Swindon.
Wright, J., 2022, Tattershall Castle: Building a History. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Nottingham.
About the author
James Wright (Triskele Heritage) is an award-winning buildings archaeologist who frequently writes and lectures about mediaeval building myths. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.
He welcomes contact through Twitter or email.
The Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog blog is the basis of a forthcoming book – Historic Building Mythbusting – Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology which will be released via The History Press on 6 June 2024. More information can be found here:
