Beverstone Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Beverston; Beverstane

In the civil parish of Beverstone. In the historic county of Gloucestershire (Modern Authority of Gloucestershire, 1974 county of Gloucestershire).

Roughly pentagonal castle built in 1229, with round towers and a twin-tower gatehouse which may well be later. From about 1330 the castle was much altered by the addition of a large square corner tower, a domestic block associated with it and a smaller square tower, the latter of C15 date. All that remains is one tower from the gatehouse and rubble from later buildings. Castle built as fortified manor house c1225 by Maurice de Gaunt, enlarged c1350/60 by Thomas 3rd Lord of Berkeley including gatehouse, north west tower altered in C15, domestic range on south side added by Hicks family probably in early C17 on site of a former Great Hall and remodelled c1691 after a fire. Maurice de Grant was issued a licence in 1229 for his existing castle.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 130343)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST86269433

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 209116
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_midlands/162/beverstoncastle.htm
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/beverstone.html
• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p67-70
    Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Gloucestershire and Bristol (Malvern) p16-17
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p78
    Pounds, N., 1988, ‘Beverston Castle' in N H Cooper (ed), The Cirencester area: proceedings of the 134th summer meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute, 1988 (London: RAI) p48-50
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p180
    Verey, David, 1979, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: the Cotswolds p104-6
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p372-3
    Blunt, 1877, Dursley and its Neighbourhood (London) p107, 116-19, 137-47
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p256-8
    Bigland, 1791, Hist. Collections, Coy. of Glos. (London) Vol1 p175-7
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p98
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol8 p73-4
• Journal Articles
  • Goodall, J., 2008, 'A Cotswold secret: Beverston Castle, Gloucestershire' Country Life Vol202.39 p104-7
    Walker, D., 1991, 'Gloucestershire Castles' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol109 p5-23 http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v109/bg109005.pdf
    Pounds, N., 1988, Archaeological Journal Suppl.145 p48-51
    Kellock, A., 1984, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol102 p223 http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v102/bg102223.pdf
    Rawes, B., 1977, 'A Check List of Castles and other Fortified Sites of Medieval Date in Gloucestershire' Glevensis Vol11 p39-41
    Faulkner, P.A., 1965, 'Sudeley Castle; Berkeley Castle; Beverstone Castle' Archaeological Journal Vol122 p201-2
    Hussey, Christopher, 1944 Feb, Country Life Vol95 p288-91, 332-5
    Thompson, Hamilton, 1930, Archaeological Journal Vol87 p453-5
    1928, 'Proceedings at the Annual Summer Meeting at Stroud, 3-5 July 1928' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol50 p34-6 http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v050/bg050013.pdf
    Bazeley, 1899, 'Transactions in the Nailsworth District, May 24th, 1899' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol22 p5-9 http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v022/bg022001.pdf
    Waller, 1898, Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club Vol12 p250-6
    Bazeley, 1886-7, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol11 p205-7 http://www2.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v011/bg011185.pdf
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1225-32) p260
    Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p217
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/gloceng.html#gloc11]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p191
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol4 p132,133 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl04lelauoft