Folkingham Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Folkyngham

In the civil parish of Folkingham. In the historic county of Lincolnshire (Modern Authority of Lincolnshire, 1974 county of Lincolnshire).

The only earthwork remains of a castle given by William the Conqueror to Gilbert de Ghent, which passed in about 1300 to the Beaumont family, by whom it was rebuilt. The castle was becoming ruinous by Leland's time and is said to have been destroyed during the Civil War. There remains an inner moat and some trace of the outer moat which would have enclosed about 10 acres. (Lincolnshire HER)
A rectangular site surrounded by a deep ditch with outer bank, apparently there was once a larger outer bailey which has now gone. A House of Correction was built inside the castle in the early 19th century (see PRN 33759). The castle was built by Gilbert de Gaunt in the 11th century and became the property of the crown during the reign of Edward I. Edward II passed it on to Henry de Beaumont who became earl of Bagham. It then descended to lords Clinton. (EH Scheduling Report via LHER)
Gilbert de Gand, one of the greatest landowners in Lincolnshire in 1086, owned the Manor of Folkingham. Whether he or his descendents built a castle here is uncertain, but no part of the present castle need be older than 1312, when Henry de Beaumont obtained a licence to defend his house. The castle returned to royal ownership in 1507 but later became part of the Earl of Lincoln's estates. In 1808 a House of Correction was built within the moat of the castle and subsequently many additions were made (see PRN 33759). John Leland recorded in 1535 that 'it hath bene a goodly house, but now it fallith al to ruine'. The castle stood on a rectangular island surrounded by a moat, and a larger moat lay outside that, enclosing a large area to the west. The original entrance lay on the west side also. To the north is another earthwork, rectangular in shape and with a pond at one end. It may have been a garden or orchard as at Sleaford Castle. Like Sleaford and Bolingbroke castles, Folkingham castle avoids the higher ground to the north and south in order to use the waters of a stream to fill the moats. Nothing of the internal arrangements of the castle can now be made out. (White, 1983 via LHER)
The long rectangular enclosure to the north of the castle, with a pond at its east end, is likely to have been a medieval pleasaunce. The castle's site is not naturally strong, but takes advantage of water defences rather than utilising hills. (Pevsner, 1989 via LHER)
Earthwork remains of the castle, including the moat, ringwork and bailey as well as associated features such as ponds and boundaries can be seen on aerial photographs. (LHER)
In about 1830, "many large stones and other remains of the castle" were dug up, and in 1813 a stone gutter or sewer about 3 feet square was discovered. Various brass and copper coins have also been found at the castle site, and "numerous foundations" seen. There is a tradition that the Manor House (PRN 36981) was built using materials from the castle. (LHER ref White 1856)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TF07443349

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 348708
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 30067 '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.

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_midlands/130/folkinghamcastle.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern) p48
    Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p327
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p148 [slight]
    Roffe, David, 1993, 'Castles' in Bennett, S. and Bennett, N. (eds), An Historical Atlas of Lincolnshire (University of Hull Press) p40-1
    Pevsner, Nikolaus and John Harris; revised by Nicholas Antram, 1989, Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (Harmondsworth) p529 [slight]
    White, A.J., 1983, A visitors guide: six Lincolnshire castles
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p261
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Trollope, E., 1872, Sleaford and Wapentakes of Flaxwell and Aswardhurn in the County of Lincoln (London) p510-11
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p406
    White, W., 1856, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire p714-5
• Journal Articles
  • Baggs, A.P., 1974, 'Folkingham Castle and the House of Correction' The Archaeological Journal Vol131 p334
• 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 (1307-13) p457
    Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p290-1
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/lincseng.html#lincs11]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p289
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p25 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl01lelauoft